“Our goal is to strengthen our position in the international market”

In early 2018, beon. Worldwide took a step further and opened a new office in the city of Paris, to be part of a network already including Rome, Lisbon, and several offices in Spain. And now, what will be the next office location?
From its foundation, beon. had always had an international calling, and in fact an important part of our billing is outside Spain. Last year, with the aim of continue growing in the international market, we decided to take a new branding strategy to unite all our marketing brands under the holding de beon. Worldwide. In the European sphere, our focus is on the British and German market, aiming to achieve a strategic positioning in the continent.

From national to international, form events to integrated communication… What are the key aspects of the business strategy by beon. Worldwide?
The key is to continue growing as a company that offer integrated services in the field of communication, providing unique solutions for a global market.

In our industry everything changes at great speed, and there we must facilitate solutions. We solve the needs of big structures by providing flexible management and, we move in the scale economies of medium-sized organizations, and work with a startup mentality. It may seem quite head-spinning, but it is part of our daily challenge in the pursuit of both geographical and industry growth.

In this sense, to be economically independent from third parties bring us a great freedom of management and growth. This independent spirit grant us agility in comparison with the multinational model of big companies.

And what about the company’s philosophy?
In our group DNA there is a resilient capacity of adaptation to an ever-changing industry scenario. This is the reason why, during the last economic crisis, we decided to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, being able to produce integrated events by having full control of all the steps in the process.

This led us to invest in all the potential needs generated during the production phases (metal and wood works, audiovisual production, printing, technology, audiovisuals…). Technology is now a key aspect of event production, we understand it as an integrating element and we blend it in all phases of production. Innovation is not just part of creativity.

Growth based on the opening of new offices and the acquisition of new companies, such as Sörensen and Avantine. Have you in mind further operations of this kind?
One of our biggest challenges for a company that performs three major acquisitions in a short period of time (one year and a half) is the assimilation of their professionals, to endow all the company members with a single brand philosophy.

We have several challenges ahead in terms of structure and business. More than other incorporations, one of our major objectives in the next year will be to strengthen, consolidate and empower these business lines.

We have always been very attentive to the technological and digital sectors. We contemplate initiatives in this sector, always linked to the field of emotional communication.

Besides, we have started our path in the industry of entertainment becoming producers of the musical “El Médico”, with world premiere in Madrid. Very soon we will announce another great show in this sphere.

The company has experienced a considerable growth in the field of marketing and advertising… What would you say is the positioning of beon. Worldwide in the advertising market and what it competitive advantage with respect to the traditional agencies? What are the innovations beon. brings to advertisers?
Our goal in this field is to become a leading player among independent agencies at a national level, occupying a top position and having a great brand vision.

2018 for us has been a year of planning and growth with the acquisition of Avantine, and in 2019 we will face the challenge of consolidating our company to compete within the advertising industry.

We are in a constantly changing market that gives us the opportunity to offer a less traditional way of advertising. We will offer solutions leveraging our know-how to create experiences and new ways of communication through events.

Your professional career makes you one of the executives who knows more about event organization, a communication strategy at its best after the crisis period. Could you share your vision about the trends that will dominate this industry in the short to medium term?
The objective of any event is to move the audience on the one side, and to reinforce the bond of attendees and brand. Words are ephemeral, but feelings and experiences remains forever. This is the objective of emotional communication.

Technology, Big Data, and neuromarketing have a crucial role as powerful tools to improve the attendee experience. To enable event data in real time grants us the control of its management and enhance future decision-making. Events are not a goal per se, but rather an investment on brand image, positioning, and conversion beyond the action itself.

Innovation and creativity are the foundation of all trends, and will be part of all the actions to be developed. Events assessment and results measurements, personalization, and sustainability are also in the spotlight.

I believe in cognitive technology, and its correct implementation should lead to a better user experience, plus help to optimize the production costs, to improve the segmentation and the research. In all, to improve the financial results.

What is the level of events in Spain in comparison with the respect to other countries? In your opinion, who are the best event professional at a global scale?
At an international level, events are much more developed because they are now part of the vision of a company. Thus, investment and budget increase as part of the marketing strategy.

Spain has considerably evolved during the last decade, but still it has not reached the level of other European countries. The paragon are the Nordic countries due to their professionalism and rigorousness. In these destinations, the event manager is a highly valued profession and the agencies fees are quite above the income received in Spain.

As the CEO of a company focused on integrated communication, when would you say events are the ideal tool to solve a communication problem and when are they may be not recommended?
Experience supports us when we say that an event is multifaceted. Everything depends on the design, the format, and the channels used to direct the actions towards some objectives or others. Communication and, therefore, events are effective transparency symbols for companies.

An event including a loyalty program or a motivational convention can be the key to improve and increase both the pride of belonging and the brand recognition in any difficult situation a company may experience.

Many advertising and communication companies currently have problems to recruit talent because many professionals are not prepared to meet the demands imposed by digital transformation. Is this situation transferable to the industry of events?
The difficulty of finding professionals right now common to all sectors. Professionals today must be hybrids, as new profiles are sometimes created on the fly because they have no time to develop the traditional regulated training. All this makes the talent search much more complicated. Even so, we must see it as an opportunity, provided that companies occupy the forefront of talent management, what in the end will take us to lead the market.
In the event industry it has always been difficult to find the right professionals. Companies need a multidisciplinary profile expert in many areas at the same time. The market evolves very fast and training must be constant to keep this professionals updated with brand solutions.