Assessment of Communication Effects: Cultural Events in Varna, Bulgaria

In recent years, interest in the creative industries has grown globally in the context of current trends in consumer behavior. The public interest in creative activities in Bulgaria has also grown, as evidenced by the development and adoption of national strategies and state incentives for enterprises operating in the sector. Specialist predict that as a dynamically developing economic sector the creative industries will become a preferred field of professional realization and will create a sustainable competitive advantage of Bulgaria on the global market in the conditions of globalization and digitization. In this context the importance of organized cultural events could not be understated, with key factor in their success being the communicating and informing target audiences. Different theories of consumer communication patterns and the variety of methods of research and measurement of effectiveness dictate the main challenge facing modern marketers: selecting the right set of methodologies on the basis of which to carry out the evaluation and modify the communication strategy, which outlines the main problem this paper aims to solve. The conducted study is based on a methodology developed by the author specifically for the evaluation of the effective realization of cultural events from the cultural calendar of Varna Municipality for 2016. The methodology includes a survey of organizers, attendees and general public. Based on the results of the multidimensional study, recommendations are made to cultural operators for their next projects, as well as potential prospects for further research in the sector.