Splash CEO Ben Hindman: Event Marketing is the Only Effective Marketing

What makes you loyal to the brands you love? The brands that you keep coming back to, even when it's not convenient. The brands you refuse to give up, even when competing brands bring better and more innovative products to market. 

For me I can usually point directly to an experience. Perhaps a time I used the product for the first time, maybe the person I was with, or the people I interacted with. In other words an experience. It’s the experiences I associate with a brand that make me a loyal consumer. 

Let's take it one step further. At the center of those experiences is a feeling. Happy, free, confident, attractive, comfortable, warm, curious, grateful and love, are just some of the feelings and emotions that anchor us to specific experiences. If I can confidently choose a brand, knowing that I will an have an experience that will leave me feeling great, I'll be far less likely to deviate to other comparable options. 

While there is plenty of psychology to delve into here, the short version is this: we are creatures of habit and we are simultaneously incredibly risk-averse. A guaranteed outcome in hand makes the switching cost to another brand seem much higher than it actually is. As a result we become more and more loyal to brands or routines over time. 

Here’s another reality: with so many competing products today, cutting through the noise has become increasingly more difficult. 

So how to brands do it? How can brands cultivate attraction, curate meaningful experiences, and convert that into deep customer loyalty.

According to Splash CEO Ben Hindman the answer is simple:

"Events Marketing. It’s the most important thing thats going on. People aren’t too focused on it, but it’s huge.” - Ben Hindman

Ever since founding Splash in 2012, Ben and his team, have been in the center of the events industry and its intersection with the digital world. Self-described as the world’s first software for events marketing designed to maximize impact, it’s clear they’re on to something. Just take a look at ticketing for concerts and sports arenas, company holiday parties, and the entertainment industry. The the cost of the events is steadily increasing, as are the total dollar amounts companies and organizations are pouring into events. 

Ben continues, discussing the importance of events: "Time is the most valuable thing any of us have. If a marketer wants to get customer buy-in and add-value, they need to do events. If they want to influence people's opinion, it needs to be in person."

It makes sense, after all people "vote" with their time. There is nothing that better highlights the values and priorities people have than how they spend their time.

Ben has taken this to heart, and believes the recent trend towards event marketing is just the beginning: 

"I think the only type of marketing that works is actually doing things. Essentially, events marketing. That’s what I saw when we started Splash and the direction I saw the world moving. The world has caught on to that a little but not as much as I thought it would. But overall, everything I was expecting or hoping would to happen, is happening. The main difference is the timing. I expected the world to change a little faster, but I’ve realized it will take another cycle to get there."

Ben’s vision of the future is a powerful one in which events define brands and are the primary driver of their sales pipeline. He links events directly to each customers sense of identity particularly as technology makes events more accessible:

"I think that in-person will become as track-able as online . That means that we will gravitate toward in-person experiences or perhaps augmented-reality enabled events. Events will be how people define themselves and identify." - Ben Hindman

Splash has already begun demystifying the 'science' of events and has coupled its aesthetic appeal as a landing page with data and analytics for event planners. However, Ben has a much broader vision for Splash moving forward: 

I think we will be the first to completely tie together the online and offline piece of events. We haven’t changed anything in massive way just yet, but I think there’s a lot of possibilities in the future.

Ben and his team at Splash are betting big on events as the future of marketing and they're not wrong. In a world where we are constantly flooded with content and stimuli, we place experiences at a premium. That means the brands that win are the brands that will create memorable experiences.

A huge shout out to Ben Hindman for taking the time to speak with me. I've used Splash plenty of times for my own events professionally and personally. When I had the chance to connect with Ben, I jumped at the opportunity, and we had a great conversation. We cover the transition from entrepreneur to CEO, events marketing, Splash, team-building, managing time, and more. Check out the full interview below.

SG: How do you describe what you do?

BH: My major role is to get my team members to elevate their thinking to the level of the CEO while minimizing distractions so they can best execute. It is hard to work on any piece of the vision, but having transparency and an understanding, of the business helps each of them perform better. It’s important to know what’s going on, while also being able to focus. I think of it in terms of communicating the overall vision and create swim lanes for people. It’s a constant balance of allowing them to see far ahead while simultaneously seeing what’s right in front of them. A phrase I like to use is that my role is like a lighthouse, not a beacon. If you want to simplify it further, much of my role can be boiled down to being repetitive without being annoying. I know what we have to do and the task ahead of us, but it is hard for people to keep that in sight at all times, and its my job to remind them.

SG: How has the role changed over time?

