市場營銷公司的管理

街頭公告員這一職務，一開始僅僅是為了管理通信保障等相關事務和活動而創立的。現在，街頭公告員漸漸演變發展成了活動管理規劃公司。這家公司于1995年開始運作，作為提供整合營銷傳播服務的公司，其利用專業的知識和基礎設施來發起和執行獨特的方案，吸引顧客來進行品牌體驗。街頭公告員提供給客戶執行活動的摘要以及一些行銷訊息，以便其客戶可以利用各種各樣的激勵方法來直接地吸引目標顧客。

據艾倫等人分析（2005）“活動管理規劃公司是一群專業的團體或個人，以合同為基礎，以其客戶的名義來組織各種活動。

街頭公告員為以其客戶的名義來組織活動，以此來傳遞品牌和銷售信息”，團體活動，產品發布和產品的介紹，車間，公司開幕，會議和公眾參與的活動。

街頭公告員公司可以在任何一個地方執行方案；從城市地區到人口稠密的農村地區。他們也會圍繞客戶的品牌去制造一些令人興奮和影響深刻的活動，以此來使人們對于該品牌有強烈的記憶。

Towncriers was initially founded to manage the events and activities of Cosse (Communication Support Services) Limited. Today Towncriers has developed into an event management company. It commenced operation in 1995, as an integrated marketing communications services company, which used its expertise and infrastructure to originate and implement unique schemes that engage the consumer in change- inducing brand experiences. Towncriers delivers clients’ event briefs and marketing/ brand messages of its clients directly to target consumers using various rand activation techniques.

According to Allen et al., page 17 (2005)1 ‘event management companies are professional groups or individuals that organise events on a contract basis on behalf of their clients’.

Towncriers delivers branding/ marketing messages by organising on behalf of its clients’, corporate events, product launches and product presentations, workshops, company inaugurations, conferences and events for which the public is invited to.
Towncriers executes schemes anywhere; from the urban area to the densely populated rural interiors. They also create excitement and memorable activities around the brand which enable high recall of the brand.

Mission

The mission statement is an explicit statement of the values of an organization. It generates: The principle in accordance with which the organization acts and the standards against which it is willing to be judged’. (Talbot, 2000).2

Towncriers’ mission statement captured as ‘To be an ideas factory where the status quo is constantly challenged; the brand essence extended across communication disciplines and superior returns delivered to all stakeholders’.3

Its mission statement communicates to its staff and customers its values, direction and vision.4 How can this be linked to theory?#p#分頁標題#e#

Its mission, which is to be an ideas factory, is driven by its values and operational standards which include its doggedness, recruiting passionate and innovative persons and encouraging new innovations.5.

Context/ Environment in which Town Criers operate

Towncrier is based in Lagos state, Nigeria, and it is a flexible and mobile company in terms of geography, so it manages events in other parts of the country.

Towncrier has created a lot of job opportunities for people in Nigeria (as it doesn’t work in isolation, it works with other contractors/ suppliers) and has invariably added to the wealth of Nigeria. It has also provided opportunity for people to showcase their talents profitability as Towncrier works with a number of artists.

Towncrier generates most of its revenue from co- branding, road shows, brand marketing and corporate events. It has been argued by Jago et al. in Getz (2007) that ‘there is substantial potential for events to be used in destination branding but that neither event nor destination managers do a good job in harnessing that potential’.Link this to Towncriers

SWOT analysis (Fig 1) was applied Why? to derive further insight into the internal and external environment in which Towncrier operates. 7

STRENGTHS

-Their dynamic and highly skilled team is able to proffer solutions especially using their varied and broad backgrounds to ensure multi-disciplinary approach to briefs.

-Familiarity with the terrain- Trade channels (bars, clubs, hotels, mini/big, village markets, corner shops, schools etc) and the general consumer path in Nigeria.

-Their ability to develop concepts in line with brand positioning

- They are highly creative in the concepts they originate, interpretation of briefs and their implementation style.

OPPORTUNITIES

-Lack of quality competition from other event organizers around their area of operations, so they are still been looked upon as the first choice in the industry for event management.

WEAKNESS

They are involved in the management of too many big events at the same time, which leads to overstretching of both staff and equipment

There are too many protocols involved in delivering new ideas to the company.

THREATS

As a result of the economic meltdown been experienced now, it has become much more finance restraining for our clients who have lesser allocations for events but still expect greater value for their event.

