References...

Gray, R. (26^th February 2012) Crufts Hit By Row Over Health Of Pedigree Dogs [online]. The Daily Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/petshealth/9105682/Crufts-hit-by-row-over-health-of-pedigree-dogs.html [Accessed 12th March 2012]

Wilson, C. (2012) Rockin’: Maverick Sabre Proves Why He’s Shot To Fame With A Perfect Performance At A Secret Rooftop Gig [online]. Available from: http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/music/maverick-sabres-secret-rooftop-gig-757704 [Accessed 12th March 2012]

Richardson, N. & Laville, L. (2010) Develop Your PR Skills. 1^st edition. Great Britain: Kogan Page

Crufts Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Crufts

Crufts Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/#!/kclovesdogs

Crufts Official Webpage: http://www.crufts.org.uk/

Maverick Sabre Facebook Page; http://www.facebook.com/mavericksabre

Maverick Sabre Twitter Page; http://twitter.com/#!/mavericksabre

Maverick Sabre Official Webpage; http://www.mavericksabre.com/

News Releases....

' Media relations is highly valued as a PR tool because of its impartially; journalists are largely impartial and objective, they look at the full story from all angles and generally thier reporting is concidered to be factual and credible' (N. Richardson & L. Laville, 2010)

Both have had coverage in the media in forms of press releases although one was better than the other....
The heading for the Crufts press release is:

Crufts hit by row over health of pedigree dogs

The Crufts press release is about an investigation that revealed the extent of health problems suffered by popular breeds. The claims are from a documentary as a follow up show Pedegree Dogs Exposed, which first highlighted the health problems from dog breeding practices. This then led onto some of the sponsors pulling out of the event and the corporation ended its coverage after 42 years.
It then goes onto say the conditions these dogs suffer which is a severe neurological condition known as syringomyelia.  Many of the readers were angry about this and the report ended with a quote from the Kennel Club stating:

 ' The Kennel Club hopes the research will enable breeders to mate dogs that are as genetically different from each other as possible in a bid to cut inbreeding. They will use the information to develop a new service that will allow breeders to check the compatability of mating pairs'
Becuause the Crufts press release was bad, and has a purswasive impact on the reader it could effect their ticket sales. We shall see if  the ticket sales decline'

Here is the press release:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/petshealth/9105682/Crufts-hit-by-row-over-health-of-pedigree-dogs.html

'When press releases go wrong (and they go wrong with worringly regularity!), they can have deverstating effects. Not only can precious time, money and resources be wasted, but your name, brand equity (the value of the brand) and the reputation could all be adversly affected' (N. Richardson & L. Laville, 2010)

This press release broke out just a week before the event which although it didnt put Crufts in a good light it does make people talk about the event and what the press release said.

Maverick Sabre didnt have any press releases prior or during his tour, which could have effected the numbers attending. He did however have a press release after the tour had finished.

The heading for the release is.....

Rockin; Maverick Sabre proves why he has shot to fame with a perfect performance at a secret rooftop gig 

The press release starts with the fact he has sold over 500,000 copies of his album in the last four weeks and that he had reached two in the album chart last month. continuing with a description of Maverick Sabre's style and genre to let the readers aware. It then goes on to say that this performance alongside Mistajam at the Motorola Urban Mountain party ahead of the pair’s appearances at April’s Snowbombing music festival in the Alps. Lastly, they end the release with a couple of quotes from Mistajam, who is seen as a professional in the industry saying:

 'It’s just an amazing time for British music and Maverick Sabre epitomises everything that’s great about the UK right now'

This is the press release:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/music/maverick-sabres-secret-rooftop-gig-757704



Although it doesnt have any relevance to his 'Lonely Are the Brave' tour, it is however promoting his appearance at April's Snowbombing Festival. This press release was only released one day after his tour ended so people that would have heard of him or went to one of his gigs will be recieving more information about him keeping it fresh in their minds. Because this press release is a positve one fans and potentail followers will think even better than him then they did before.

