Event Marketer Spring 2022 - 68

VERSTEEG
BRAND: Booking.com
CURRENT TITLE: Senior Director-Business Marketing
DREAM TEAM TITLE: VP-Event Content Strategy
WHY WE WANT HIM: For his ability to align
everyone, from internal teams to outside partners,
on corporate values and operations.
Amon Versteeg personally operates under
three main values: being inclusive, being
accessible and being sustainable. " So, you
say you've heard that before. The difference
with Amon is that he walks the talk, " his
Dream Team nomination reads.
Indeed, Versteeg created a set of corporate
standard operating procedures shared
across the global events organization that
spell out the brand's approach, creative ideation
process, expectations, and a vision for
the future. It's a mandatory orientation for
Booking.com's vendors and event teams-
and a blueprint for success, and progress.
es more than 2.4 million supply partners.
Working across marketing, commercial,
customer success, account management,
digital transformation and technology, he
is known for his " disruptive strategies " that
scale and deliver results. During his 15 years
with the brand, he focused on business
development. And over the course of the
past five years, be built out the company's
partner event program globally. He now
oversees all internal and external events.
Versteeg leads 30 different
" People think that playbooks are
about constraining people, but I
think it is the opposite. They make
creative spots for your activation. "
" The main thing for me is the belief
that standards and operating procedures
can constrain people whereas we are trying
to design them to do the opposite, "
says Versteeg. " It actually inspires more
creativity. "
As senior director of business marketing
at Booking.com, Versteeg leads a global
engagement marketing division that touch68
EVENT
MARKETER SPRING 2022
events per year, from third-party activations,
trade shows and exhibitions, to
recruitment gatherings,
in-house
studio events and
digital presentations
through an
internal broadcast
portfolio.
" On
delivery
day, you see the
reaction from the
audience, and you
realize it is amazing
to see the event ultimately come to
life. It brings you back to the first concept
moment and you realize it was a great
approach, " says Versteeg.
The greatest challenge for Versteeg
since the pandemic began has been differentiating
events and making them relevant
in a saturated landscape. The most competitive
of programs, he says, focus in on
the role of content, experience, timing and
location. For Versteeg's team, it's quality
over quantity, and they are partnering with
different agencies and freelancers to drive
innovation and audience interest in both
in-person and virtual shows.
In the new era, event marketers have
types of
to look at events as a conversation between
the brand and audience, and Versteeg says
he thinks of himself as an event attendee
to maximize the audience centricity and
power of people coming together as a larger
group.
" How do you enable thought-starter
sessions that I can attend and then go out
and converse with an expert and other
peers about it, versus sit through a long
keynote presentation? I think that people
are going to place greater value on the role
of connection at events, " he says.
Booking.com is big on sustainability,
which Versteeg calls a " non-negotiable. "
Following a set of sustainability principles,
he partners with different local experts on
efforts like green sourcing for food and
beverage.
" The definition of sustainable is evolving,
so each year there's new challenges you
need to overcome, " Versteeg says. " Are we
able to walk away and say, 'Hey, we've managed
to balance the fact that we are here for
a short time and purpose with the fact that
we are also contributing back in smart and
sensible ways?' "
We'll take that to the bank, Versteeg.
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Event Marketer Spring 2022

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