BH: In a short comparison its: Navy Seals vs. Army Commander. I’m much more suited to the latter or essentially where I started out. Which is doing. I’m a great do-er. I’m not as good at planning and organizing so that’s what I’m trying to get better at. Sometimes I still toward default toward ‘doing', but my executives knock me down for that. It’s almost like if we do a deal and I do it myself, we get no credit for that. An investor looks at that and says Ben did that, that’s not scaling or sustainable. I’ve realized it's not hard to do stuff, anyone can do stuff. It’s much harder to get other people to do stuff. 

The old saying that comes to mind right now is: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” - African Proverb

SG: What inspired you to launch and build Splash?

BH: I don’t think I really wanted to be a CEO. I honestly really like what we’re building. I’m entirely obsessed with it and I love to build. 

That’s where it started. I wanted the opportunity to build something like this and I deeply believe in it. I know its a cliche but it’s still true. It’s funny because if I could take away the other parts of being a CEO, I would. The one thing I do love about being a CEO: is that I get to work with 60 great people and in many ways I get to set the culture. It’s incredible that I get to help them succeed in building their lives, and contribute to toward their sense of right and wrong or overall ethics. Outside of that,  I’m an event geek and a product geek. 

SG: Where did this obsession for events begin?

BH: I started working on an organization called Summit Series and then eventually got a job as an events director for Thrillist. I realized what I wanted to build wasn’t there and started looking into it. From there it took on a life of its own. 

SG: Is Splash today what you expected it to be?

BH: Yeah… for the most part. If anything, I thought it would be bigger. The one thing I’m usually good at is seeing where the world is going. I have good instincts there. I expected to see us be at least this far at this point in time. I had even thought we could be further along. But every single day, we are moving faster than we ever have before, and that’s exciting. 

The tough part is being able to see a 60 person company, at a point in time when you’re just a 5 person company. I had that vision of what Splash would look like in a couple years, but it is difficult to get people to buy into that vision. To get people to really believe in it and see it, so far in advanced. 

SG: What didn’t play out the way you expect?

BH: I think the only type of marketing that works is actually doing things. Essentially, events marketing. That’s what I saw when we started Splash and the direction I saw the world moving. The world has caught on to that a little but not as much as I thought it would. The second thing is that it always takes a lot longer to build product than you expect. You can ask anyone that has built software, it always takes longer than you thought it would.

But overall, everything I was expecting or hoping would to happen, is happening. The main difference is the timing. I expected the world to change a little faster, but I’ve realized it will take another cycle to get there. I’d say that by 2020 the world will start to see events marketing as the most viable way to market. 

SG: In some ways moving to events is almost retro to pre-internet. Do you see marketing evolving beyond events? What’s next?

BH: I think that in-person will become as track-able as online. That means that we will gravitate toward in-person experiences or perhaps augmented-reality enabled events. These events will be how people define themselves and identify. That will be the only type of marketing that will exist. These events are what will drive the pipeline and I don’t think other marketing avenues will be able too. To be honest, I don’t think tactics like email marketing drive sales leads or business forward right now. 

Time is the most valuable thing any of us have. If a marketer wants to get customer buy-in and add-value they need to do events. If they want to influence people's opinion, it needs to be in person. The people who are the best at events marketing will become the superhero’s of marketing. 

SG: What is your vision for splash?

BH: I like to think of us like an ego-less platform. Our job is to be as flexible as an event needs. Our job is too create something that can be that customize-able, that flexible, and that surprising. What we will also do is observe who is best in class at marketing events and explore how to replicate that to make it more accessible to everyone.

SG: Have you seen people change the way they do events because of splash?

BH: I do think we’ve had an effect on the market, which is exciting. I don’t have the hubris to say we’ve changed something in a huge - huge way, but I think we’ve reminded people that an event is the front door to your brand. Through an event you have to be on-brand and the only way to do it right is to know your audience exceptionally well. Often brands come to us and say it’s been refreshing for them because, they are already focused on this and trying to figure out how to do it right.

We were the first to do beautiful landing pages for events, which changed the game at the time. That was exciting but i think there will be many more firsts' for us. I think we will be the first to completely tie together the online and offline piece of events. We haven’t changed anything in massive way just yet, but I think there’s a lot of possibilities in the future.

SG: What is one trend we should be focused on but are not?

BH: Events Marketing. It’s the most important thing that's going on. I mean it had a huge impact on the election and is having a similar impact on businesses. People aren’t too focused on it, but it’s huge.

SG: What has been your biggest personal growth since starting splash?

BH: I’ve learned to take failures a little differently and much less personally. I’ve learned to relax into failures and into the uncertainty. 

SG: What is the number one skill or practice you’re focused on developing?

BH: Discipline. It’s very easy to not be disciplined, especially with my time. Given that part of my job is being able to multi-task, I’m very focused on being disciplined with how and where i spend my time.

Want more from Ben? Check out Ben here, visit Splash to create your next event pages, and watch Ben's Mashable Video below on creating blockbuster brand events.