Advertising.. 'Outside'

' The term 'outdoor' traditionally refers to billboards, posters, transportation, illuminations, artworks and street furniture. This form of advertising has a long life and is concidered a low cost option because it has a broad reach. Targeting is generally therefore not that specific, although billboard rotation systems and relocation packages can be  purchased in order to reach new territories' (G. Masterman & E. Wood, 2006)

Both Crufts and Maverick Sabre use marketing 'outside' although in different ways.

Crufts have a poster in Birmingham train station, which allows for great coverage of the event as it is a busy train station. Their advantages and disadvantage is thier mobility and therefore their targeting limitations, saying this, many people who get trains im guessing get there a little before so they dont miss the trains and so will have time to look around and so will see the advert.

Maverick Sabre has a billboard for his new album cover and although it isnt specifically for his tour, people will look at it and maybe look him up on the internet so then you will see that he has a tour. I feel it is still an effective way of advertising. However, short exposure time is a problem and drivers pass billboards quickly even if they pass them frequently messages need to be clear so passers by can get all the information they need with a quick look.
Here is the billboard-

Social Media.. Twitter..

 Twitter, like facebook is a social media networking service and microblogging, that enables its users to send and read text based posts of up to 140 characters known as 'tweets'. these are then either displayed to the public or to followers. Twitter users can also send direct messages to followers and you can also re-tweet.

This is graph from Mintel which shows the unique visitors to twitter as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011

From this we can see that over the years the number of vistitors is on the increase and by the end of 2011 there was just under 15% of internet users using twitter, and therefore a good place to advertise an event and get people talking.



Crufts do have a twitter page that has been set up by the Kennel Club, which is called KC Loves Dogs. This can be easily accessed either through the offical website or it can be found through a search on the twitter page.

The useage for twitter for fans and visitors means that they can see up to date news about the event, and also like facebook can see what others think Crufts and the previous shows. Users of twitter can also comment on other peoples tweets meaning they can have a full conversation and as many people can get involved.

The Crufts twitter page has
9,350 followers
5,752 Tweets
3,812 Following

Maverick Sabre also uses twitter even more so than he does facebook. On his official website it actually has the tweets at the bottom of the page so fans or visitors of the website can see what he is up to without having to go into thier twitter account. This is also good as people that dont have twitter can still see whats going on.

His twitter page is updated regularly which is good as it lets his fans know what going on and he is able to inform anybody if anything changes or if he has any important announcements.

Currently Maverick Sabre twitter page has:
94,680 Followers
13,305 Tweets
408 Following

In conclusion to this, it is clear that both use this kind of marketing communications to advertise and to connect with the visitors. Both of the pages were updated recently and so it is hard to come to a conclusion on which one is more effective. The last tweet on the crufts page currently was 15 hours ago, whereas Maverick Sabre's last tweet was 13 hours ago. It is clear that they both make good useage of twitter and understand the popularity of socical media sites hence why they make sure visitors and fans are kept up to date.
Finally, Maverick Sabre has 94,680 followers whereas Crufts has only 9,350 so it may be that the target audience for Crufts use facebook or use the offical website for infomation. From this graph from Mintel, we can see the age range of people that use social networking sites are aged between 16-24 closely followed by 25-34 which is the target market Maverick Sabre aims at which could explain why the numbers of followers he has is much greater than Crufts. Although, Crufts twitter page is still an effective way of marketing the event.

Social Networks.. Facebook

Social networks such as facebook and twitter are becoming more and more popular and are a cheap way of advertising an event. With clear links on the websites of both Crufts and Maverick Sabre it is easy to start following the events and have your say as well as talking and meeting people who are also interested in these events.

Facebook is the leading social network site in the UK and according to Mintel 73% of internet users have used Facebook, and 57% are regular users who visit Facebook at least once a week.
With the new apps and services facebook offers such as tagging people in pictures and 'likes' it makes the visitor feel more involved and you can also get discounts, take part in competitions and gaming.

