While most enterprises have to cut down expenses in
the economic downturn, and narrow the budgets for advertisement and sale
promotion campaigns; some luxurious brands still spend hundreds of thousands
dollars, or even millions of dollars to organize events to polish their images.

Big events always gather music stars, models, MC and famous actors

The night to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Mercedes brand in Vietnam
took place in early June. This was an impressing event which gathered many music stars, models, MC and famous actors. Rumor has
spread out that the cost of the celebration ceremony was very high, at about two
million dollars.

Declining to reveal the official cost of the ceremony, Udo Loersch,
General Director of Mercedes Vietnam said that Mercedes Vietnam wanted to
organize a resounding event in the automobile industry

A manager of a well-known media company in HCM City noted that the event
is really very imposing in terms of the scale and the investment. However, he
thinks that the expenses for the event are not as high as people think. He
believes that the event cost about 500,000 dollars, saying that only the big
events which invite many stars, music bands and hire foreign audio and
lightening systems would be cost millions of dollars.

However, the media expert admitted that among the companies which
regularly organize events which attract the participation of famous people in
the field of culture and arts, Mercedes proves to be the one which is always
ready to spend big money.

“People think that the celebration ceremony cost millions of dollars
because they saw the luxurious and the flashy images that stars and the audio
and lightening systems created at the ceremony,” he said.

Director of a media company in Hanoi which provides event services to
Mercedes said that at presentation, when businesses are facing big difficulties,
they have to cut down expenses on advertisement and media campaigns. Therefore,
a luxurious and costly event of Mercedes has caught the special attention from
the public.

However, the director said that Mercedes’ similar events were organized in
many countries around the globe, not only in Vietnam.

Another luxurious brand which always spends big money to polish images in
Vietnam is Moet Henessy. The H-Artistry performance with the participation of
David Cook and Alexandra Burke, champions from American Idol (the US) and
X-Factor (the UK), and Thanh Bui from Top 8 Australia Idol is really a rare big
event organized and sponsored by a brand.

The representative of Moet Henessy declined to reveal the total cost of
the event. Meanwhile, a manager of a media company in HCM City has estimated
that the event might cost nearly one million dollars, saying that the expenses
of the ceremony alone would cost 500,000 dollars. Meanwhile, the inviting of
foreign artists can only be undertaken by Moet Henessy, while this still cannot
be undertaken by domestic companies.

The manager said that it would be unfeasible and unreasonable for the
companies which need to advertise their products regularly, to organize such
luxurious event in such difficult economic conditions.

H-Artistry was organized because the brand owner cannot carry out
advertisement campaigns. Meanwhile, the concern should be taken full advantage
as a rare event where the drink brand can appear.

A representative of Moet Henessy in Vietnam said that H-Artistry is the
event organized by Henessy in many countries in the world, where the company did
not advertise for Henessy brand.

Talking about the efficiency of the huge investments on luxury events, Udo
Loersch, General Director of Mercedes said that those people, who love the
Mercedes brand expect many other things besides the good cars, and this is the
reason why the manufacturers organize such the events.

Vu Hoai Thu, Deputy Director of T&A Ogilvy, a media company, noted that
the efficiency of big events cannot be measured exactly. The main purpose of the
events is that potential clients can see the similarity and the links between
the events and the features of the sponsored brands. The financial efficiency
will come later, after the events become well known.

Source: VnExpress