Event Marketing and the Value of One-to-One vs. One-to-Many

Welcome to another episode of Individuality Unleashed, where we bring you all things in one to one performance marketing and brand. My name is Vern Tramble, senior director of marketing here at Wunderkind, and I am joined by the lovely Maddie Zingeser.

Maddie Zingeser: I was like" oh no, he's losing it." All good, my friend. Honestly, my last name scares everybody. Zingeser.

Vern Tramble: I was looking at that G like...

Maddie Zingeser: Everybody does. Everyone wants to say Zingesser, but it's Zingeser. I mean, honestly that'd be kind of funny if you included that.

Vern Tramble: So that'd be wrong. I mean, I'm pretty sure Jay's going to keep it in.

Maddie Zingeser: But no, the Z scares people. When you see the Z, it's scary, but it's Zingeser.

Vern Tramble: Zingeser.

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah, it's okay.

Vern Tramble: Okay, so Maddie, you have been with Wunderkind for about a year now-

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah.

Vern Tramble: Or more than a year?

Maddie Zingeser: No, about a year. I started right after Thanksgiving and it's like mid- November right now.

Vern Tramble: That's amazing. So Maddie was brought in... As our marketing team was growing and developing and shaping, we needed to bring in a phenomenal world class field marketer, and Maddie was and is it. So I'm really excited for our audience to learn more about you, more about what your philosophy around experiential marketing and event marketing and campaign marketing, what that looks like and how you can share some of your insights and best practices for brands that are looking to have a successful 2023 and beyond.

Maddie Zingeser: Totally, yeah. So just a little bit about me. Like Vern said, my name is Maddie Zingeser and I'm the senior director of field marketing. But yeah, when I came to Wunderkind I was brought on to own events in a very, what seemed to be kind of a narrow way, which is a great thing to be very much in line with sales and marketing. But there was this real focus on using events to drive sales, end of story. And I felt like there was an opportunity to think about events from more of a, exactly like you said, experiential marketing and overall narrative storytelling place. And so when I joined, while I was initially just focusing on events, I've now expanded to think about marketing campaigns, whether that be through content and social or through direct mail, and thinking about how an event or a theme for an event can really tie back to an overarching marketing message that you're trying to land. The first example I'll give of that is when I joined Wunderkind, the first thing that caught my eye was the brand. Fun, funky, bright, cool patterns, like a dream for an event person. Because really, events are the opportunity to interact with a brand using all five of your senses, and I wanted to think about that when I started working here, but I think like I said, it's also a marketer's job to incorporate that message. And so what did that look like? Maintaining our same level of experiential when it came to fine dining and amazing venues, unique experiences with chefs, unique dining experiences. But we decided to name that series instead of just saying" come have dinner with Wunderkind at this cool restaurant." We named a whole dinner series around the perfect pair.

Vern Tramble: So why is it important to brand and name something, an experience like that?

Maddie Zingeser: Great question. So I mean we all know, we're invited to dinners all the time, we have a million things on our plate. And so I think it's important to have your message stand out in terms of you've put some thought behind it, people are going to actually come because they're going to get some value out of it, not just having a great drink, but they can see immediately in the name of the event oh, there's like- minded people here who want to talk about email and text, for example, around the perfect pair theme. So it gives your event focus, it gives the content that you might talk about at the event focus, and it allows that event to also live potentially within a larger marketing campaign. So if your team, because Vern obviously runs content, were thinking of blog content or a white paper that we wanted to run, we could be like" why don't we theme it around the perfect pair?" And build out from there.

Vern Tramble: And I think that's brilliant. I think there's a lot to be learned for marketers that are making that shift from pandemic, digital experiences and digital marketing, to now being more in person and understanding there has to be a crossover between a digital experience, which was a little bit more easy to control and manage, everything was right at your fingertips, and extending that over to an actual in person event experience. What does that look like for you?

