As CMI pointed out recently, the trend toward companies using preferred vendors is alive and well. To prove the point, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has officially joined the preferred hotels crowd. According to the BTN article: “Major pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly & Co. during the past 18 months developed, negotiated and implemented a preferred meetings hotel program and mandated its use by internal meeting sponsors. Almost all of the firm’s nearly 1,000 domestic meetings now use one of four preferred chains, allowing the company to negotiate standard contracts with favorable rate, service levels and conditions.”

While it’s probably a boon to the big chains and a money-saver for companies, I can’t help but wonder what this does to the smaller boutique hotels, conference centers, and others who might not be able to win a bid?

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From the latest issue of Corporate Meetings & Incentives: “There are rankings for just about everything these days. Not to be outdone, Old Spice, the Procter & Gamble-owned deodorant manufacturer, has a list of its own–the sweatiest cities in America. El Paso, Texas, known as Sun City, earned top honors this year, followed by Greenville, S.C., and last year’s champ, Phoenix. For winning, El Paso Mayor Joe Wardy was presented with a year’s supply of Old Spice Red Zone antiperspirant.”

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According to this article from Special Events, a survey of U.S.-based corporate marketing executives conducted by the George P. Johnson Co. and the MPI Foundation found that face-to-face events deliver a greater return on investment than other customary marketing tools.

Event marketing was the most popular marketing tool among the survey respondents, with 44% giving it top marks for effectiveness. Advertising ranked second at 18%, followed by direct marketing at 15%, and single-digit marks for public relations, sales promotion, and Internet advertising.

Well, that’s great. But the article also says, “fewer companies expected to devote more dollars to event marketing in the near future. Some marketers are shifting some of their resources to increased investments in Internet advertising and public relations. These choices likely relate to the executives’ concerns for highly measurable results for economical investments.”

I understand that they need to be able to measure results–which is difficult for f2f events–but wouldn’t it make more sense to find ways to measure what works than to try new avenues that haven’t been as effective in the past?

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Sorry to have been so quiet lately. I just spent a lovely, if warm, four-day mini-vacation at my in-laws’ place in Myrtle Beach, S.C. I have to admit that I was a little nervous flying out of Boston the day after the DNC–both for security reasons and for the dread of lines, lines, lines.

Surprise–despite the plethora of people wearing funny hats and red, white, and blue t-shirts, the security line was the shortest I’ve seen it since 9/11. Our flight to Charlotte, N.C., was packed with fleeing delegates, but I was heartened to see two bomb-sniffing dogs and their handlers in the bulkhead seats in first class as I boarded the plane. Put my paranoia right to rest: Even though they were off-duty and heading home, I could see their noses sampling the air as we walked by them.

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