Name: Event Masters: Cliff Rigano of Mast-Jägermeister US on putting people at the heart of events
Uploaded: 2024-07-24T10:10:05.066Z
Duration: 783.66

BizBash Event Masters_ Cliff Rigano v2.mp4

BizBash Event Masters_ Cliff Rigano v2.vtt

English

{{00:00:17}}
With 2022 on the horizon, we know
your event strategy is top of mind.

{{00:00:21}}
Will in person events be a thing?

{{00:00:23}}
Are we back to all virtual?

{{00:00:25}}
How am I going to keep attendees engaged?

{{00:00:27}}
So much to do, so little time.

{{00:00:29}}
Who's got your back on the technical
details so you can focus on creating

{{00:00:33}}
the best possible experience?

{{00:00:35}}
Whether it's in person, virtual,
or both, we have all the solutions.

{{00:00:39}}
And partners that can bring
your vision to life with ease.

{{00:00:43}}
Meet Hubilo, the event platform you
want with the support team you need.

{{00:00:52}}
My name is Cliff Rigano.

{{00:00:53}}
I am creative director and head of
culture content and experiential

{{00:00:56}}
marketing for Mast-Jägermeister US.

{{00:00:58}}
I am a creative dot connector between
all of our above the line media work,

{{00:01:02}}
all of our agency partners, and all
of our global thought leadership.

{{00:01:05}}
And I bring that down through the
line into all of our programmatic

{{00:01:08}}
work and all of our verticals.

{{00:01:10}}
So all of our social content, all of
our cultural marketing, all of our

{{00:01:13}}
experiential activations,  everything
flows seamlessly from beginning to end.

{{00:01:23}}
My career started,  25
years ago, I was a musician.

{{00:01:29}}
I, at the time had spent seven
or eight years writing, releasing

{{00:01:34}}
independent music through the nineties.

{{00:01:35}}
And we in 2000 had signed one
of the largest record deals

{{00:01:40}}
at the time for a rock band.

{{00:01:42}}
But all good things come to an end and
in the entertainment business, they

{{00:01:45}}
tend to come to an end pretty quickly.

{{00:01:47}}
So we ended up within a year
losing that record deal.

{{00:01:50}}
But at the same time that
we lost the record deal.

{{00:01:53}}
We were one of the first 10 artists
sponsored by Jägermeister and

{{00:01:57}}
their then fledgling music program.

{{00:02:00}}
It was based on just a love of
the band and a love of the music.

{{00:02:03}}
And when, when we partnered
with them, they gave us four

{{00:02:08}}
different tours to participate on.

{{00:02:10}}
And,   the opportunity that we were
granted was much more significant than

{{00:02:16}}
the opportunities we had had before.

{{00:02:17}}
Before we met the brand.

{{00:02:17}}
So when you think about starting in music
and starting as a creator, and you think

{{00:02:21}}
about how that works within events, right?

{{00:02:23}}
The gathering of people, the experience
of emotion, that social currency of

{{00:02:27}}
being in a moment that only very few are.

{{00:02:30}}
That begins, you know, on the artist side
and moving through that you know, once

{{00:02:36}}
the band sort of went its way, I went
to work in the entertainment business.

{{00:02:40}}
I was a product manager for
storied record labels in the

{{00:02:44}}
Universal Music Group roster.

{{00:02:45}}
So labels like Motown and Republic working
artists is varied as Drake and Nicki Minaj

{{00:02:51}}
to Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones.

{{00:02:54}}
So what this teaches you essentially is
that, you know, it gives you an idea of

{{00:02:58}}
what another anthentic brings towards
our audience and  what a consumer looks

{{00:03:08}}
like when they are looking for experience
for someonelse   and I spent   about

{{00:03:11}}
seven or eight years on the label side
as an executive within that, within

{{00:03:14}}
both Motown and Republic, and then I
left and I moved over to Jägermeister as

{{00:03:19}}
the band coordinator and then grew over
the last 10 years into this role now.

{{00:03:23}}
I originally started in the music
marketing department of Jägermeister,

{{00:03:27}}
where we would sponsor festivals and
tours and performances in local venues,

{{00:03:33}}
and I was the one responsible for
sending POS and blinky buttons to bands.

{{00:03:37}}
, And from there, we realized that the
brand really had a footholding culture

{{00:03:43}}
through music and the ability to bring
culture through the line through all

{{00:03:47}}
the work that we did started to grow.

{{00:03:49}}
Culture played a larger part in
the decision making of consumers

{{00:03:53}}
and,  The responsibilities grew.

{{00:03:56}}
So it went from simply working
within music to now a full

{{00:04:00}}
scale overview of culture.

{{00:04:07}}
Jagermeister is known for making moments.

