Booth attractions: Using celebrities...in whatever form

Having a "draw" at your exhibit is an important part of the lead-gathering process. Whether it's a serious presentation or a live-action dance team or entertainer, it's all about the lead--and the attention on the show floor.

The Buzz.

At the recent NACS show in Chicago, having a celebrity or key figure seemed to be the way to go. With MM/Mars and other NASCAR sponsors in the hall, they leaned on their relationship with their sponsored driver. Now, I've never met Kyle Busch in person, but I understand this cutout is near life size. Visitors to the booth shot photos of (and with) the cardboard Kyle and, with the other icons in the both (the MM characters, either in walkaround suits or plastic replicas), drew attention to the brand.

Other celebs and public figures made the scene, too. Once exhibitor built their whole exhibit around the election. The candy company did a mock vote with candy flavors and themed the entire booth and interaction at their exhibit around the election and the two major party candidates. No word on who won this vote, but the cutouts were proportional and a good attention-getter for a small (10x10) exhibitor. I imagine they did pres-show mailings and post-show followup using the theme.

Still others used live action icons. The jerky company brought out Bigfoot, both in carboard and costumed form. You could get a still photo with the real guy or you could pose with the cutout. Videos from their TV ad campaign played in the booth.

Chiquita Bananas did wonders with a small island booth. Simple display racks of fresh bananas in a structure keyed to their brand and colors was the backdrop. An actress/model, dressed as the 1960s TV ad icon worked in the booth, posing for photos with visitors and stocking fruit. The model was also well-versed and armed with the verbal messages that the Chiquita people wanted conveyed to their C-store audience. that's pervasive branding.

Still others relied on our memories and sense of fun. The Icee Bear, Myley Cyrus and the Blues Brothers all made appearances. Even the Chester's Chicken Rooster was walking the aisles. Free food samples and interactive characters brought attention to a myraid of brands in a busy space. But it seemed to work for them. And many of them did it right--integrating brand and message in a fun, memorable way. But always, always tie it to the gathering of leads and follow up.

Lesson Learned: integrate your brand message in a fun, memorable way and the prospect will remember you.

TTSG

Road warrior

I was fortunate last evening to sit on the plane next to a meeting planner/trade show manager. Jen is the event marketing specialist for a California-based software provider. She was headed to Orlando for Educause.

It was a brief conversation, but reminded me of some things that experienced event people have in their "collections." Things like:

Put a map of a convention center or airport in front of us and we'll probably be able to tell you from city each is from.
Each show is like a reunion: we meet up with other TSMs and vendor-suppliers that we only see in a given city or at a certain show.
Remembering where all of the good restaurants are in the show city.

These might seem like odd things, but as in any profession, there are things unique to the experience. They help you know what to do by instinct and be able to advise your client or staff with confidence.

Lesson Learned: have a good memory and use the information to save money and time.

TTSG

Squeezing a memory out of a show

Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails....chances are somebody has made them into a foam stress item at one point in the trade show world. In an effort to reach out to trade show and event attendees, many exhibiting companies are resorting to the old squeeze play. OK, so I've overdone the analogies. The truth is the world of foam stress balls has grown beyond stress balls. And some of the participants are using the little foam guys in an integrated fashion and to great advantage.

At the recent NACS show I saw a variety of things in this category: foam giraffes, cars, sumo wrestlers, gasoline storage tanks (really), footballs and wrist bands. Anything that you could want in a foam shape, you could have to take home. In fact, one of my colleagues said he's been collecting these things are several years and has hundreds of them.

The best example of an integrated use of a foam figure was Quantum Services. While most exhibitors come up with a foam thingee at the last minute or as a gag, Rachel Bernhardt and the crew at Quantum build their exhibit marketing image around the giraffe icon.

Quantum (www.quantum-services.com) provides audit services to the convenience store industry. Their booth graphics rely on the giraffe icon and they've tied advance show mailings to an offer of a free giraffe when they arrive at the show. They've also used the spotted long-neck fellow in other media to attract attention. It's more than just a squeeze toy: it's a memory and a conversation starter.

Lesson Learned: use foam squeezers in an integrated way to attract attention, start conversations and be a reminder later.

TTSG

*thanks to Rachell Bernhardt and Quantum Services

Sir, your fly is, er, down

Every once in a while you see a small exhibitor with a fresh idea of how to gather a crowd and get attention. At NACS this year, I met the guys from PestWest Environmental.

While they only had a 10x10 booth, they were close to the front of the hall. The company's roots are in lighting and lamps which, ultimately, led them to pest attraction and control (elimination). They had a popup backdrop with their logo and a draped table with samples of product and literature. Pretty typical small exhibit stuff. But their differentiator and conversation starter was the blow-up fly on a stick. Jerry and James used this prop effectively by standing in the aisle (hey, remember the easement approach to space?) and getting attention. It started a lot of conversations. And once they engaged a propsect, they had their messages down succinctly. Worked with me.

