Event Marketing Comes Of Age
These days it’s the exhibitors and the sponsors who call the shots on the trade show floor.
By Charles W. Allen
While attending a recent tradeshow, I couldn’t help but notice an exhibit booth that seemed “lost in space.” It was inactive and removed from the crowd. This exhibitor displayed an unattractive booth and poor boothmanship. In the exhibitor’s defense, the event clearly offered an extremely limited inventory of effective ancillary marketing opportunities. The sponsorship packages seemed to be designed for the few market-leading companies that already commanded obvious advantages. It seemed that this exhibitor might have not been thinking “outside of the booth,” and the event organizer not thinking “outside of the hall.”
Power Shift
This example illustrates an event and an exhibitor that have yet to embrace what I like to call “the new economy of event marketing.” The old days of one trade show per industry are gone. And as the number of events in all industries has grown, so has the power of exhibitors and sponsors. Successful event organizers add value to an exhibitor base that is demanding a greater, measurable return on its exhibition investment.
The new model of event marketing aims to produce an exploding marketplace of much greater commercial efficiency, as exhibitors ultimately reach a much higher percentage of qualified buyers and vice versa. Events that embrace this trend provide marketing opportunities that accommodate exhibitors of all budget sizes, creating a more level playing field. This involves pre- and post-event marketing options, as well as a vast array of advertising and sponsorship vehicles during the event. Some of the most popular marketing tools include:
• Dynamic LCD screen commercials
• Shuttle bus “wraps” and headrest covers
• 24-hour news kiosks
• Newer (more innovative) literature distribution carousels
• Customized Event TV programs
• Interactive marketing vehicles
• Pre- and post-event card deck mailings
• Hotel-based marketing, such as hotel keycard sponsorships.
Two Caveats
Ineffective vehicles sold to exhibitors for revenue’s sake alone generally results in forsaking the exhibitor’s future participation in a respective event. This is especially true in the current environment of competing events pursuing the same exhibitor base. Event producers also have intensified the effort to attract and retain attendees, particularly highly qualified attendees/buyers. And more and more effort is going into making sure attendees do not leave the venue site. In our up-to-the-minute information and experience economy, event organizers are responding by providing 24-hour news services, value-added communication solutions (such as broadband), contests, food and beverages, and a array of entertainment options.
The new economy of event marketing is about maximizing the stakeholders’ desired results. In event marketing, the primary stakeholders are exhibitors/sponsors and attendees. The producers of today’s most prosperous events understand this concept well. Those who don’t not only risk being “lost in space,” but will likely experience a “loss of space” as well.
Charles Allen is chairman and CEO of the C.W. Allen Group, which provides consulting, products, and sponsorship services to the tradeshow and event industry. For more information, contact him at charles@cwallengroup.com.
