Good Recaps Include the Bad News
Peralta Experiences, High Profile Promotions, and Next Level Marketing on recaps that show clients what worked, what didn't, and what it sold.
We asked three agency leaders who staff events on MainEvent what clients expect from a recap now. Perla Peralta’s answer stood out: tell them what didn’t work.
“In 2022 it was, we just kind of need a body. We want them to be bubbly. Now you have to prove your value.”
Perla Peralta, Owner
Ask what went wrong
- Agencies tend to send clients only the positives, Perla says, because nobody wants to tell a client something went wrong.
- Her MainEvent recaps keep one question just for negative feedback. That is where a brand learns its product tastes chalky and goes back to reformulate.
A Next Level recap from a Suntory All-Free tasting: shoppers 35 and younger loved it, older shoppers mostly didn’t, so the brand knows who to sample next time.
“At the end of the day, they have a marketing budget. They need to get ROI on their marketing budget. And if we can help them deliver past what their expectation is, we are going to be a long-term partner.”
Pete Everest
Check it against store sales
- A Next Level client told Paige Seager about a supplier that had decided “tastings don’t work.” He pulled sales from one of his larger stores, showed a significant lift on tasting days, and the supplier changed its mind.
- Some retailers, H-E-B in particular, now share hour-by-hour sales. Pete Everest’s clients at High Profile Promotions check his packages per demo against them.
- Next Level’s full-time merchandisers report shelf sets, cold box placements, and displays built, each backed by photos. Some of those reports go to supplier presidents and CEOs.
“Things are getting a lot tougher. People want more for less, and we need to show them what we are doing on their behalf. That's why data and information is just so key to every single thing that we do.”
Paige Seager, Founder and Managing Principal
Report it while it matters
- Early-stage brands “want tons of reporting,” Pete says. His clients log into MainEvent and can read any recap 48 hours after the event.
- Perla now turns around next-day requests she used to push back on, and leads her sales pitch with the software.
Recaps roll up into a dashboard you can filter by program, market, and event type.
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More on how Perla runs her team: A People-First Approach to Experiential Marketing.
