Events consultant takes leap with DCX buyout

Former executive uses exit money to publish book after launching company in Southfield.

Maureen McDonald / Special to The Detroit News

Ricardo Thomas / The Detroit News

"The actual spider web has an overriding practical purpose -- to acquire food. An event marketer attempts to 'capture' imaginations," says event consultant Lou Bitonti, who penned "The Cosmic Spiderweb." See full image

Lessons

Problem: How can a seasoned, former events executive from Daimler Chrysler Corp. get his name known as an entrepreneur?

Solution: Lou Bitonti, now owner of LD3 Event Management Inc. in Southfield, self-published a book: "The Cosmic Spiderweb, How to Capture Any Customer through Event Marketing."

Contact: www.cosmicspiderweb.com.

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SOUTHFIELD -- At Camp Jeep, an annual owner-loyalty retreat for 10,000 Jeep owners and family members sponsored by DaimlerChrysler, Lou Bitonti gave the impression he could be 100 places at once, checking and rechecking to assure everything worked.

Bitonti ran events for Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler brands that involved a multimillion dollar budget and thousands of vendors, contractors and employees. Then came a lucrative buyout offer, bringing excitement and unease for the DaimlerChrysler executive, former advertising manager and once restaurant owner.

Faced with marketing himself as a solo consultant to events, Bitonti formed LD3 Event Management LLC in Southfield. He used $8,000 in exit money to self publish a book, "The Cosmic Spiderweb."

"The image of the cosmic spider web perfectly captures the complexity, variety and yet the interconnectedness of the various components that come together to create the contemporary special event," Bitonti said. "The actual spider web has an overriding practical purpose -- to acquire food. An event marketer attempts to 'capture' imaginations."

The ability to capture loyal customers for hours or days of product messages, surveys and family-oriented fun helped garner numerous honors for Bitonti. Dan Hanover, editor and publisher of Event Marketer Magazine in Norwalk, Conn., named him to its dream team of professionals.

"Lou is one of the event industry's pioneers," Hanover said. "He literally helped invent experience-based engagement marketing. The lessons he's learned over an impressive marketing career need to be told."

In the book, Bitonti defines an event as "an experience" and event marketing as a "specific focus on the lifestyle experiences of customers and integrating those experiences with buying preferences."

But even with the best laid plans and super team, nothing is more important than onsite supervision, says Bitonti who created the P.T. Cruiser Block Party, the Jeep Collegiate Health and Fitness Tour and a Jim Henson Muppets auto-safety tour. What can go wrong, may go wrong, so extra preparations and emergency funds are key.

"I'm a devotee of the Weather Channel, it is essential to know what is happening in all directions when you have a large-scale event," Bitonti said.

His book tells of the hurricane that blew into Florida's east coast, threatening to destroy a $250,000 concept car set up on Daytona Beach for a spring break rally one year. He awoke to a raging storm, left his hotel, ran to the beach and rescued the car before the tide sent it drifting.

The former DaimlerChrysler executive plans to distribute copies of the book to the heads of major corporations and coordinate his own lecture series on proper event staging.

He cites a 2002 study by Intellitrends, a Clarkston-based research organization that found 47 percent of companies feel that event marketing provides the greatest return on investment when compared with other marketing and communications tactics -- advertising, direct mail, sales promotion and Internet. Vendors of Bitonti's events say leadership is critical.

"The guy (Bitonti) is smart. He made a lot of contacts over the years and now it is time to contact them," said Jay F. Gordinier, Sr., owner of the Gordinier Group in Highland.

Maureen McDonald is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.