Due to the lack of stiff penalties on those who are not qualified event planners organizing events, some clients prefer to use them as their fees are most likely going to be cheaper.

They have to bear a whole lot of security problems for organizing some events solely, has some areas are very volatile in nature. E.g. the Niger Delta region in South Nigeria.#p#分頁標題#e#

Elements of the SWOT should be discussed within the text

In addition to the SWOT analysis, political, economic, social, demographic and technology factors among others, which affect the operations of Towncriers were analysed WHY?. These factors are discussed in detail as follow:

Towncrier like any other event management company in Nigeria operates, with no interference or influence from the Government or any regulatory organisation is this Government/Ecconomic Policy?. According to Getz (2007) 6 ‘event producers have to satisfy and manage relationships with numerous regulatory agencies and their officials’. Getz (2005 page 89) also says that ‘political forces will vary alot between countries and at different levels (e.g. national, state, and local governments). However unlike event management companies in the UK which have to obtain licenses to guide their operations, Towncrier does not need to obtain licenses such as alcohol license, venue license, etc neither is it obliged to interact with government agencies such as police, health and safety, fire, environmental, traffic departments, etc in Nigeria when planning an event. Due to the absence of these policies in Nigeria, the event managers are left to use their own imagination on what to do, to make their event a success. However, being a reputable company which believes its clients should be secure while enjoying their events, Towncrier engages the services of the police and security companies to maintain law and order when managing events for its clients, creates adequate parking arrangements for guests and also makes sure that its venue for an event is not overstretched in case of fire outbreak for quick evacuation.

The adoption and implementation of some of the UK policies, regarding the sales/ purchase of alcoholic drinks, would control the activities of companies/ hawkers that supply alcoholic drinks, which would in turn control the amount of alcohol available to guest and invariably reduce the number of violent cases associated with excess alcohol intake. What about other legislation?

Economic environment

Towncriers has had to operate under very harsh financial conditions such as high lending interest rate from the bank, high foreign exchange rate, among others, thereby leaving it at the mercy of the clients who are mostly big corporate organizations to dictate how they want events planned and executed. According to Allen et al., ( 2005 Page 194) ‘Some issues that have an impact on events marketing strategies are the buoyancy of the economy, foreign exchange rates, interest rates, employment rates, growth in household incomes, and the government fiscal policy’. Assuming the economy was good; Towncriers would have been able to finance most of its own events without relying on the big corporate bodies for assistance and thereby not need over reliance on the big corporate organizations for sponsorship.

Political environment
#p#分頁標題#e#
Unlike in the UK where there are policies regulating the consumption of food and beverages at events, in Nigeria there are no such laws, thereby giving both the event organisers and food and beverage hawkers a free hand in running their business at events. According to Bodwin et al., (2008 Page. 130) ‘the decision made by all levels of government become laws or regulations that affect the way in which people live in a society’. If these laws where applicable in Nigeria, it would have helped reduced the number of drunken cases and drunken related violence experienced at events and after events.

Social environment

Towncriers has reduced its operational cost by reducing its number of staffs to an appreciable number which is required for running an event management company like its own and thereby this has helped them to reduce operational cost as a result of not having to pay for unnecessary labour.

Demographic environment

Demographic trends are changes in the population. For example, its size, age groups, religion, salaries etc. An organization needs to pay attention to these changes because this can effect the demand. According to Bodwin et al. (2008 Page 130) stated that ‘the composition of a society in terms of age, gender, education and occupation changes over time’. Nigeria, being a country of approximately 160 million people can also be seen to be undergoing this change with its population rising to be one of the largest countries in the world. It has been noticed from most events organised by Towncriers that their major audiences are mostly people within the ages of 21 to 45 (as per. Com.) such as the Benson & Hedges visual pool 2008. curled from the company profile. See appendix 1 for image. According to Getz (2005 page 316) ‘age and gender are usually important factors affecting demand for events, along with marital and family status’. As can be seen with Getz theory most of the people attending concerts such as the Benson & Hedges visual pool 2008 are young people and mostly males, because they tend to enjoy the atmosphere more than older people and females. The demography also shows an increase in the number of event management companies in Nigeria.

Technological advancement

Technological innovations has taken over the whole world in the way things are been done now. Towncriers has been able to sufficiently follow the technical advancement to a certain level such as the use of the internet to promote events, instead of just putting adverts on flyers. According to Bodwin et al., (2008 Page 130) ‘technological changes in equipments and machines have revolutionised the way people undertake tasks, including aspects of event management’. But it is seen that in the case of Nigeria being an underdeveloped country, the use if internet and other forms of technology is limited, due to the not too good quality of the internet connections and also the influx of fraudsters who send scam mails. Towncriers also uses special effects to make their events much appealing.#p#分頁標題#e#

What is an organization?

