Demand for delegate passes far exceeded supply at this year’s Cloudforce London event. Alex Aspinall reports
Just as an international rock group might add extra dates to a sell-out world tour, demand was so great for delegate places at the recent Cloudforce conference that host Salesforce decided to stage an encore the very next day. It was a pretty good result for the tech giant and its lead singer, CEO and chairman Marc Benioff, especially with the second day selling out and late-comers eagerly consoling themselves watching the live stream on Facebook.
But why was demand for the event – the UK’s version of Dreamforce, which attracts approximately 45,000 delegates in the US – so high? It was free. And marketed very well, which will have helped. And the delightful backdrop provided by the Royal Festival Hall added nicely to the prestige of the day. But, as ever, content emerged as king. Cloud computing and the concept of a social enterprise are undoubtedly two of tech’s hot topics at the moment. And it seems they are subjects Britain’s marketers are very eager to learn more about.
They are also ideas Salesforce is very eager to promote; a match made in heaven, then. Benioff’s marathon two-and-a-half-hour opening keynote speech, which began with dimmed light and pumping intro music, and ended with widespread palpable relief, was packed full of inspirational overviews and useful takeaways. But it was also laced with overt sales pitches and product demonstrations, generating something of a mixed response from the audience.
The man has a lot of energy and enthusiasm and you couldn’t help but acquiesce when he was offering to, “Show you what the future looks like,” and “Open the door” for you. Amid all the Californian razzle-dazzle and pantomime there was a decent amount of meaningful, forward-thinking content. However, you did have to be willing to ignore certain elements of the micro-managed proceedings.
Indeed, this could have been considered best practice Cloudforce-coping strategy. As Paul Maher, MD at Positive Marketing, explains, “Mr Benioff creates a lot of Hoopla. The best thing is to take it with a pinch of salt. Like many B2B marketing pros, we do not believe Facebook is a good idea for business promotion. That said; this event makes a ton of sense for almost any marketing or sales leader to attend. Miss this and you miss out.”
And all that jazz
In many ways, Cloudforce was a B2B marketing tour de force, and proof that the power of face-to-face events has not subsided despite the digitalisation of business messages. Indeed, unless you were there on a specific mission to learn more about product X or Y, it became noticeable that the event itself was almost bigger than the products on show. It was slick: from the premier riverside setting to the quality of the lunches dished out and the six MacBook Pros adorning the main stage, everything was designed to create a certain experience and sense
of occasion.
“The events are starting to get as much attention as the products do,” acknowledges Charlie Richey, product marketer for Salesforce, and one of an army of the host’s employees circulating throughout the RFH. “We really like doing the event here but next year we will probably have to move to somewhere bigger. Cloudforce is just getting too big to stage at the Royal Festival Hall now.”
You have to be impressed when such boasts are entirely justified. How many other companies could create this level of excitement about what is essentially a jazzed-up user conference?
The event also offered a shop window for a plethora of other brands to showcase their products and services alongside Salesforce’s offerings. Among the sponsors, which included big names such as Eloqua, Fujitsu and IBM, was marketing automation specialist Marketo, which was also reflecting on a successful couple of days. “This was our first big event in the UK and marked Marketo’s launch into the UK market,” explains Liz Smyth, EMEA marketing director at Marketo. She adds, “Salesforce events are always very well organised, high energy events. It was well promoted, attracted a huge crowd, secured good media presence and coverage, and delivered inspiring keynotes and fantastic content in breakouts.”
Mission complete
Obviously Salesforce’s marketing budget dwarfs that of the average B2B brand, which makes putting together these large scale events a bit easier. But marketing spend, regardless of the quantity in question, is designed to create a meaningful return. So how would Salesforce, which plays some part in around 80 conferences and seminars each year, be measuring the success of the event?
John Taschek, Salesforce’s VP market strategy, was on hand to offer an explanation. “Marc doesn’t think in terms of ‘if a certain event was worth it’. It is a bigger picture issue. It is about creating awareness, which leads to communication and conversation with our sales team. The last thing we want to do is go to a customer, just to sell them a product. We want to be engaged.
“Now we view ourselves as the leader, not just somebody out there, we have the responsibility of educating the customer base and the prospects to think differently about new technologies and solutions. The objective is not necessarily to sell but to get people here. We bring in analysts and press and try to be a catalyst.”
Again, you have to take your hat off to Salesforce. If the objective was to get people through the door, bombard them with a Salesforce-sponsored vision of the future and then sit back and reap the longer term benefits that are likely to materialise, then it’s probably mission accomplished.
The odd thing is, that although this is true, the event has as many shortcomings as it did praiseworthy elements. An attendee’s ability to marvel at the well-organised, impeccably structured programme was tempered by the way they were moved around like children when Benioff was due on stage. And for every great piece of advice or insight there was always a sales pitch or product demonstration counterbalancing the offering.
So how best to sum up Cloudforce London 2011? Rob Attryde, marketing communications manager at Kyocera Mita, did a pretty good job, saying, “Would I go again? No. I didn’t learn enough about new interesting market trends, or where social media is going, or anything that I think would help me do my job better. Do I like the products? Absolutely, and I want them all right now.” And it’s likely the Salesforce team would probably take that.
Cloudforce in numbers
5000: delegates
52: sponsors
4: Cloudforce events have been held in London
19: breakout sessions
2.5 hours: length of Marc Benioff’s keynote presentation