Maddie Zingeser: Oh my goodness. There's a few different things that it looks like. I was amazed at the industry overall, our ability to pivot during the pandemic and start doing these virtual events, both when it comes to a virtual conference and a beer and wine tasting. And so I think during the pandemic, I'm going to say those really just checked a box. And it allowed us to maintain touchpoints, it allowed us to engage with people throughout, but it's not the full experience like I said, when you can really engage all five of your senses. Of course when you're doing a cooking class, yes you're touching the food, you're tasting it, et cetera, but you're missing that human interaction. And so I was just so excited to come back into 2022 and think about ways we could start to bring that experience in person. Separately from that though, that experience of thinking about what it looked like for our events to exist digitally and then what they looked like in person is actually something that correlates really well to what our own brands experience. For example, they have their websites, they have their text platforms, they think about the ways that their brand exists online, and then you go to shop in store in person and you expect a common thread of messaging, imagery, et cetera. But I would argue that when you go in person, you have even more expectations. You want it to come alive, you want the brand to really come alive. And that's what we did at Wunderkind. We think about" how can I bring these patterns and these characters and this feeling of what we bring of vibes and good energy and all of that, that you can see digitally into that in- person experience?" And I think or I hope that shows our clients that we actually have a really deep understanding of the power of brand. And I really don't think that's a common thing at other MarTech and AdTech performance marketing channel companies.

Vern Tramble: I totally agree. Maddie and I often collaborate and one of the things that we are just adamant about is that intersectionality between what we do as a performance marketing channel and what we also showcase as our brand. Almost as a rule book or instructions or advice, if you will, how other brands should be communicating to their audiences.

Maddie Zingeser: I'm actually really inspired by the Wunderkind brand and how we position ourselves to our clients as a constant anchor for me to go back when I'm creating these event experiences for, how does it go back to that whole one to one versus one to many? For example, we are not... At times it is necessary to do a big 500 person party that's a big brand awareness. But I think the secret sauce of the Wunderkind product and the Wunderkind events is we really try to think about who's coming? Who do we want to invite? What kind of experience can we create for them knowing what we know about them? And it leads to more quality interactions, both on the brand side... I think when you're marketing as one to one, you probably close sales more quickly. And on our end when those relationships are one to one, it leads to more partners, more relationships being built. Even watching other people work together having nothing to do with Wunderkind, that's like my greatest joy.

Vern Tramble: Yeah. I'd love to know, you bring up your partnership with sales. I see you in the trenches working with the sales team day in and day out to drive value, to create these amazing events and experiences for them, for us to be able to do what it is that we do, which is to communicate and sell and build relationships and all those wonderful things, let's just be real.

Maddie Zingeser: Yes.

Vern Tramble: But I'd love for you to talk about your process of growth hacking and growth marketing, identifying personas, aligning with sales leadership in order to create experiences and events that actually helps move the needle.

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah, I find that the best events come honestly when we're able to provide value to the client, to meet a need that they have, whether that be information that they want to get or people they want to get in front of. For example, a few months ago we actually did a focus group with DVF. Their brand was really interested in millennial women and fashion and trying to understand why they might pick certain specific items or price points over something else. And so we set up an internal event. It was an easy happy hour, we had a quick panel discussion and then had folks interact with the product. They tried it on, they sat with DVF staff who asked them questions about why they might like a certain shirt or how it fit them versus another pair of pants that they tried on, and would they wear them together? We did a focus group around marketing messaging and certain channels that maybe they should use, and it was a really successful event. We got to provide an opportunity for people to interact with a premium brand that they might not have been able to, and our client was able to check a box of getting even more information very easily. Much more easily than they probably could have if they worked with a research agency, for example, that needed to get them this focus group.

Vern Tramble: Absolutely. And what's brilliant about what you do, you and your team, Maddie, that balance between art and science in driving your strategic approach is flawless. And a lot of people don't understand how difficult it is to take something that is so multifaceted and complicated, boil it down to its simplest element and make it look effortless.

Maddie Zingeser: And let's not forget how many opinions there are because everybody in the world has been to an event, whether you've been out to dinner with a friend or someone's birthday. So that's the other thing, too. It's so subjective. So I'm just here to say every time I do it, I appreciate that you think it's great, but I'm always nervous. And I think that's just part of being an event marketer.

Vern Tramble: Yeah, it absolutely is. It's almost like you're showing people your baby. My baby's cute.

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah, exactly.

Vern Tramble: And I think an example of just an adorable baby you made was an event we recently did in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wunder.

