B-to-B Events

The second day of the Event Marketing Summit (May 1) opened up with a keynote by Scott Schenker, vp-global events at SAP, who spoke not only as a marketer but also a visionary forecasting the future of the event marketing industry (sponsored by ewi Worldwide). With the WikiLeaks releases still fresh on folks’ minds, Schenker focused on disruption and change forged by the new trend of “people to people marketing.” He said, “Face-to-face marketing is no longer enough.

Michelle Klein, vp-content, digital and communications at Diageo, whose Smirnoff brand received an Ex Award at the 10th annual Event Marketing Summit’s awards gala on April 30 for its Nightlife Exchange Project, wowed the crowd earlier in the day as the opening keynote speaker at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Chicago (sponsored by Fish Technologies).
Describing the Nightlife Exchange Project as the “sweetspot” between digital and physical, Klein explained how she harnessed the online community to create an event that on Nov. 27 took place in 50 countries.

It’s every exhibitor’s dilemma—how to stand out in the sea of booths on the trade show floor. And when they’re exhibiting at a major show like ConExpo-Con/Agg, where more than 2,000 suppliers to the construction industry strut their stuff at the Las Vegas Convention Center once every three years in March, the challenge is even greater.

Danish shoe brand Ecco hosted a special event for fashion bloggers on April 18 at the Scandinavia House on New York City’s Park Avenue to promote the brand’s couture chops in addition to its legendary comfort. Ecco took over the upper level and outdoor balcony at the venue where it displayed its new collections and walked attendees through its men’s and women’s offerings.

How to bring your brand message to life at a trade show? Let us count the ways. There’s signage and graphics, high-tech experiences and theatre presentations, press events and cocktail parties, to name a few. But trade shows can also be a forum to release a brand’s more creative side. Like Lenovo did this year at CES when it hired Hollywood stuntmen to ride through Las Vegas on top of taxis and limos. Or Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, which turned rubber duckies and conga lines into business-generating engagement tools.