The Exhibitionist. Steve Reeder

       Case Studies of High Impact Experiential Campaigns 2017

      1. Organisation: David Lloyd — ‘Run For Your Bun’ Café

      Objective: To demonstrate how healthy food and exercise form part of a balanced lifestyle

      Execution: Located in London, this pop-up witnessed customers ordering their healthy and nutritious lunch, following which they had to participate in a vigorous 10-minute workout before they were given their food. The activity targeted office workers to show how they could incorporate exercise into their day.

      2. Organisation: Adidas – ‘D Rose Jump Store’

      Objective: To introduce a new line in basketball footwear to the UK

      Execution: Pop-up stores aren’t a new concept, but Adidas’ ‘D Rose Jump Store’ in London was a cut above the rest. Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose was in attendance to challenge fans to win a pair of free trainers by taking them off a shelf that happened to be 10 feet in the air. It was a relevant, exciting and memorable experience for all the children and parents who took part.

       Trade show traction

      The B2B trade show and exhibition industry is certainly benefitting from the growing interest in experiential with over 31,000 certified events globally each year (UFI, 2014). Outside of the official events recorded with industry researchers, there are countless other smaller, regional and local roadshows, expos and networking events where suppliers and customers can discuss opportunities for working together. In one of their sourced blogs Eventbrite, the world’s largest event booking provider, suggests that in the UK alone, the exhibitions sector contributes over £193bn to the economy through attracting global visitors and exhibitors as well as supporting UK based suppliers. They go on to explain that over 1.3m business events were held in the UK in 2017 with an estimated £40bn being spent in the local economy (Eventbrite, 2018).

      Almost 4.5m companies exhibit globally at trade shows every year, welcoming over 260m visitors to their stands demonstrating the scale and power of live events (UFI, 2014). There are a number of reasons why an organisation will choose to exhibit at an event including generating new leads, launching a new product or service, building relationships with existing customers or to be part of an industry conversation (see Section 3.1, SMART objective setting). Regardless of the objectives a company sets for the specific event, the ultimate aim is to grow sales and profits and trade shows are increasingly being seen as a high potential platform through which to do it.

      Ninety-one per cent of visitors state that attending a trade show impacts on their buying decision in some way (GraphiColor Exhibits, 2017), be that positively or negatively. From a well-planned and executed exhibition stand, a visitor takes away the perception of quality, reliability, value and trust. From a poorly planned exhibitor, the visitor leaves disappointed and anxious about how difficult any future relationship might be. Yet for those who do not even exhibit, a visitor could be impressed by the investment, quality and offer delivered by their competitor and choose to do business with them instead. It is worth noting at this point that we talk about a visitor ‘doing business’ in the future as trade shows of today facilitate making a connection for future business, rather than generating high value sales at the show itself. The roots of trade shows can be traced back to the medieval era when producers and craftsmen would travel between towns to showcase and sell their wares either to individual customers or to guilds on behalf of the town. The industrial revolution witnessed the evolution of trade shows into industry specific events focussed on selling products to a target group of commercial entities. Throughout the twentieth century events became a trading floor for deep-cut discounting and ‘deal-led’ activity where the cost of the show was minimal compared to the loss of profit on eye-watering deals. Increasingly trade shows have become a forum for bringing together those with a common interest to satisfy a conscious need and establish how they may work together in future. There are still some events which are highly transaction led but if this is not aligned to your specific objectives, some quick research should eliminate these shows from your radar (see Section 3.2, Which show?).

      Trade shows facilitate a deeper conversation with a prospect than could ever be achieved in a 240-character tweet or Facebook post. Trade shows open up a conversation based on the buyer need, to understand how your product or service can help save them time or money, generate more profit or simplify their processes. Equally, it can also establish very quickly where your product or service isn’t able to help meet the needs of the visitor and enable both parties to respectfully move on to more lucrative opportunities. Forty-seven per cent of marketers believe events are a highly efficient and effective way to reach and engage with multiple customers and prospects (Marketing Charts, 2013). The key qualifier here is being able to identify ‘higher quality’ prospects and leads, as having taken the time to understand the key problem a prospect is facing and how your product solves it, the follow up conversation becomes more effective and targeted.

      

Studies by the Centre for Exhibition Research (CEIR) and Exhibit Surveys, Inc. show that closing a lead generated at a trade show costs almost forty percent less than a lead generated from the field.

       (CompuSystems, 2010)

      A polite referral, or a review of a lead database, don’t start to explore at a deeper level how a product meets a need, or whether two organisations can, and more importantly want, to work together. Trade shows and exhibitions bring together interested buyers and sellers who can collaboratively solve problems for mutual growth. Whilst social media and digital marketing tactics can deliver scale this often lacks depth, reaching only a tiny minority who may be in a position to buy. Whilst scale may benefit in driving brand awareness, without the depth of a conversation there is minimal opportunity for a buyer to understand whether a product or service can meet their needs.

      Trade shows and exhibitions, although relatively expensive compared to social media activity, can be more efficient in bringing large numbers of an interested audience under one roof for a period of time. In just a few hours, organisations can engage with hundreds, if not thousands, of self-selected potential buyers that would take them months, if not years, to visit in the field. One area which we should emphasise at this point is that exhibitions are expensive, in time, money and emotion and they are not going to be the golden bullet which delivers 10,000 new customers the day after the show closes. To expect that would be unrealistic. This book is not intended to save you either time or money, in fact there are times we will encourage you to spend more. Exhibitions are expensive when you consider them in isolation and they take time, commitment and energy. Research from the USA suggests that companies are now investing up to 33% of their annual marketing budgets into trade shows (Levin, 2017) with respondents in a recent study stating that 47% of them plan to maintain budgets whilst 30% state that they are planning to increase theirs (Exhibitor, 2018). Budget will depend entirely on a number of variables but even if the average UK cost were £20,000 including all time, accommodation and travel expenses, stand fee, design and build etc. this looks expensive versus a couple of pounds to promote a Tweet or Facebook advert. However, the social media platforms cannot deliver the depth of relationships and the foundations of trust that can be built through an initial conversation with a visitor who has already declared an interest in your offer simply by attending the event.

       Measuring return – yes you can!

      Whilst it is possible to share data relating to the value of the industry in terms of spend, it is much more difficult to evaluate the value of business generated from investing in trade shows. As social media and digital have become increasingly popular, a growing number of tools, systems and agencies have popped up to offer analytics and metrics to justify spend based on the number of clicks which subsequently convert to a sale. Why then, is it so difficult to measure for trade shows? The main reason is the lack of follow up from exhibitors with over 87% of leads collected at a show never being contacted by the exhibiting company (Davis, 2018). On average, 64% of stand visits