Maddie Zingeser: Yes.

Vern Tramble: Can you talk to the folks about Wunder? Because I don't do it justice. I'd love for you to give your POV.

Maddie Zingeser: Sure. So I definitely can't take credit for the creation of this annual event. Wunder has been something that Wunderkind has produced for the last, I want to say five or six years, but this year was definitely different than previous years, both from a logistics standpoint and I think how we approach the event holistically. So historically, this event has been for only current clients and has been very lofty in terms of the subject matter of what you talk about. Not necessarily super tactical or in the weeds, which spoiler alert, we didn't get into the weeds too much at this wunder either, but I think it was just a little more high level. And this year we wanted to evoke that same feeling of talking about big concepts, thoughtful discussions around similar to what we've been saying, this intersection of art and science. But remember that at the end of the day, these people also actually want to maybe learn a little bit about some tactical marketing.

Vern Tramble: Absolutely.

Maddie Zingeser: And so that's kind of getting back to what I was saying of it's our job as marketers to provide these cool experiences, but never forget that we do still want to bring in that messaging. And so this year the theme of Wunder was view from the top. I believe this might have been the first year that we had an outright theme, like message and boiler plate and tagline. But we did that because it helped anchor the rest of the content to that theme.

Vern Tramble: I was personally at Wunder, and behold... Beheld... Make sure I have my parts.

Maddie Zingeser: I was beholden to the experience.

Vern Tramble: I beheld the wunder of Wunder that which was wunder.

Maddie Zingeser: Say wunder again.

Vern Tramble: And it was great. I never experienced an event like that. Our clients were absolutely blown away. I think what we'll do is we'll cut to a clip of Wunder, let everybody check it out and then we'll come back and talk on the other side.

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah. I'm so excited.

Vern Tramble: All right.

Maddie Zingeser: Let's do it. Let's check it out.

Vern Tramble: Today we are at Wonder. We're in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico. The altitude, we're at what, 7, 000 feet above sea level? Tough to breathe. But I'm trying. So if I end up on the floor, please try to resuscitate. No, you know what? Don't try to resuscitate. I'll be fine on the floor.

Maddie Zingeser: I have no idea how we top this. We are literally at the top of a mountain right now. Between the tequila donkey, fly fishing and the horseback riding. I mean, Mexico? No, don't quote me on that, literally.

Speaker 4: Hands down one of the best events, I wouldn't call it a conference, I've ever been to. I would say the opening and closing keynotes were just so powerful. The content spoke volumes, perfectly on point for this.

Maddie Zingeser: It's kind of what we're setting here, this tone of getting back to who we are, the foundation of who we are as people.

Speaker 5: Oh my gosh. Filled with good content, but also relaxing and a lot of community. Exactly what I-

Vern Tramble: Now, what activity do you have planned to do after we finish lunch?

Speaker 5: Horse back riding, my friend. I love that.

Vern Tramble: Y'all make some noise. You guys had a good day?

Speaker 6: You guys seen that, Paul Rudd? He's like "look at us, look at us."

Vern Tramble: Look at us. Look at this.

Speaker 6: Go back to being critical thinkers. Spending more time with family, being creative, making spreadsheets all day is not supposed to be what our life is about. Go back to being a problem solver. Go back to being a critical thinker. Go back to being creative, to being artistic, to this... To the people interaction.

Speaker 7: I really enjoyed the team. They are remarkable. And I also appreciate too that they always come to the table with ideas.

Speaker 8: The standout element is really the people. I feel constantly, and my team feels that Wunderkind is an extension of our team.

Speaker 9: The tagline, and then we'll cut. Feed the Beast, that is Wunderkind, right? I feel like I'm the perfect case study for Wunderkind right now.

Vern Tramble: Are you coming back to Wonder next year?

Speaker 5: I would love to. It has literally been the perfect three days.

Vern Tramble: I mean-

Maddie Zingeser: Can we go back?

Vern Tramble: Dude.

Maddie Zingeser: It was amazing. It was-

Vern Tramble: Absolutely incredible.

Maddie Zingeser: I mean, I will say we got unlucky in the sense that somehow the one day ever that it rained in the desert, it rained one day. But obviously that didn't get in the way of any of the content or the events or activities we planned. But yeah, Santa Fe was a pretty magical place and I'm really excited that we got to bring everybody there.