{{00:04:09}}
When we think about events and
gatherings with people, it's at the

{{00:04:14}}
core of who we are and what we're about.

{{00:04:16}}
So whether it is a large scale
gathering like a sponsorship or

{{00:04:20}}
a festival or a small scale,  get
together with friends at a corner bar.

{{00:04:24}}
The art of experience suggests that,  it's
different feelings at different moments.

{{00:04:30}}
And we've been very fortunate in that
our C suite leadership understands the

{{00:04:35}}
data and sees the consumer and has a
real understanding of the importance

{{00:04:39}}
of events,  which has helped be able
to fully realize the platforms that

{{00:04:46}}
we've been able to bring forward.

{{00:04:47}}
With Jagermeister, we work within
a 21 to 34 year old audience.

{{00:04:50}}
They're the primary
shot consumers of today.

{{00:04:53}}
When we look at what is important to
those consumers, events and experience

{{00:04:58}}
becomes one of the most important
things, whether it is social currency,

{{00:05:01}}
emotional currency, you know, the
exclusivity of being able to participate.

{{00:05:06}}
And the data doesn't lie.

{{00:05:07}}
So we're very fortunate
that our CMO and our CEO.

{{00:05:10}}
And all of our C.

{{00:05:11}}
Suite level executives
understand the data.

{{00:05:13}}
They understand the consumer, maybe
most importantly, and they allow

{{00:05:16}}
us the runway to be able to build
the best experience as possible.

{{00:05:26}}
So it's it's twofold.

{{00:05:27}}
When I,  When I, when I came out of
high school, I did not go to college.

{{00:05:32}}
I spent exactly one class in college.

{{00:05:34}}
I realized it was
exactly like high school.

{{00:05:36}}
I got in my car and I left.

{{00:05:37}}
But I went to work,  in the
mail room of IBM, pushing a cart

{{00:05:41}}
around, literally delivering mail.

{{00:05:43}}
But what I realized was that
there was one crew, one group of

{{00:05:47}}
exceptionally cool individuals with me.

{{00:05:50}}
And those were the guys
who worked on trade shows.

{{00:05:52}}
And they were always flying from
somewhere, and they always had beautiful

{{00:05:55}}
tans, and they just, they just always
looked like they had just come from

{{00:05:58}}
the most fun thing, and were about to
head out to the next most fun thing.

{{00:06:02}}
I remember being very young,  looking
at,  their careers, and where they were

{{00:06:07}}
going, and what they were doing, and
thinking, wow, this trade show event,

{{00:06:12}}
Platform seems really interesting.

{{00:06:13}}
So I started working,  for a company
called Spectrum Corporate Communications,

{{00:06:18}}
and we built trade show activations
for,  companies large and small,

{{00:06:23}}
you know, financial tech and, you
know,  all sorts of, , architecture

{{00:06:28}}
companies and real estate firms.

{{00:06:29}}
And we would, you know, activate them.

{{00:06:30}}
But that gave me the beginning of
understanding how to bring people

{{00:06:35}}
together in a business setting.

{{00:06:36}}
At the same time,  I was a musician
and I understood getting four or five

{{00:06:40}}
hundred people in a room and having them
sweat and getting everyone to believe

{{00:06:43}}
that dream, so to speak, and that became
another important understanding of the

{{00:06:48}}
emotional side of events, working trade
shows and, you know, being at a young age

{{00:06:52}}
and loading cases taught me the need for
process and the need to be on time and

{{00:06:56}}
the need to make sure that all your plans
are in place and that everything works

{{00:06:59}}
the way it should and make sure you count
your bolts before you pack your boxes.

{{00:07:02}}
But the band side taught me that
That's what consumers come for,

{{00:07:07}}
and that's what they take away.

{{00:07:09}}
And it's that piece, I think, that
probably drove me closer to where

{{00:07:14}}
I am today than the more tactical
appreciation of everything that

{{00:07:18}}
goes into shooting content and
events, you know, of themselves.

{{00:07:27}}
If we've learned anything over
the last 18 months, it's people

{{00:07:30}}
over products all the way.

{{00:07:33}}
And if you are a brand that
wants to operate in culture,

{{00:07:35}}
you must understand it.

{{00:07:37}}
And consumers will go towards and follow
a brand and, you know, operate within the

{{00:07:42}}
context of a brand that they believe in.

{{00:07:45}}
But to be able to build that
belief, you have to have that trust.

{{00:07:48}}
And that's on the that's
on the part of the brand.

{{00:07:50}}
You know, respect is not given.

{{00:07:52}}
It is earned and consumer respect.

{{00:07:54}}
We see it the same way

{{00:08:00}}
leading up to the last 18 months
in the pandemic a lot of events

{{00:08:05}}
and a lot of activations felt
like things you should be doing.

