Advanced Show Marketing

Special problems call for creative solutions

By Wayne Dunham

As expositions grow and evolve, show managers often find themselves facing unique obstacles. How can attendance in several buildings be assured when a show outgrows its original location? As new exhibitor segments emerge, how can compatible attendance be generated? And how can a decrease in attendance be prevented when show dates are drastically altered?

For many show managers, solutions are found through creative marketing strategies. From celebrity spokespeople to advertising specialties, creative marketing is becomingthe norm more than the exception. Used for both attendance and exhibitor promotion, these enhanced marketing programs are achieving significant results.

Balanced in conjunction with traditional promotion techniques, sophisticated marketing plans are used for very specific reasons and to achieve identifiable goals. They do not have to be expensive to implement, but they are well-conceived and thoroughly planned.

The case studies examined in this article are similar in that each show manager recognized a problem and spent considerable amounts of time researching the best solution. They designed programs which were affordable and would not exhaust staff resources. In each case, the key to the promotion's success was that it was part of an overall plan, started months in advance.

National Restaurant Association
Faced with exhibitor pressure for more booth space at their show, the National Restaurant Association decided to expand. Unfortunately, the only space available was the lobby level of Chicago's McCormick Place North -- a difficult area to find. It was not connected to the main North exhibit hall above it, and it was three city blocks through a twisting, turning passageway to McCormick Place East where the majority of NRA's exhibits were located.

Past experience had taught NRA staff members that show attendees would not visit the new hall in significant numbers on their own. They would have to be lured. "In looking at the kinds of promotions that attracted big crowds, we found that supermarkets had great success using grand opening themes," says Tom Corcoran, former NRA show manager. "They generated excitement with bands, special attractions, games and giveaways. We decided to build on the success we saw at supermarkets, and have a grand opening on our new floor every day."

In the six months before the show, Corcoran, his staff and an outside consultant hired tooversee the promotion, designed a comprehensive program featuring bands, ribboncuttings and two promotions geared solely toward attracting buyers to visit the newfloor.

Each day, as attendees departed from shuttle buses, they were greeted by various bandsperforming music around placards encouraging them to visit the new show floor.Additional visibility was generated through a series of ribbon cutting ceremonies held inthe new hall -- opening the Ice Carving Classic, dedicating the Illinois RestaurantAssociation pavilion and honoring a visiting Congressional delegation.

While these events did make buyers aware of the new hall, the key attractions were acoupon redemption program, and a game card promotion that could only be played in thenew hall.

For the coupon redemption program, the NRA staff designed and mailed 45,000 couponsoffering a "free gift" to the show's advance registrants. Instructions on the couponinformed attendees that to claim their gift they would have to visit the NRA CouponRedemption Center at the back of the new hall.

"Our biggest problem was selecting a gift that was both desirable and helpful inpromoting the new hall," says Corcoran, who now operates his own trade showmanagement firm, Corcoran and Associates, in Clarendon Hills, IL. "We knew from pastexperience, that our attendees liked to have something in which to carry exhibitorliterature. We thought about plastic bags but rejected them because they wrinkled. Wewanted something with a flat surface so that everyone would become a walking billboardfor the new hall."

While attending the Exhibitor Show, Corcoran found a cardboard attache case beingdistributed by one of the exhibitors. A flap on one side of the box opened to allowliterature to be inserted, then sprung back automatically to cover the opening and keepthe contents secure. Large enough to hold a great deal of literature, the box also providedample space to display a show message.

After ordering 12,000 of the cases at $1.38 per box, a designer was hired to create aspecial four-color logo using the Grand Opening theme. "The results were incredible,"exclaims Corcoran. "So many people came over to get one that we could have given away20,000 of the boxes."

To lure even more buyers to the new hall, the NRA also ran an "NRA Winners Game"promotion. At the registration counter, or upon entering the new hall, all buyersreceived an NRA Winners Game card on which five booth numbers were printed. All thebooths were located in the new hall, and buyers had to visit three of the five booths to get their game card stamped. The booths were strategically placed so that buyers had to walk through most of the exhibit area in order to visit at least three booths.

When their third box was validated, the card was deposited in a ballot box. Each hour, aname was drawn from one of the ballot boxes and posted on large NRA Winners Gameboards in the North and East halls. "By posting the names on boards in both halls, wecreated interest in the contest by showing that there were actual winners each hour,"Corcoran says.

Winners received a catalog with more than 50 prizes valued at $100 each. Winnerschose one of the prizes and mailed a post card to a specialty advertising company whichhandled the gift fulfillment. By using the catalogs, the NRA avoided carrying an inventoryof gifts and also allowed the winners to be rewarded with a prize of their choice.

Like the cardboard attache case, the NRAWinners Game worked spectacularly. Buyersvalidated 20,634 game cards -- creating a constant flow of traffic into the new hall.