Vern Tramble: Why is an event like Wonder so important at a time like this? Right after we've gotten out of the pandemic, people are coming out of their cocoons and their boroughs and their hovels. Why was this important?

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah. There were so many elements of coming out of the pandemic, to be honest, that I took into consideration when planning Wonder. So we picked Santa Fe because it was just this big open space. People have been cooped up in their homes, like you said, and so we wanted to bring them somewhere that A) they might not have brought themselves and B) physically got them away from wherever they have been. And the importance of doing an event like this post pandemic is getting back to that intangible thing that happens when you're at an event of that community that gets created. We had a full buyout of the Auberge property, which meant the minute that people stepped on the property, they knew anyone they saw walking around was there for Wonder, which we've heard time and time again, and which is why we did it, it immediately evoked that sense of community, or that sense of" oh, are you walking to lunch? Let's walk. Where do you work?" You could just strike up conversation and create that sense of community. And I think, like I said, that buyout really started that tone.

Vern Tramble: Absolutely. I know I would hear from our clients and prospects as they're walking around the property of just being a complete piece and just in awe of the environment because it's so atypical to what we experience on a day to day basis.

Maddie Zingeser: Totally.

Vern Tramble: What work goes into making that consideration? And sitting down, let's say you're sitting down with your team and you're like" okay guys, last year we were at in Miami, what are we going to do?" What does that look like when you have that blank sheet of paper and you have to come up with ideas?

Maddie Zingeser: That's a great question. So for me it started with that feeling I wanted to evoke. It started with pulling people out of their every day and putting them in a space where hopefully by desire, but a little bit by force, are forced to focus in on this community and what we're talking about and engaging here. I also acknowledge that the people who we invite to this event, which is a small event in the sense of a conference, it's usually about a hundred people and that includes some internal folks. I'm aware that the people attending this event have premium experiences all the time, whether it be in their personal life or in their professional life. And so what I think about from the top is what does that mean? When do you feel like something is premium? And what that really is, is you feel taken care of. What does that mean? That means thorough communication, updates, plenty of... I mean, it sounds silly, but it's not silly. Plenty of food and water and coffee and things like that. So they just never want for nothing.

Vern Tramble: Because you notice when there's no like-

Maddie Zingeser: Oh yeah.

Vern Tramble: Ever been to a wedding that's been lightly refreshed?

Maddie Zingeser: Yes.

Vern Tramble: It's like mmmmmm.

Maddie Zingeser: Keep people fed and keep people not thirsty. And that's one big, big thing there. But we could just say" okay, we're going to feed people." I happen to come... And I think why I was so excited about Wunderkind when I joined it, I happen to come from the true world of experiential marketing. And I actually used to work for Eater, which is a publication that really focuses on dining and what's hot and cool and new in food. And so when I say like" oh, we're going to host a dinner and we want to feed people," that dinner had a theme, that dinner had options, it served premium ingredients. We thought about the local freshest ingredients to Santa Fe at that time, and instead of just serving you your dinner, the menu will tell you why we decided to focus on pine nuts, for example, which are a huge commodity out in Santa Fe. We go through the extra step of doing wine pairings. And so it's showing our clients that we know them, we see who they are, we know what their level of expectation is, and we want to meet that if not exceed it. And that I think happens when basic needs are met, and then you go that one extra mile.

Vern Tramble: I think that's brilliant. It's like being meticulous because you can. Because if you don't, if you haven't done that necessary pre- planning to meet all of the basic needs of a person that you have invited to attend your event.

Maddie Zingeser: Totally.

Vern Tramble: There is no kind of, I guess for lack of a better word, self- actualization as a part of that experience.

Maddie Zingeser: And we really think about everything. So for example, it was a choice to book in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where by definition most people drove about an hour from the airport. We took that as an opportunity, we didn't take that as a challenge. So what did we do? We put notes in everyone's cars welcoming them to the experience. We gave everybody water, we gave everybody snacks. We put a little swag bag in there and said" enjoy the ride through the desert, we'll see you in an hour." No complaints.

Vern Tramble: That's nuts though, right?

