Event Industry 2016 - Which trends and topics will significantly influence the year 2016? And what challenges need to be faced?
1. Personalization - is this just the beginning? Coca Cola and Starbucks are already actively using the trend of personalized customer communication, while McDonalds and British Airways have recently announced to embed personalization in their corporate strategy. The leading British marketing magazine "The Drum" has also referred to this trend as "one of the hottest topics in the marketing industry today" and notes that consumers are increasingly seeking personalized brand experiences. Experts predict that the peak of this trend will be reached in two to five years. The core idea of personalization states that consumers, as well as employees, highly value being treated personally and individually. 2. Data Management and Analysis - as the basis of new marketing strategies Data collection and processing regarding individuals and groups are essential prerequisites for any personalization strategy. Digital expert Mark Goddard predicts in the Forbes magazine for 2016 that personalization concepts increasingly rely on capturing, analyzing, and processing consumer data. Kevin Brown, an expert at Fintech, also forecasts that marketing and data collection represent the "new dynamic team." 3. Humanity and personal contact The continuous growth of the event industry in times of video conferences and Skype shows how important direct and personal contact between people is, especially now. Marketing expert Alan Hart, founder of the marketing consultancy avidimpact.com, also predicts that humanity will return to marketing because consumers want to be addressed personally. 4. "Share Economy" - from individual travel to the event industry PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the value of the "Share Economy" will globally increase from 15 billion USD in 2013 to 335 billion USD in 2025. The "Share Economy" follows the economy of sharing, meaning the systematic lending of items and the mutual provision of spaces, especially by individuals and interest groups. In the travel sector, this idea has already had a significant impact on consumer behavior through business concepts such as Airbnb, Uber, Bookalokal, and Vizeat. In 2016, the focus will be on how the MICE industry engages with the "Share Economy", whether and how the basic idea can be adapted, and how initial steps towards this can be concretely designed. 5. Social Engagement Especially now, as the pressures of work life are increasing, there is a growing desire to give back and engage socially. In 2013, one in four adults (25.4 percent) in the USA engaged socially within an organization or association. 62.6 million Americans volunteered 7.7 billion hours of volunteer work. British studies also show that people's social and environmentally oriented engagement is growing, and volunteering activities within the workplace ("Corporate Volunteering") are steadily increasing. In summary, altruistic thinking concepts and attitudes will increase. 6. Asia - the key market for new incentive and meeting ideas and locations The current "Meetings and Events Industry Report" by American Express states that spending on the event industry is expected to continue to grow globally, led by the Asia Pacific region with a predicted 2.1 percent growth. In the IMEX study "Power of 10" from 2012, 46 percent of respondents believed that significant influence and growth of the event industry will be determined by Asia. This was also evident at IMEX in Frankfurt 2015, where exhibitors from the Asia Pacific region demanded 16 percent more exhibition space. The participation in Hosted Buyer programs from this region has also significantly increased over the past three years.