According to Rollinson (2005 page. 4), an organization is ‘a social entity brought into existence and sustained in an ongoing way by humans to serve purpose, from which it follows that human activities in the entity are normally structured and coordinated towards achieving some purpose or goals’.

Getz (2005 page 189) says that ‘an organization encompasses the creation, structuring and internal coordination of the management system’.

This essay explores how Towncriers meets both Rollinson and Getz definitions of organization.

UNIQUE DELIVERY STYLE

Towncriers listens closely to what their client expect from them, then explain how they can meet those needs within the time, cost, manpower, and resource restrictions they have to live and operate under. As a matter of fact, not many event organisers can handle everything a client needs under the category of demands. There are just some Event management companies that can handle a bigger and more varied work load than others. As a result of this Towncriers is up front about what they can and cannot do to avoid misunderstandings early in the negotiation process.

Towncriers since it is based in Nigeria, have one great selling point in their advantage: of event management, which is their familiarity with major trends, nuances, languages and terrain in that part of the world. Each part of Nigeria has its own unique features and things to offer visitors, so as a result of this, they always ask clients what they expect for their event and who are their target audience is. They also deliver client brand messages directly to target consumers through their executing schemes anywhere, from the urban area to the densely populated rural interiors.

Finally, Towncriers creates an excitement and memorable activity around the brand which is been marketed and thereby enabling high recall of the brand through the use of their fresh thinking that challenges the status quo and still solution- driven.

Organizational structure of Towncriers Limited

BOARD

Managing
ED
Business Development
Associate Director
Operations
Finance/ Admin
Technical (Manager)
Business Man
Unit (Manager)
Special Proj
Unit
Ideas
Unit
Design
Concept
Events
Activation
Project Activation
Logistics
Deployments
Protocol/
Hospitality
Analytics
Unit
Data admin
Data planning
Accounts
Procurements
Admin
Constructions/ fabrication
Equipment
Management
Events
Production
Print
BTL
Programming
Fig.1. functional organisation (adapted from Towncriers company profile)

DISCUSSION

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

An organization can take any particular form, depending on the environment in which the organization is operating from. Also because structures evolve over time, with a tendency to become more complicated and practical, there is no particular pattern for organizational structures to follow. Getz (2005 page 192) says that ‘there is no one, best way to structure an event organization, as much depends on the environment and unique circumstances facing the organizers’.#p#分頁標題#e#

The organizational structure of towncriers limited can be seen to be a Tall Hierarchical structure as there are quite a small amount of levels of authority and a narrow span of control. Tall organizations usually involve narrow span of control and are expensive. According to Rollinson (2005 p. 470) ‘tall organizations have a relatively large number of different levels in management hierarchy’. Rollinson (2005 p.460) says that ‘Organization structure is taken to be the fundamental and relatively unchanging features of an organization which are officially sanctioned by those who control it and consist of the way activities and component parts are grouped, controlled and coordinated in order to achieve specific aims and outcomes’.

ANALYSIS OF OPERATIONAL UNITS

LOGISTICS

Logistics is the breaking down of an organisations structure into procuring and supply of customers, products and facilities According to Getz (2005 page117) ‘logistics is the detailed and precise management of movement, specifically the flow of goods, services, information and people necessary to make the event work’. Once in an event, the logistic structure concerns the movement around the event venue, communication and requirements of the event.

At the end of an event, logistic concerns the breakdown of construction, cleaning and managing the evacuation of the event venue.

In small events, the logistics may be handled by the event manager. But in large scale events it is mostly handled by a logistic manager, who is employed specifically for that role.

TECHNICAL

This department ensures a seamless translation of Ideas to reality providing the critical services required.

The technical department has following responsibilities:

1. Procurement management and resource management.

2. Handling all the technical aspect of an event like:

i. Setting up console, spot towers, sound and light system.

ii. Setting up audio-visual aids, pyrotechnics and special effect.

iii. Construction of green rooms, staff rooms, storage rooms, power rooms, toilets, sewage systems, stalls, counters, booths and kiosks.

3. He formulates, prepares and implements the risk management plan. (risk like technical fault, equipment failure etc)