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah.

Vern Tramble: Can you imagine? I can't imagine pitching an event and saying" well, in order to get to the event, we're going to have to drive an hour and 30 minutes through No Man's Land."

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah, and everybody did it. And I think it's because pre- event we start that premium experience. Like I said at the top of this, I now don't just oversee events. But what we really thought about with Wonder was that full experience. So what did our dedicated email process look like? What was the branding, the look and the feel? We sent out direct mailers to people who, once they RSVP'd, got them excited about coming. We sent direct mailers to people who we invited who didn't RSVP yet to hopefully entice them to RSVP. We just really used this event as an anchor to start kind of a drip campaign to get in touch with our priority accounts that we wanted to invite. And like I'd said, this was the first year that we invited prospects. So think about that, where this person, this prospect, knows nobody, in theory, and they're just blindly deciding to just go to this conference with no one? That is a hard sell. And by the way, only you. We didn't give companies five passes each, bring your whole team. So I was really amazed, excited, honored that these folks did come to the event by themselves knowing nobody. It's a hard sell, but maybe those direct mailers and those personal touches and the premium essence of what we were clearly producing pushed that over the edge, which led to some actual deals being signed because of Wonder, which for events is amazing. To see that direct correlation is... There's no words for how happy it makes me.

Vern Tramble: It's literal performance marketing in IRL. There are so many amazing elements to Wonder, including the content. I was blown away by the caliber of content. I was blown away by the response of the audience at the content that was being presented. Can you talk to us about how you even go about gathering and creating the content that you did for Wonder?

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah. I mean, I have to admit I'm usually uncomfortable tooting my own horn. But not only did we produce this insanely premium experience when it came to food and drinks and the property, let's not forget that we were there for a day and a half and we were actually doing real content. And so through various partnerships that I brokered, which some of them actually ended up leading to deals for Wunderkind... I spent the first few months of me at Wunderkind meeting people, talking to people, who do you know? Who's interesting? Seeing what kinds of topics were being covered at industry events, and then getting down to the nitty gritty of" okay, but what do people really want to talk about?" Because absolutely nobody wants to listen to companies like ours get up and just puff out our chest for a full day of content. So we took the angle of what I alluded to earlier. What are some lofty, interesting, high level topics we could talk about? For example, what we talked about was the Metaverse. We talked about AI a lot. We had Joe Desena, the founder of Spartan Race, come and do a presentation all about grit. So these were highly lofty conceptual concepts. We had Omar Johnson from Apple and Beats come and talk about the power of brand and brand marketing. So there was a lot of different really cool conversations that came up. And I have to say, the one that I'm probably the most proud of is the session we did with the Washington Commanders. Quick plug for returning to office is this session really wouldn't have happened if I didn't strike up conversation with another Wunderkinder in our kitchen. I was telling him that going into Wonder, I was like" I would love to do a session around a rebrand. What does it look like when you have to maintain brand loyalty? When you have messaging that in some ways works and doesn't? You have to change imagery. Where does one even start?" And luckily, there are a lot of brands like Pearl Milling Co and the Washington Commanders who are on the right side of history of trying to think about, we have this historical brand that we want to maintain, but there are some issues. And so what do we do? And so the Washington Commanders team joined and gave us an amazing presentation. They gave us a walkthrough of what that whole process looked like, and let these marketers walk away with really tangible examples as to certain kinds of content that could be created throughout that rebrand process, or how involved their consumers were and that. It was one of the most well received sessions and again, something that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't in the office just chatting with a coworker. But I think also really inspiring to see a brand that has a lot of good, a lot of bad, a lot of history and navigating that. So that was one of my favorite sessions that we did.

Vern Tramble: That's awesome. So Maddie, where do you think experiential marketing is headed? Where are we going?

