VII. Event-Centric Travel™

Event-Centric Travel™ is a term coined by Kevin Joseph of Event Savant™. It refers to a mindset and a values system of the most coveted kind of consumer / traveler; one that belongs to The Social Set™ (and often in multiple cities, countries or continents). These are premium or ultra-premium consumers, travelers and often, donors. They attend a lot of events. They are very well traveled. These are Post-Consumption Consumers who look for events worth traveling to in destinations that they enjoy. 


Seth Godin writes about Post-Consumption Consumers in his book Purple Cow. These are consumers who have all that they need (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, even significance) and have achieved the point of looking for things (often experiences) beyond what they've already achieved. They've already found and procured all that they need and much of what they want.  Now they are looking for what they really want, things that help them stand out further. There are two key words in that last sentence: LOOKING and WANT. Often these are material items; They have a nice car. But they want the latest Audi. But often times, these are experiences. Here is an illustration: Saying, "I was in the Aspen this weekend." is not as interesting as saying "I was in Aspen this weekend for The Food and Wine Classic". It's more exclusive and it's more interesting. It's also a better experience for that kind of consumer. 


Event-Centric Travel™ is something that Post-Consumption Consumers are already doing. It gives them what they are looking for and what they want. Event Savant Says™ was developed (in part) to give these people a tool of discovery that allows them to discover and share events worth traveling to. It helps them to eliminate the noise generated by a myriad of offers.


Example: Destination-centric travel marketing's message is: "Come to Aspen". How many times have you seen that kind of message? But Event-centric travel marketing's message is: "Come to The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen". 


I call destination-centric travel marketing noise because there is so much of it and because destinations don't change much-so the message gets old and can get "noisy". But event-centric travel marketing changes as often as events do, (which is very often). And the information about events in a destination is more valuable to a more valuable consumer. Everyone knows where and what Aspen is. But not everyone knows what or when The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen is. This premium information gives people more reasons to travel to a place and it makes them appear to be cooler, smarter or more sophisticated when they are in a great place at the right time. 


Post-Consumption Consumers and Event-Centric Travelers occupy the high end of the "experience economy" we all live in. But these consumers are the most interested, interesting and influential among us. The are the viral agents. They talk. They influence others. And they spend more money. 


Finally, events create an interesting social dynamic that is appealing to these consumers. These are open minded travelers who enjoy meeting locals as well as other visitors because to like to talk about who they are, where they come from, what the do and why they are there. They also like to learn about those things from others. Any given event becomes a common experience that serves as an ice breaker and forms bonds very quickly. It gives the same people in the same place at the same time more to connect with and more to talk about and more ways to engage with others.  


In closing, this is how I like to travel, whenever possible. I think that makes both events and travel much more interesting. Most of my most treasured adventures have been planned around events.