Together, the programs were an unqualified success. To measure attendance accuratelyon the new floor, every buyer had to pass through a security check where the magneticstrip on their badges recorded their attendance. More than 48,000 individual buyerspassed through the checkpoint.

World Sports Expo '90
The National Sporting Goods Association faced several attendance problems for its World Sports Expo '90. For the first time, the show would be held in July -- the fifth new show month in the last five years. The show would be held on weekdays only, instead of including a Saturday and Sunday. And the staff wanted to attract more small-volume buyers and a larger percentage of first-time advance registrants.

The NSGA turned these negatives into positives with a series of promotions aimed atturning a business trip into a family vacation. Research indicated that more buyers werelikely to attend the show if they could bring their families.

Working with the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, the NSGA set up a toll-freehotline, manned by Bureau personnel, to help attendees plan vacation activities aroundtheir trip to Chicago. Special emphasis was given to low-cost attractions and group tours the family could take while the buyer attended the show.

The NSGA also developed a six-minute promotional video devoted in part to the show, butalso focusing on the wide range of family activities available in the city. The video wasmass-produced and sent to every first-time registrant.

"One of our purposes with these two programs was to turn a higher percentage of pre-registrants into actual show visitors," says Thomas Drake, Director of Marketing andPublic Relations for NSGA. "Because of the show growth and the new product areas eachyear, thousands of our advance registrants are new to the show each year. Theseprograms gave us a chance to show them what a wonderful city Chicago is, and to excite them about coming to our show."

Neither program was very expensive when compared with the interest generated.Several thousand buyers responded to the 800-number, and more than 10,000 videoswere mailed to new registrants. Costs were held down in the video program by recyclingthe tapes. A special package was designed for each video that enabled the registrant tomail it back with the postage pre-paid. More than 70 percent of the videos werereturned and used again. As a result, the cost per video was less than $3. And, becausethe tape will be used for several years, the production costs can be amortized.

Another successful attendance-building promotion has been the NSGA IndependentRetailers Program. "Our goal with this program is to really make the small town, small volume buyer feel welcome," explains Drake.

To attract this group, the NSGA negotiated a special $59 room rate at the Bismarck Hotel in Downtown Chicago. Included was a free breakfast and a discount on meals eaten at the hotel, along with a coupon book offering discounts at 40 nearby restaurants. NSGA staff members were at the hotel at all times to take care of any requests from the retailers, and each night the NSGA hosted a reception for them in the hotel.

"This program has grown incredibly," says Drake. "Last year, 200 rooms were filledthrough this program. This year, all 738 rooms were filled and we had to take rooms attwo other hotels and subsidize the rate so that everyone who wanted to participate could be included."

The Biggest Little Arts & Crafts Show
For consumer show producers, who rely extensively on public relations practices topromote their events, capturing the attention of the local news media is crucial to theirsuccess. This problem is made more difficult for producers who take their shows "on theroad," since they have no ties to the community and no yearlong relationship withmembers of the local press.

For DMC Expositions, Inc., the solution to capturing press attention for The BiggestLittle Arts & Crafts Show is creativity. The Dallas-based company has used a widevariety of events including champagne receptions with local arts groups, date nights andjoint ventures with special groups of craftsmen. Because the show travels across thecountry, each of these promotions can be used several times a year. "Our exhibitors loveall three of these promotions because they attract the people who can afford to buy what they're selling," says Jeff Price, DMC President.

The champagne reception with a local arts group is held on the show's slowest night. Thearts group sells tickets to the reception and all proceeds are donated to the group. Theshow, in turn, receives high-quality attendees and excellent press coverage. "Usually, weare able to get press coverage of the event ourselves or with the help of the volunteerpublic relations person for the arts group," says Price. "But occasionally, we have hiredan outside public relations person to help us."

For date nights, the company stages an auction on the show floor during which the publicbids for dates with local celebrity singles. DMC works with the local Public Broadcasting Service television station to arrange for the celebrities, and in return, the station receives the proceeds from the auction. Using local celebrities almost always guarantees advance press coverage, and special mailings about the show are also sent to those on the PBS station's mailing list.

Price has also had great success attracting publicity -- and attendance -- using jointventures with other groups. Providing a section of the show floor to Amish craftsmen,for example, is not only a great publicity "hook," but an excellent attendance draw aswell.

"We'll also exhibit simultaneously in the same building with other shows whose appealis different from ours," says Price. "For example, we recently staged an arts and craftsshow in conjunction with a gun and knife show. That way, we had something to interestboth men and women, and both shows increased attendance by getting couples to come who individually might not have gone to either show. In case they wanted to attend both shows, we had a door inside where people could cross over at half price for the second show."

For Corcoran, Drake and Price, enhanced marketing programs did not take the place oftraditional promotion plans. Like most show managers, they used the advanced strategies solely to combat specific challenges. Some were one-time solutions, others will be used again. In each case, the extra effort extended was more than rewarded by the results.