Finding the right corporate entertainment solution is so critical for relationship building, but do you ever feel that a hospitality company is not giving the you whole picture? Do you ever wonder if an organisation is only recommending a package that benefits them and ignores the objectives of your organisation? This can certainly be the case, so it is important to take a step back and understand how the corporate entertainment market structures itself.
There are number of differing layers in the corporate entertainment market which, once you broadly understand them, will give you some insight into the reason why you are only being shown a very limited number of events and packages.
The first layer is rights holders (i.e. sporting bodies and promoters of shows and concerts). This group encompasses those who create the sporting event, show, concert etc. These entities are only ever going to recommend that you entertain at their events using their packages. As an example, the NRL would not suggest that an AFL match might work better for your entertainment needs.
Next are venues (e.g. stadiums, arenas or theatres). This group includes the physical seats and/or dining facilities which are used to watch the rights holder’s event. In most cases venues will maintain the rights to some of their hospitality facilities to take to market and service their client base. An example might be a Rugby Union game that is being played at Stadium ABC. Depending upon if you speak to the rights holder (the relevant Rugby Union body) or the venue (Stadium ABC), you are most likely to get two different sets on hospitality packages. Again, each set of options serves the best interests of the entity promoting those options.
Thirdly, agents. These are predominately sales entities that are supporting either a rights holder or venue by, in most cases, exclusively promoting one entity’s packages (and in some cases, only one package). They are also likely to have undertaken a financial commitment to these packages. Agents are therefore financially invested (or even contractually bound) to only offer specific options or, more importantly, only part of the market because they have invested in a specific NRL Grand Final package, as an example.
Due to this layering and market structure, it certainly can feel like an entity is only offering you the packages that suit their needs rather than yours.
So, how can I get the full picture and unbiased advice to help me make the best decision?
You could spend days on the internet searching and calling rights holders, venues, caterers, ticketing companies, agents, sub agents, tour companies and more, but that’s not a great use of anyone’s time! Alternatively, you could simply engage with a broker, the same way we do for many other aspects of life; from insurance, travel, hotels, electricity, gas and so on.
At Events was established because the founders saw that clients were not being properly represented in the market and were certainly not being offered the right options for them. The team has years of experience in the market, working for venues, rights holders, ticketing companies as well as owning agencies. At Events was only able to create a broker concept by having extensive supply relationships and access at all three layers of the market. Now they help clients find the events and packages across sporting events, concerts, shows and overseas tours to suit the client needs!
If you interested in finding out more, contact At Events and discuss how they can help find a solution that actually suits your needs.