{{00:08:08}}
We should be here, we should do this.

{{00:08:09}}
We should have a thing.

{{00:08:11}}
That hosts another thing.

{{00:08:14}}
And then maybe people will
talk about that thing, and then

{{00:08:16}}
perhaps it'll lead to something.

{{00:08:18}}
But the truth is, is that in that gold
rush of events, and the explosions

{{00:08:23}}
of festivals and experience, whether
it is, you know, small, exclusive

{{00:08:27}}
events, or whether it's large scale,
experience, a lot of it felt like

{{00:08:32}}
something that people had to do.

{{00:08:34}}
Now, as we think about success
moving forward, it truly becomes

{{00:08:40}}
about what people want to do.

{{00:08:41}}
So if we think about the consumer
and where they're willing to

{{00:08:44}}
go, we must meet people there.

{{00:08:52}}
The old generation, my generation used
to believe that the most important thing

{{00:08:57}}
that you could do was get the job done.

{{00:09:00}}
It was the what might not have been
pretty, but we had a rock show.

{{00:09:03}}
Might not have been pretty,
but we did the event.

{{00:09:06}}
And that's the way it's
kind of always been.

{{00:09:09}}
In this new world order, it is
not just the what, it is the how.

{{00:09:14}}
How do you treat people?

{{00:09:16}}
How do you execute?

{{00:09:17}}
How do you consider the consumer need?

{{00:09:20}}
The shift that needs to occur, and
that should occur between the old and

{{00:09:24}}
the new, is making it not just about
the what, but incorporating the how.

{{00:09:29}}
And as close as you can get to a 50/50
balance where you are optimized both

{{00:09:33}}
your what and your how, you will be
optimized to succeed in this new world

{{00:09:38}}
in a way that most brands are not.

{{00:09:41}}
When we think about events, the
ones that are at the bleeding edge

{{00:09:43}}
will be the ones that are driving
culture forward, the ones that are

{{00:09:46}}
keeping that consumer context alive.

{{00:09:48}}
First and foremost, but also the ones
that are compassionate, that have

{{00:09:52}}
empathy, that understand what the consumer
might be up against at the moment that

{{00:09:57}}
they're making that consideration.

{{00:09:59}}
And if they can broach that in a
way that garners consumer trust,

{{00:10:04}}
they will be on the winning side.

{{00:10:11}}
I think if there was any opportunity.

{{00:10:16}}
That maybe most people didn't see.

{{00:10:18}}
It's just the continuing
shift of the audience.

{{00:10:22}}
That continuing shift of the consumer
expectation, the consumer belief set, the

{{00:10:27}}
consumer principle set,  things change.

{{00:10:31}}
And over time, you can get very
routed in your own success.

{{00:10:35}}
You can rooted in your own success.

{{00:10:37}}
You can sit and say, this
works, we're gonna do this,

{{00:10:40}}
and we're never gonna shift it.

{{00:10:42}}
But again, the world is
gonna shift around you.

{{00:10:44}}
On one hand, you have a lot of
success with large scale events.

{{00:10:48}}
People have returned in greater
numbers, perhaps than pre pandemic.

{{00:10:53}}
And on the other hand, there is a
level of social currency and emotional

{{00:10:56}}
currency that's derived from exclusivity.

{{00:10:59}}
Sometimes you want a little bit of this.

{{00:11:01}}
Sometimes you want a little bit of that.

{{00:11:04}}
Now consumers have the ability
more than ever to choose before.

{{00:11:07}}
You just had to do
things to do things now.

{{00:11:08}}
Consumers will need to pick and be
judicious with what they want to do.

{{00:11:12}}
There is an imbalance.

{{00:11:13}}
I believe with opportunity for
independent creators, independent

{{00:11:18}}
venues, independent event promoters.

{{00:11:22}}
The industry is set for scale.

{{00:11:24}}
I believe that the greatest asset
a brand can offer is opportunity.

{{00:11:30}}
So we try to look for opportunities to
help emerging talent, emerging platforms,

{{00:11:36}}
emerging events, get a foothold in a way
that they might not have had otherwise.

{{00:11:40}}
That to me is arguably the most
rewarding work we could be doing and

{{00:11:45}}
probably the work that sets the best
foundations for success in the future.

{{00:11:55}}
Relationships are key.

{{00:11:57}}
You will get nowhere on your own.

{{00:11:59}}
You may be, the most talented
individual in the world.

{{00:12:03}}
But your talent can only be
recognized by you if you do not

{{00:12:05}}
have that strength around you.

{{00:12:07}}
So it is the constant understanding of
teamwork, the constant understanding

{{00:12:11}}
of what people need, and the
constant shape, shape shifting

{{00:12:14}}
to an, to an elusive audience.

