When it comes to client entertainment, don't just feed their bellies – feed their brains too
Elevating the performance of every client entertainment pound invested means thinking in terms of client engagement strategy. Feeding the minds of clients, also feeds the heart of the connection. Simply feeding the belly is just calories. It's about putting brains on the menu too.
Th_nk pushed clients into the unknown with its Th_nkTank event
Of course there is a place for pure unadulterated celebrations, but perhaps less so these days, from both a zeitgeist and regime perspective. In an economy of precious capital, smarter firms are stretching their investment by including education plus entertainment in their engagement mix.
The smartest firms have been doing so for many years. One leading media futures specialist said they do not actually entertain clients. Of course they do, but the point is, the really forward thinkers no longer see client entertainment as simply a jolly thing. They are thinking in terms of market engagement, of which clients are but a constituency, with many spheres of influence within.
Thoughts on client entertainment are better folded back into how well your firm currently performs, on any measure, at engaging clients and at developing the business.
Every firm develops its own brand personality, brought to life in the sum total of interactions. In the days of content from everyone, it's through practitioner client engagement that firms can really prove their standout smarts. On social media and at social events.
Visibly mapping social connections with each client. Knowing the direction and velocity of travel. Tracking developing engagement levels with target clients. Scorecard measurement. This information provides invaluable insight and is very useful in optimising client engagement return. Having visibility of the topics and issues that your client responds to will better inform your dialogue with them. Engaging as well as enabling their conversations with the market. Clients get the greatest benefit out of their suppliers being better at serving them. The rewards are securing tenure and income.
This is far ahead of just getting everyone drunk and having a party, which it seems we are agreed the world has moved on from anyway. There are many great examplesof marketing and media firms investing in new formats, engaging their clients on many levels, providing high value networking opportunities, enabling introductions, sharing smarts and managing to make that a memorable experience. This is also self-generating high quality shareable assets to create a longer tail from the activity.
Th_nkTank, a one day gathering from Clerkenwell based digital specialists, Th_nk, is a great example of this kind of modern client engagement.
Last April, Th_nk closed the office and threw open the agency for the day, putting together a one-day gathering of technologists, marketeers, creatives and strategists, producing the event in association with Microsoft.
It invited all its clients and shared further invitations on social media, adding to the diversity of audience. Like a mini-TED, with absolutely no powerpoint or text on visual inspirationals, Th_nk enabled all of its clients to bring themselves fully up to digital date through a programme of debates, discussion, break-outs and technology hands on demos that included Blippar and Makey Makey and more. (New to many still).
Not quite everything you wanted to know about digital but were afraid to ask, but a lot like it. No one left with any further questions because as well as the agency sharing its own insights and methodologies, Th_nk and Microsoft invited a panel of industry luminaries. They shared expertise from brands as digital and diverse as Wired.co.uk, Carat, Proxama and Shazam Entertainment – as well as the founder of EVERYTHING (Andy Hobsbawn).
Th_nkTank was also an excellent, highly targeted association for Microsoft because the cloud was already a major force but not clear to everyone even then. By neither Th_nk or Microsoft seeking to dominate the conversation, everyone benefited. Having spent a day at Th_nk learning about physical into digital, including acoustic fingerprints, hearing about cloud developments and debating big data, it's fair to say engagement levels were high. Perfect time to crack open a few beers and enjoy some food before everyone headed off into the early evening.
As well as generating incredible goodwill, of course, the digital specialists also created shareable assets – including a series of illustrations drawn through the course of the day. The fact that the event was held in the agency added to its transparency, and of course, eradicated many costs. Th_nk smart.
The event was such a success that it will be repeated this year, with bigger ambitions, but also that interest has resulted in an ongoing spin-off series of single subject dinners. The feedback has been that clients loved the actionable insights and better understanding of horizon issues and technology, as well the as current digital landscape. And the beers went down the treat they were meant to be.
Lea Simpson, strategy director at Th_nk wasn't giving too much away about this year's Th_nkTank just yet, but this one event is a great example of Th_nk owning its space.
Between Th_nkTank, plus running private digital understanding development programmes for clients and its similar work outside the UK, the digital thought leadership stripes have been earned. “Find an authentic space and your brands own way of owning that space and it will benefit both you and your clients,” says Simpson.
That sounds like modern client engagement. See you next Thursday for the final #BreakingBread instalment. It's all about the Ps and Qs.
Until then read up on the top London restaurants to take your clients with Twenty Rather Good Shouts from Mr. Sykes Modern Concierge.