🔒Big on events business, Wartner helps BuzzEngine pivot during pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the nation, forcing significant parts of the economy to close to prevent crowd gatherings small and large, it posed a major threat to West Hartford-based BuzzEngine Marketing & Events, a marketing company that mainly puts on events for clients.

But the firm has been faring pretty well so far, CEO Aaron Wartner said. As people and organizations began to use digital tools like Zoom to hold meetings, Wartner saw an opening to assist clients in bringing their events online, and advising them on the do’s and don’ts.

“That’s an incredible change to try to figure out what’s the right technology, what’s the right online format?” Wartner said. “[For example], so much can go wrong if it’s a live production, so we’ve been suggesting to a lot of our clients to pre-record and then go live on Facebook live or Zoom.”

BuzzEngine has lost some live-event business, while other clients, namely restaurants, have dialed back marketing services the firm provides, Wartner said. Financial strain, especially for smaller nonprofits, is acute enough that Wartner in March began holding weekly free consultations on marketing for these struggling businesses.

On balance, though, BuzzEngine, which consists of five employees including Wartner, isn’t struggling. In fact, the number of marketing projects and online events the company is currently working on is up about 20% since March, Wartner said.

“We’ve actually grown some of our client base because they have this immediate need to market differently to push out their message differently,” Wartner said. “We’ve seen a surge of work come at us.”

Wartner, who bought BuzzEngine in 2017, said a lot of his ability to react to unforeseen circumstances and perform work not necessarily in his wheelhouse, comes from the years he spent working for nonprofits.

A Wisconsin native, Wartner moved to Hartford in 1996, right after he graduated from Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., with a double major in art history and international relations. He moved to Hartford for a job at nonprofit art gallery Real Art Ways.

His official job was that of an art curator, but working for a small nonprofit without a public-relations department, Wartner took on the role of marketing Real Art Ways’ events.

“It was a lot of events work, so producing events that generate a lot of buzz,” Wartner said. “It was super by default, I didn’t even realize I was a marketer … but I came to enjoy it, and I still love it.”

Wartner went on to work as director of marketing for the Connecticut Historical Society, and then for the Connecticut Science Center in the year up to its official launch.

In 2011 he left the nonprofit world after he was offered a job at BuzzEngine, a spinoff company that was once a division of West Hartford-based LIFE Publications Inc. The company had inked a deal with toy company LEGO to put on an annual event called LEGO KidsFest.

“That really catapulted us into this entire new realm of producing these incredible large-scale events,” Wartner said.

The event, which toured convention centers around the country between 2010 and 2016 — it was discontinued in 2017 — brought tens of thousands of children and parents to the venues. Wartner had learned long ago that an overlooked detail could derail an event, and while finishing up preparations he thought of a contingency he’d never had to deal with before: lost children.

“We developed something called the ‘Lost Parents Zone,’ because kids know where they are, it’s the parents that get lost,” Wartner recalled.

Going it alone

Four years ago, Chris White, who had owned both LIFE Publications and BuzzEngine, sold BuzzEngine to Wartner, who said he purchased the business without any partners or financial backers. Wartner declined to disclose the sales price.

“I just wanted to seize the opportunity,” Wartner said. “I saw the need in the community, particularly among small organizations, to provide marketing and events for them.”

BuzzEngine’s current client list runs the gamut from nonprofits like The Children’s Museum in West Hartford and online news outlet CT Mirror, to Black-Eyed Sally’s restaurant in downtown Hartford.

When social-distancing guidelines forced businesses to shut down and cancel events, Wartner was concerned — marketing budgets can be the first thing companies ax during times of financial uncertainty.

Instead, Wartner saw an uptick in business from clients wanting to bring events online, and others needing marketing campaigns to let customers know they’re still in business.

But while Wartner looks forward to returning to a sense of normality, he predicts the pandemic might change how events are put on permanently.

For example, client Latinas & Power Symposium typically holds a single large annual event in Hartford. But in taking the event online, the organization realized it could possibly put on several online events throughout the year since they save money on event space, and could reach more people than with a physical event.

“Venues are very expensive for the whole production: food, staffing, the cost for attendees to park; whereas attending a virtual event you can charge $20 to $30 if it’s a good, quality event, but you don’t have those extra charges that come with booking a venue,” Wartner said. “I think there is going to be an enormous change in the events industry.”