The Value of Social Value

The Experiential Marketing Measurement Coalition was created to promote business result-focused metrics that will help the event marketing industry prove (and improve) its impact. We’re still fully behind this mission, but another set of metrics has come into play, which we believe must be considered. We call them: Social Value Metrics.

Social value is an evaluation of initiatives that have societal importance - often tied to well-known acronyms like CSR and ESG. In the event arena, this includes (but is not limited to) sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion. We invest in event and experience sustainability because our attendees expect us to, and also simply because it’s the right thing to do. We are creating ever more diverse, equitable, and inclusive events because we believe everyone has a right to great experiences. We don’t want any of our invited guests to have a less valuable (or a bad!) experience because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do, and as with sustainability, it is likely to improve our resulting business impact.

Measuring social value can be complex, but worthwhile. There are an array of services that help agencies and brands evaluate the carbon footprint and other sustainability metrics for their events. These are easy to find through a simple web search.

Measuring event diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, however, is complex and nuanced, and we haven’t discovered (as of Autumn 2023) any specialists who provide this as a service. That is why the EMMC is creating new DEI measurement guidance for our industry. We’ve consulted with a diverse set of experts inside our membership base as well as external thinkers. We’re excited to share this guidance with our members and the broader industry in the coming months.

We’re also pleased to share the appointment of Marley Finnegan to our board, looking after our social value metrics efforts. Welcome to Marley and to this fascinating, important area of measurement!