David's EMA Story
I would like to start with thanking you for taking the time to read this. I am now one of the luckiest people on the planet to have found my professional true love. Events. Meetings, Conferences, Trade Shows, Incentives, Road Shows, SKO's, etc. I love doing them ALL!
Back in 2002, I walked away from a six figure salary in Telecom to work at a radio station full time for ~$12k a year. I was BROKE, but I woke up every morning with a smile on my face, even though there were days I didn't have food in the cabinets. This was it! I had found my professional passion.
Fast forward 14 years; There has always been a glaring struggle that seems to either be forgotten or is a constant struggle to define. Ready, it's only 3 letters: R O I.
Getting my start in radio really brought me a new appreciation for Event Marketing. If you think about it, those kids standing out there in some beat up pop-up tent are Event Marketing. Radio does a couple parts of the Event Marketing process really well. Pre Event and During Event. However, the follow-up leaves much to be desired. Even the event marketing during the activation is ok, but it's usually only on one channel and can produce inconsistent results.
After the radio stations, I bumped things up a notch and got into Experiential Marketing. Experiential, is still event based marketing, but with a the idea of a higher impact from the campaign. These events usually focus on being where the people were and creating a draw. Most of the time, very little pre event promotion, CRAZY engagement on-site, and mediocre follow up post event.
From there I turned my attention to moving in-house within corporate. Most of the aforementioned time was spent working with and for agencies. I wanted to really truly understand what the heck was going on with these clients. The constant last minute changes, the 180 degree pivots. You all know what I'm talking about it. So I set out and did it. Well, what an eye opening experience! Here I was thinking surely, they must have this all figured out. The strategy. The pre, during, and post Event Marketing and follow up. A thoroughly vetted way to define ROI and measure results. It became apparent that companies were starting to fall into rather distinct stages of their event growth.
Stage 1: They have started doing events because someone convinced them it was a good idea. Which, it is. However, they pinned this VERY cash and resource heavy duty to someone as a secondary task and have little to no tracking. Since this person can't focus on these events exclusively, deadlines are missed, strategy is rarely even brought up, and follow up is left to the sales person on site.
Stage 2: These are the companies who have a couple event people, but the company is growing like crazy. They are staring down the barrel of a crazy busy season and are panicked trying to figure out how they will survive without their friends and loved ones forgetting they exist.
Since I had been both, in house at agencies and courted by them, I knew there was nothing out there to really help these people. Then there was a coffee meeting w Vinay that changed everything.
Vinay wanted to talk to me about how I used his company Goombal at a previous company and was able to manage twice as many events as other planners. We talked, we debated, and came out on the other side with a service offering, and a pricing structure that we don't think anyone has ever seen before.
Flat rate pricing per event. Think of it like walking into In-N-Out. No commissions, markups, or management fees. Just our time.
Experienced people. Let's face it, when you know what you're doing, you can get more done in less time. So, since we have partnered technology with phenomenal people we can get more done in a day.
So, are we here to revolutionize the event agency world, no. But can we keep you, the planner from missing your family? Yes. We've been there, we've survived and we think we can help you at a price you could potentially just bury on your P-Card.