Puls Events: We are not forcing anyone

Event organiser Puls Events, the partner of student network ESN, has no qualms in giving international students exactly what they want: Ultra-cheap DKK 10 beers and drinks, and drinks-for-free happy hours at special student events in different venues.

»The way I see it, I am not forcing anyone to come to my events,« says Robin Stegemann, the entrepreneur behind Puls Events to the University Post.

He defends at the same time his right to »deliver a platform to offer the cheapest prices in town«.

Simple concept

An economics student at the University of Copenhagen, he found his niche in the Copenhagen market by copying his own concept from his native Germany:

»The problem with going out in Copenhagen is that the price is too high. With my events we go for the cheap prices, making it affordable, also for international students,« he says.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Puls Events organises cheap-drink nights out at bars in Copenhagen, specifically targeting international students. For students, the concept is enticing: A small entrance fee, cheap drinks and regular happy hours. For bar owners it’s a good deal too: In spite of the cheap prices, they can fill out their venues on otherwise slow evenings.

Toga didn’t work

Puls Event’s clientele are predominantly international students, he explains, because of student’s price expectations.

»As it is now, if I do a normal event at normal prices, then I only get Danish students if any,« he says.

With prices this low, you wonder how owners can turn a profit. And sometimes the bars and PulsEvents don’t. A recent ‘toga’ event at Krasnapolsky was slow, according to Robin Stegemann, as »apparently not many students liked this specific concept«, he explains.

Not encouraging drinking craziness

But he is always trying something new. PulsEvents organised a successful ‘Erasmus Goodbye Refund Party’ in December on the heels of a disastrous, and widely criticised, event by competitor K-3.

PulsEvents gets a commission from the bar owners whenever an event has a high attendance and the event goes well, he explains. Unlike what some critics may say, events like his are not encouraging binge drinking, according to Robin Stegemann.

Although some groups of students, for example Americans, drink a lot in his experience, »I don’t have the feeling that people generally are going crazy for one night,« he says.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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