The point of all this is simple things and ideas work. Remember why you are there and think about what gets your prospects' attention and ear. Then, once you've "hooked" them, get to the point fast and clearly.

Lesson learned: simple ideas and visuals work.

TTSG

Special thanks to Jerry Hatch and James Shaffer from Pest West (www.pestwest.com or www.lampcompactor.com)

Sign, sign everywhere a sign

With apologies to Bill Engvall and The Five Man Electrical Band, this entry is all about signs--the hanging variety used at trade shows.

The NACS show was a great example of companies using hanging structures as a part of their dimensional marketing strategy. Many use them as signposts so that visitors looking for them can find their booth from across the hall. Others use them as an extension of the booth itself--whether that be a physical extension of the structure or a graphical look that ties to the booth.

They can also be used to convey a message--verbal or visual. Perhaps it's the logo of the company, an extension of the booth message or look, or perhaps it's a symbol from a related or overarching campaign. Any and all of these approaches are justified when it comes to the highest signage in (or above) your space.

If you have an iconic product, then you have a real advantage. Heinz Ketchup and Goetze's Candies are examples of those who hung signs representative of their product. You have to be careful with scale (the size of sign in relation to the booth and the height limit), or your sign could get lost in the air. Keep in mind that at some shows the height limit can vary by the type of sign you have or from where it originates.

Hanging signs versus signs supported by the booth structure may be subject to different height limits. In most cases, height limits are measured to the top of the sign and are either at 16, 20, or 24 feet from the floor.

But above all (pun intended), keep the integrity of your icon--the same rules that apply to it in print or as a 3-D logo in the booth at eye level are to be enforced. Be sure the colors are true to the PMS colors specified for other uses. That can be tough when ink or dye colors change or look different under different types of light or from when they are applied to fabric or surfaces of sign material. Ask your vendor as they should have the experience to advise you of the challenges of the translation.

We'll discuss this again in a future entry with more examples.

Lesson learned: variety is the spice of trade show life in the hall.

TTSG

The Effective Booth Captain

The just-completed NACS show was a great exercise in being prepared and having measurable results at the end of it. My client, Retalix, did all of the things you need to do to make sure that the staff is prepared and knows what's going on before, during and at the conclusion of a show.

One of the critical pieces of preparing a booth staff for a show is the pre-show meetings, including the opening day standup meeting. Doug Fick, the VP of Sales for Retalix' Convenience Store business segment, gave one of the best, most complete captain's speeches I've ever heard. In his Sunday morning speech, Doug hit on the important things he wanted his staff to know:

• What to do when a client approaches.
• Who to refer prospects to in the booth.
• How to collect and qualify leads.
• Which key customers would be visiting the booth during the show, when to expect them and to whom to refer them.

Doug spelled all this out to the staff as they stood around him. It was conversational in tone, professional and imparted useful information to the team. What's more, and beyond the staff training part of the show, Doug knows what to do with the leads and how to classify and distribute them at the show's conclusion. On the last day of the show, Doug was able to tell me who the key players were who visited the booth, could target and quantify the potential business from the show and was moving on to changing leads into business after the show. To Retalix' credit, they have a central customer/prospect database and use it to further classify, qualify and track the progress of a sale. I wish more people who use trade shows would use the tools that Doug and people like him use and implement to get the results that they truly want. The result of all this was a lead count and collection of gathered data that met the expectations of the sales team and executives and can be tracked.

Lesson learned: prepare your staff and the results will follow.

TTSG

*Thanks to Doug Fick, Herman Beckley, Tal Spirer, Darren Vader and the whole Retalix team

It's not about the booth

I had dinner with a colleague from the industry last evening. We traded stories and leads and finally got to philosophy. After several minutes of spirited discussion, we both concluded one thing:

It's not about the booth.

While this seems an overstatement of the obvious, too many exhibitors and suppliers view the trade show experience as about putting up an exhibit. Great for those who want to think that way. But as suppliers and supporters of strategic marketers we really are solutions providers. As I've said many times, if you do this right, you can do it on a bear piece of concrete. However, you shouldn't have to do that. But the perception of exhibit marketing is changing as is the approach.

More exhibitors, facing reduced budgets because of tightening credit and higher shareholder expectations, want a lighter booth and don't want to store a thing for months out of the year unused. Suppliers want to keep designing and producing effective space-using exhibits that keep saws turning and warehouses full. Hmmmm...do we need to rethink this model?

That's not to say exhibits need to go away. Quite the contrary--the best and most effective way to sell to new and existing customers is face to face. there isn't a replacement for that. That said, that means that the exhibit space needs to be a strategic location for selling and effective in execution.

Fewer, more targeted exhibits that are part of a larger strategy--well-timed and placed trade advertising, trained staff, consistent messaging.

Let's not shoot for the tactic but aim a bit higher.

TTSG