Practitioner Sensemaking of Event Marketing Managerial Practice: a Socio-Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Study

Marketing management theory in event and festival management literature contextualises general marketing management principles and invariably refers to marketing analysis and decision-making. Few studies consider practitioner views of marketing managerial practice in the work place and impact in day-to-day operations. This research covers fieldwork in a traditional hermeneutic manner and evidence taken from interviews with twelve practitioners from the industry. Four prominent themes of marketing managerial practice emerged from the research. Firstly, the meaning of marketing managerial practice cannot be satisfactorily explained by conventional event marketing theory. Secondly, these event professionals’ made sense of the meaning of marketing managerial practice in terms of three elements; management identities, extended event marketing networks and innovative event marketing output including storytelling and content. This thesis proposes a new conceptual model that describes these findings, an Event Marketing Functionality Model. Finally, this conceptual model makes sense of practitioner meaning from a sociological standpoint as a social practice - a new perspective instead of a traditional classical marketing stance. This research contributes to both professional practice and academic knowledge. In professional practice, this work asks practitioners to adopt recommendations set out in the conclusion section as this will lead to a more coherent and productive professional approach if recognised and acted on by those involved. The recommendations include a) practitioner use of the new conceptual model in developing best practice in event marketing; b) training and mentoring in event marketing practice is necessary; c) peer-to-peer learning would help develop new ways or working and d) adoption of innovative practices including storytelling and content to maximise opportunities in the field. This work also contributes to academic knowledge and the social-phenomenology of marketing work. Furthermore, this research also contributes new knowledge and to professional practice as event management /marketing performance as opposed to classic concern with ‘technique’ - so this thesis shifts the conversation from dominant concern with ‘technique’ to something more profound. This research provides new insights into event marketing managerial practice and the influence and importance of people in the process.