Madonna reputation crisis

case
Moroianu Sorin
Event Risk Management
The world of events has evolved to being a very profitable industry that now exists in its
own right, independent from tourism, hospitality or leisure sectors.
The event manager is confronted with the pressure of creating a successful event and not
making any mistakes, as there is only one chance to get it right. In this context, it was
considered that the project management process plays a very important role in delivering
the expected results on time and at a high quality.

Background
26 August 2009 First concert held by Madonna in Bucharest
Event organized by Emagic Entertainment part of Vodafone Best Music series of
concerts in Romania
During the event, Madonna approached the gipsy problem in our country it was not
well received
A lot of other complaints emerged: bad location, too much free time, too much
queuing, bad sound, not enough toilets, and so on.

Perspective
This project explores a perspective by focusing on risk management and applying the
concepts to a contemporary event. The chosen case study referres to Madonnas concert
in Bucharest, which was held in 2009 in Romania, as part of the Sticky & Sweet
worldwide tour.
Although the tour was very successful, this particular event was intensely criticized by the
media and the participants.
Risk Management
-Consequently, the project analysed the risk management problems encountered in the
event, in an attempt to see if they were related to errors in the risk assessment process and
suggest operational changes for improving the event, or other events like it, in the future. The
focus was on various aspects of strategic risk management, such as reputation risk,
communication risk, financial risk and human resources risk.

-The first step of risk management is, of course assessing the risks that may, or may not occur
during the development of the project. After the risks have been evaluated, the event
management team needs to create mechanisms to control any problem that might arise.


Risk Control Strategies
Cancel and avoid the risk
Diminish the risk
Reduce the severity of risks that do eventuate
Devise back-ups and alternatives
Distribute the risk
Transfer the risk
What happened
During the project management of Madonnas concert in Bucharest a number of
strategic risks were either overseen or poorly assessed by the organizers, thus having a
great impact on reputation risk
The discussion revealed the fact that the event organiser ignored the importance of risk
management and chose a location that was not suitable for this event, leading to
numerous difficulties on the day and implicitly, to a large number of negative reviews from
the public and the media.

Conclusion
The critical evaluation of event risk management for Madonnas concert in Bucharest revealed several errors which had a negative influence on
how the event was perceived by the media and by the participants

It can be suggested that the decision to hold a concert with 60 000 spectators in Bucharest was a rushed one, as there was no suitable, central
location for such an event. Still, as it was decided to stage the concert, despite all the difficulties, there are some recommendations that can be
made for minimizing the risks and improving the event in the future.

Firstly, finding a suitable location for the event should have been the priority for the event organizer. Staging a concert in a public park generated a
lot of difficulties, like noise, deterioration of the lawn, visibility to the stage. Moreover, if this really has to happen than additional benefits have to be
put in place to make the site suitable for the event. Choosing a smaller location, like a stadium, would have eliminated these problems and
improved the quality of the event.

Secondly, more attention needs to be paid to risk management of any kind. The organizers did not include a thorough risk assessment in the
planning stage of the event and did not seem to have a back-up plan in case of bad weather that would deteriorate the lawn.

To sum up, whether it is a concert or other type of event, there are multiple aspects that need to be closely considered in the project management
process, in order to create a unique event that will be remembered by all the participants.