Maddie Zingeser: Gosh, that's such a good question. Every time I think marketers think they know the answer, it changes. But let's say today in November of 2022. Yes, that's what year it is. This is what I think. So there was obviously a lot of virtual pre pandemic, now there's a lot of in person return. I feel like I see this concept of one to one versus one to many being a continual thread when I think about events for next year. So many people are doing these D to C consumer brand relationships. You get your Stitch Fix box, you have your one- on- one relationship with the brand, and I feel like that's going to start to be seen even more in events. So at least at Wunderkind I know we want to really think about account based marketing, so I think it's, how can your events stand out from the rest? And so where I see events going is more thoughtful marketing messaging, more intimate events that speak to the few, but really powerfully. And then, I don't know, I'm curious to see in this new world, new generations, what things like a South by Southwest could look like in a virtual and in person world. How does activism or what's going on in the world start to affect these kinds of events? But I really do think that the future will be focused on that balance of the one to one versus the one to many, focuses on events for a brand awareness standpoint to get your marketing messaging out there, or you're a company that uses events to really drive results. This can be applied, I think, across both.

Vern Tramble: And ultimately that's really great. And ultimately it's fun.

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah. Let's not forget that these are the most fun. I mean, I know I'm sitting here so about my science part, but the art part is important too. A fun cocktail, a cool way of serving said cocktail. I can't believe I have to say, at Wonder, I was shocked that we gave out stickers and gems and glow sticks to people as a way to get them ready for this after party we were going to have. And the cynic in me was like" there's no way that these CMOs are going to be putting glitter on their face." I was so wrong. Everybody is a kid at heart. Everybody likes to have fun. So just remember at the end of the day too, that that's also the North Star is like, you want people leaving having evoked this feeling that's a good feeling. That you are smart, your company is smart, it's thoughtful, it's creative, it's cool. And I just love that I get to do that with events. I feel very lucky.

Vern Tramble: Well, you're doing a hell of a job.

Maddie Zingeser: Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Vern Tramble: To put a nice little cap on our conversation today, I'd love for you to share with everybody your tips, your recommendations, your top takeaways of what they can do in order to further blend that balance between art and science, digital and in person, so they can ultimately drive more success for their brands and for their businesses?

Maddie Zingeser: Sure. I mean for me, it really is thinking about ultimately at the end of the day, what your company's value prop is and what they're trying to sell. You can have beautiful dinners all day every day, but if they're not being planned in a way that's either inviting the right people who you need to get in the room, in the right city, at the right time, with the right message, it just won't work. And so I acknowledge the kind of... I'll call it a necessary evil of always providing the commercial teams opportunities for client entertaining. But what I would say is to marketers, when you have the opportunity to kick off the narrative and own some event from the beginning, start with that narrative. Start with exactly what I said with the perfect pair. Okay, our company focuses a lot on an email and a text product. Those are two things. Ooh, perfect pair. Why don't we do that? And run with those kinds of thinking. The simplest bow being tied around something makes all the more difference in the world. And I think that's the biggest difference between an average event marketer and a stellar event marketer, is that marketing part of it.

Vern Tramble: Which shouldn't be taken for granted.

Maddie Zingeser: No, and your event really is supposed to live outside of that two hour window when the event took place, or in my opinion, it wasn't successful.

Vern Tramble: Oh, that's great.

Maddie Zingeser: It really has to live online, it has to live in your direct mail, it has to live in follow up content, which again, kind of goes back to thinking about our clients. Their brands don't exist just in the t- shirt that they've made or just in the storefront or just on the website. There's a holistic approach to thinking about how that brand shows up, and we should do the same. Every company should do the same, but that's really what I at least try to do when it comes to events.

Vern Tramble: I love that. It's about showing up. It's about showing up not only for yourself, but also for your brand. If you're not doing it, you're missing out.

Maddie Zingeser: Yeah, totally.

Vern Tramble: This is great. This is great. Well, Maddie, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting with you. I think some of the things that we can do, we can lead people to, is the Wunderkind website to learn more about the events that are coming up. They can check out that sizzle reel themselves, share it with some folks. We had a lot of fun. And if you want to come, you have to let this lady right here know, because not everybody's getting a golden ticket.

Maddie Zingeser: This is true. This is true. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Vern Tramble: That's right. And send her a direct DM.

Maddie Zingeser: Yes.

Vern Tramble: But it's great. Thank you guys again so much for joining. I'm Vern Tramble. Thank you so much, Maddie.

Maddie Zingeser: Thank you. This was so fun.

Vern Tramble: So much fun to have you. Again, that's Individuality Unleashed.