{{00:12:17}}
Just understand that,  Most times what
gets you there will not keep you there.

{{00:12:23}}
So you have to always be able to
understand the need for evolution.

{{00:12:27}}
The need for change.

{{00:12:28}}
The person that invented the CD was not
the person that invented the record.

{{00:12:32}}
The person that invented the pen was
not the person that invented the pencil.

{{00:12:35}}
So when you think about that evolution,
be the one that thinks of what comes

{{00:12:39}}
next because someone invariably is.

With 2022 on the horizon, we know
your event strategy is top of mind.

How am I going to keep attendees engaged?

Who's got your back on the technical
details so you can focus on creating

Whether it's in person, virtual,
or both, we have all the solutions.

And partners that can bring
your vision to life with ease.

Meet Hubilo, the event platform you
want with the support team you need.

I am creative director and head of
culture content and experiential

I am a creative dot connector between
all of our above the line media work,

all of our agency partners, and all
of our global thought leadership.

And I bring that down through the
line into all of our programmatic

So all of our social content, all of
our cultural marketing, all of our

experiential activations,  everything
flows seamlessly from beginning to end.

My career started,  25
years ago, I was a musician.

I, at the time had spent seven
or eight years writing, releasing

And we in 2000 had signed one
of the largest record deals

But all good things come to an end and
in the entertainment business, they

So we ended up within a year
losing that record deal.

But at the same time that
we lost the record deal.

We were one of the first 10 artists
sponsored by Jägermeister and

It was based on just a love of
the band and a love of the music.

And when, when we partnered
with them, they gave us four

And,   the opportunity that we were
granted was much more significant than

So when you think about starting in music
and starting as a creator, and you think

about how that works within events, right?

The gathering of people, the experience
of emotion, that social currency of

being in a moment that only very few are.

That begins, you know, on the artist side
and moving through that you know, once

the band sort of went its way, I went
to work in the entertainment business.

I was a product manager for
storied record labels in the

So labels like Motown and Republic working
artists is varied as Drake and Nicki Minaj

So what this teaches you essentially is
that, you know, it gives you an idea of

what another anthentic brings towards
our audience and  what a consumer looks

like when they are looking for experience
for someonelse   and I spent   about

seven or eight years on the label side
as an executive within that, within

both Motown and Republic, and then I
left and I moved over to Jägermeister as

the band coordinator and then grew over
the last 10 years into this role now.

I originally started in the music
marketing department of Jägermeister,

where we would sponsor festivals and
tours and performances in local venues,

and I was the one responsible for
sending POS and blinky buttons to bands.

, And from there, we realized that the
brand really had a footholding culture

through music and the ability to bring
culture through the line through all

Culture played a larger part in
the decision making of consumers

So it went from simply working
within music to now a full

Jagermeister is known for making moments.

When we think about events and
gatherings with people, it's at the

So whether it is a large scale
gathering like a sponsorship or

a festival or a small scale,  get
together with friends at a corner bar.

The art of experience suggests that,  it's
different feelings at different moments.

And we've been very fortunate in that
our C suite leadership understands the

data and sees the consumer and has a
real understanding of the importance

of events,  which has helped be able
to fully realize the platforms that

With Jagermeister, we work within
a 21 to 34 year old audience.

They're the primary
shot consumers of today.

When we look at what is important to
those consumers, events and experience

becomes one of the most important
things, whether it is social currency,

emotional currency, you know, the
exclusivity of being able to participate.

So we're very fortunate
that our CMO and our CEO.

Suite level executives
understand the data.

They understand the consumer, maybe
most importantly, and they allow

us the runway to be able to build
the best experience as possible.

When I,  When I, when I came out of
high school, I did not go to college.

I realized it was
exactly like high school.

But I went to work,  in the
mail room of IBM, pushing a cart

But what I realized was that
there was one crew, one group of

And those were the guys
who worked on trade shows.

And they were always flying from
somewhere, and they always had beautiful

tans, and they just, they just always
looked like they had just come from

the most fun thing, and were about to
head out to the next most fun thing.

I remember being very young,  looking
at,  their careers, and where they were

going, and what they were doing, and
thinking, wow, this trade show event,

So I started working,  for a company
called Spectrum Corporate Communications,

Event Masters

Explainer

In this episode of Event Masters,BizBash sits down with Cliff Rigano, the creative director and head of culture, content, and experiential marketing at Mast-Jägermeister US. Rigano shares his thought-provoking insights on how to grow in the industry regardless of past experience. He emphasises the importance of prioritising people over products in consumer-facing events to earn consumer respect, discusses the factors that contribute to a successful event, and much more.