Crufts have their own facebook page which is easily accessible from the official website. Here fans will be able to leave comments and post on the wall, and look through the pictures from previous years as well as video links. looking down the wall of the facebook page I found that having a facebook page for Crufts is really beneficial as i didn't realise how many people would actually talk and discuss and yet found the post that was at the top of the page, after 5 minutes there was 18 new posts, where people had joined in conversation and uploaded pictures of their dogs.

To the side of the page there is a section of what Crufts is about and have all of the information you may need if attending the event, such as; Dates, times and location, with a link to the website.
There is also a section where you can go directly to twitter, youtube, results, buying tickets, and subscription to the Crufts magazine.

Facebook allows you to have different 'likes' where you can see what that person or group like so you can click on there to see if you are also interested. Crufts have all the sponsors on this section, which is good as they are getting yet more coverage.

Currently the Crufts facebok page have:
64,200 people liking the page
3,251 people talking about this

From these numbers we can see that having the facebook page for Crufts is really worthwhile, as it gets people talking and getting hyped for the event, and will have people talking about it for a while after. I believe this is a really effective way of marketing communications.



Also like Crufts, Maverick Sabre has a facebook page that is very informative and is updated regularly.

The facebook page has the same layout as the Crufts page, and so has the same sort of information. On the about section, there is a biography of Maverick Sabre and all of the things he has achieved so far. This is good as if fans wanted to find out any information they are able to access it all in this section.

There are hundreds of pictures of Maverick Sabre from previous tours and performances and also some pictures of him in his everyday life which is good for fans as they like to see what he gets up too. There is also a separate page where fans can upload their own photos.

There is a section on the page called 'also on' where Maverick Sabre has listed all of the relevent information such as direct links to his official website, youtube page, twitter and myspace accounts. There is also a long list of music links so you can listen to all of his music and music that is similar to his. These links include: spotify, VEVO, and Deezer.

Again like Crufts fans will be able to get involved in conversations and chats. Due to the nature of the different events, you are able to talk to Maverick Sabre in person as he writes all of his statuses.This is a good thing as his fans will feel they are being acknowledged and that Maverick Sabre cares about what the fans think.

The Maverick Sabre facebook page currently has:
74,923 people liking the page
2,332 talking about this page

I feel the Maverick Sabre facebook page is slightly better in the way that when you first get onto the page, there is a massive picture of the album cover which shows visitors straight away that you are on the right page. Whereas, with Crufts there is a much smaller logo. Although saying this they both have a similar amount of members and likes. Both of the facebook pages are updated regularly and they both allow for fans to get involved and have their say.

Maverick Sabre doesn't have coverage on TV or many other ways of advertising because he is a newcomer, so I feel he really makes this up with the use of social media, although it is clear that the facebook page also works well for Crufts.

Public Relations....

In the events industry mass media and methods are often too expensive, and so use public relations as a way of communication between an organisation and the public. Public relations can help an individual or organisation to grow the public opinion of them by what the organisation do, say, and what others think of the organisation. Most forms of PR are free and if done correctly can have great results.

Public relations is all about raising awareness of your brand, without it no one will know about you. PR puts your brand in front of people that you want to know about you.

The uses of PR can be categorised as the following:

Customer Retention: using PR activity such as events, launches and media liaison to support marketing push to retain customers, grow sales and market share.
Investment: using PR activities such as corporate hospitaltiy to encourage new and further investment via the development of investor relations.
Barganing Status: using PR to build brands in order to achieve better relationships with suppliers and customers.
Staff Relations: Using PR to portray a healthy organisation in order to attract and maintain a desired quality of staff.
Business Development: Initiating and building new businesses through PR activitiy such as events, corporate hospitality and business- to- business communications in order to develop business from new or existing customers.
(G. Masterman & E. Wood, 2006)

It may not increase sales immediately as it is a long term strategy. It is all about building relationships and informing people of the organisations or individuals background so that if somebody wants to go to the event or wants to know more they will remember you. A combination of public relations and social media can help position you in the market, connect with your target audience and build trust.

