Creating an Event

The eight of you reading this who know something about Sprint Car Racing understand what this comment means (click here).

What is the one event your brand hosts each year ... the event that is the pinnacle of everything you stand for? The one event that your customers MUST purchase from you or they have FOMO?

Do not answer "Christmas" or answer with a generic "Holiday" statement. Don't do that. That's not an event.

Do not answer "We have a sale the same day as Amazon Prime Day". That means you are a parasite.

Do not answer "We are 75% off on swimwear in July". That's not an event. That's a capitulation.

What is the one event your brand hosts each year that is the pinnacle of everything you stand for?

If you cannot answer that question, you don't have an event, and you don't stand for much.

In the NFL, you have the Super Bowl. Everything builds toward that event. Soccer/Football has the World Cup ... only held every four years. The EFL has promotion/relegation which builds all year until crazy stuff happens in late April - May.

Amazon has Prime Day. They created that, you know, out of thin air ... a summer event at an awful time of the year ... turning it into the GDP of Sweden. They duped the entire trade industry into promoting the event for them. They duped Target into supporting Amazon by creating their own parasitic event. They duped you into selling your merchandise on Prime Day on their platform to support their event.

Nordstrom has Anniversary Sale (late July - early August), selling new Fall merch at 20% off (whereas it is full-price otherwise ... not a fake sale). I saw how a brand builds anticipation toward an event, pushing the entire rewards program toward purchases that give the customer perks for the event.

What is the one event your brand hosts each year that is the pinnacle of everything you stand for?

No, it is not the "Outerwear Sale" in October ... unless everything your brand does all year builds to that one event. I was in a meeting at Eddie Bauer in 1998 where the CEO told the room he wanted to maintain "sale integrity" and he felt that having 30 sale events out of 52 weeks did that but the 31st sale would push the customer too far. So the "Outerwear Sale" had no meaning ... it was the 30th different sale.

I'm asking you what is the one event you have that sets you apart from everybody else?

Can you answer the question?

If not, maybe it is time to create an event?