Contents

• Introduction 2
• About Ekka 3
• Marketing and Service Quality 5
• Evaluation Criteria 7
• Creating Awareness about the event 7
• Participation of Consumers 8
• Participation of Businesses 9
• The Sale at the Exhibition 9
• Service Quality in the Exhibition 10
• Consumer Experience at EKKA 11
• Assessment of EKKA 11
• Creating Awareness about the event 11
• Participation of Consumers 12
• Participation of Businesses 12
• The Sale in the Exhibition 13
• Service Quality at the Exhibition 13
• Consumer Experience at EKKA 14
• Recommendations 14
• Lessons Learned 14
• Conclusion 15
• References 17

Description

The, Ekka, or the Royal Queensland Show is the annual show of Queensland, Australia (Ekka, 2009). The show originally conceived to exhibit agricultural produces, animals and showcase technological advancements has still retained the tradition of animal exhibits (Ekka, 2009). Although, most of the Ekka events are now centered on food and entertainment like fly wheel, Ekka still retains its heritage of showcasing cattle and agricultural produce. What was started as farmers’ carnival, Ekka now attracts both urban and rural population. Showbags that contain confectionary and other articles have something for everyone to be surprised are one of the main attractions of Ekka. Ekka is also an event where automobile manufacturers, Australian products manufacturers, agricultural producers, nurseries showcase their products. Consumers have a variety of entertainments, food and numerous exhibition stalls to purchase products from. From the management perspective Ekka is a huge marketing exhibition. Ekka is an event where companies and brands can reach to a large number of consumers to create awareness about their products and services. It is an event business houses cannot afford not to showcase their products and services. It is an event when whole of Brisbane rather entire Queensland comes together to shop, celebrate, rejoice and have entertainment. Effective participation and effective exhibits at the venue would go a long way in creating awareness, publicity about the product and services of companies. The writer of this report took the opportunity to participate in the show as a volunteer to learn the management concepts implemented in the show. The purpose of participation was to have a firsthand experience of how marketing strategies are implemented in a real life scenario. The writer joined the marketing team of Ekka as a volunteer. The job was to reach out to corporate houses, food chain companies, fast food enterprises to encourage participation. The job also involved in attending to participation inquiries, convey to them about the existing rates to have stalls and the possible quantum of business generated from the exhibition. The job was also to act as facilitator to the participating companies like filling up forms, help them choose a stall, making them understand the rules and conduct during the show. The writer with the theoretical knowledge on marketing and services and practical experience gained out of participating in Ekka show has developed evaluation criteria of marketing efforts of Ekka. The show’s actual success has been measured with the help of the criteria. The success and shortfall of Ekka against each criterion are discussed in this report. The report finally makes recommendations as to what could be improved in the marketing efforts and management of Ekka show.