Crufts and Maverick Sabre will be using different kinds of public relations to make them more successful, here is what they will be doing:

Advertorials
Feature Articles
Advance Articles
Spokespeople and expertise
listings
Reader offers & competitions
Created news

Both of the events want to get their objectives out to the publics to promote Crufts and Maverick Sabre Tour. They want to create awareness and knowledge, ensuring that everybody has an idea of what they are about and to make sure people know when the events are and the purpose of them, plus, where to go for more information. They want to raise awareness to the local communities of how the event will benefit being in the area and to let stakeholders know of the perks of being involved with the events.

Crufts has been around for a long time and so already has the trust and connection with the people that already go there, so using PR means that they are getting a wider audience and to also getting people to talk about the event again as it is a year since the last one you need to put it in front of people faces so they remember. Maverick Sabre will be touring around 8 different places and so all public relations will be used in all of these areas to generate talk of the event and to get people to come to the event. It may also increase reputation for the places that he will be performing at, and loyal fans that follow Maverick Sabre throughout the whole of his tour may want to go back and visit a place again which generates tourism.

Television and Radio ...

' Digital television and radio allow for a higher quality transmissions, more channel and programming choices and a higher degree of interaction than analogue systems. The move to this technology therefore increases the uses and effectiveness of these media for marketing communications. Interactivity is provided in a similar way to the Internet, with the viewer or listener being able to click for additional information, to respond to surveys, to enter competitions and to make purchases' (G. Masterman & E. Wood, 2006)



Crufts have coverage on the More 4 channel who will be covering the event over the 4 days. Viewers will be able to watch the event from the comfort of their home on the 8th to the 11th of March, from 18:30 - 21:00. As well as being able to stream live videos from Youtube and videos on the C4 website. Documentaries commissioning editor Anna Miralis ordered the coverage and said: “Crufts is an extremely popular event, with a loyal audience that looks forward to coverage on More4''
 http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/commissioning/channel-4/crufts-gets-third-run-on-more-4/5038320.article

According to TGI, we can see the type of people that watch More4 and find out everything about them.

From this information, we can see that the average age of people that watch More4 are people aged between 25- 44. The average total personal income before tax is £30,000- £33,000 and it shows that the majority of the people watching this channel have children. The people that watch this channel are more likely to go to Crufts as this is the target market they are trying to target, and so having Crufts on this channel is a good idea. It also means that many different countries around the world can watch Crufts.

Here is an advert for the event;

Crufts will be covering the event through iTunes podcasts. There is an easy link on the website which takes you directly to the page, showing all of the various podcasts. The page is also going to be updated throughout the weekend so you wont miss out on the lasted news and interviews.

Maverick Sabre doesn't have any coverage of his tour on TV although he does get a lot of coverage on Radio1. Being a listener myself of Radio1 I have now heard Maverick Sabre twice being interviewed, on searching the website Maverick Sabre has got 15 different videos of interviews and songs which fans can watch and catch up with his latest songs and news.

This is an interview with Fearne Cotton:

From TGI we can see that the majority of listeners of Radio1 are aged between 15 and 34 and that the highest working status for the listeners are non working but full time students, which are the people Maverick Sabre  is targeting his tour to.


I think both of the events have considered the marketing through television and radio very carefully. Although with radio you are only limited to sound, however Maverick Sabre is an artist and so if you like the sound of his voice you do not necessarily need to see him. Also, Radio1 listeners are diverse and like many different genres of music, being able to have interviews on the show means he can advertise to a wider range of people. Crufts being on television means that viewers will have the visual of colour and movement that can be combined with sound, unlike radio. This means that they are able to be creative to build the atmosphere effectively in order to build brand image. Crufts will also be able to offer the sponsors a lot more coverage as it is on the television for the four days throughout the event and you can now watch Crufts after the event on catch up channels. This doesn't affect Maverick Sabre as he doesn't have any sponsors.

Overall, television offers the highest potential for reach, while it is in the relatively higher rates paid, the cost per contact is low, and with all media selection, targeting is crucial. I feel they have both got the targets right and are using the right advertising for their type of event.