Although the event landscape has changed significantly since these pieces were created, some things prove to be timeless. Specifically, the roles that creativity, innovation and a strategic approach to marketing play in driving results. IAEE’s Art of the Show Competition recognizes outstanding marketing activities directly related to successfully organizing and executing an exhibition and/or event. As such, it is the only marketing competition tailored specifically to our industry. Each year, event organizers submit the work they did to promote their show experience across 14 categories and an independent panel of marketing and graphic design experts selects the winners.
In today’s IAEE Art of the Show Competition Winners Circle, we highlight the winners of last year’s Social Media Campaign category, which evaluates the collective use of social media channels to effectively promote a show before, during and after the event. Judging criteria includes: content appeal and usefulness; effectiveness of distribution and target audience engagement; target audience response; how well the campaign correlates with the overall “theme” of the show; how well the social media campaign met its intended goals; and how well the social media drove attendance, general show awareness and overall brand awareness.
Under 75,000 nsf
mdg for VP International (VPI)
Craft Beverage Expo
Craft Beverage Expo, produced by VP International, is a trade show and conference dedicated to small-batch beverage producers to give them guidance in running a profitable business.
The social media campaign was developed to reach its target audience on a platform where they spend their time. In addition, social media was a tactic to help reach new audiences that were not captured in the email database or driven to the website via search. To achieve these goals, mdg created engaging designs married with succinct and relatable messaging.
The social media campaign was designed to use various ad types, including carousels, slide shows, static photos and video that would keep creative engaging. Key messages were targeted by audience type, using tailored images and copy to appeal to verticals in the craft beverage market – wine, beer, mead, cider, spirits and nonalcoholic. The social media ads earned engagement to the tune of a 1.05 percent total click through rate, exceeding industry standards of 1 percent. In addition, Facebook ads drove 800 new users to the Craft Beverage Expo website across five months.
Over 200,001 nsf
Informa Markets
The International Surface Event: SURFACES | StonExpo/Marmomac | TileExpo
For over 30 years, The International Surface Event (TISE) has served the floor covering, stone, and tile industry as THE industry marketplace. The TISE vision is to create a space where buyers and sellers gather to purchase products, gain design inspiration, and develop their businesses. The show makes this possible by carefully sourcing exhibiting brands, crafting content and events, and developing show features that match the needs of the industry. As the first event of the year, TISE is perfectly positioned to offer product launches, critical first of the year buying opportunities, and annual meetings.
TISE attendees cover three distinct personas: CREATIVES, architects and designers, SUITS, retailers, distributors, and dealers, and HAMMER + NAILS, contractors, builders, remodelers, fabricators, and installers. TISE exhibitors manufacture and/or supply product, materials, technology, services, tools, and/or equipment that serve the flooring, stone, and tile surface industries.
TISE set a goal of achieving 10 percent growth in social following, and actually grew 25 percent! In order to track and keep on pace, the TISE marketing team created an excel spreadsheet with the starting social media counts for the event in August, tracking out to the event in January. Each Monday, the team pulled social updates to carefully watch their social follower movement. In addition, the tracker had monthly percentages to goal that the team drove towards staying on track to ensure they hit their growth goals.
Utilizing a series of social impression-driving initiatives the team was able to surpass their goal. The 2019 show campaign was STORIES START AT THE SURFACE, switching the focus to a personal approach encouraging the industry to share their #mySURFACEstory. The campaign kicked off at registration open in August and ran through the show in January (and beyond) with a series of different social engagement opportunities for attendees, for speakers, and for manufacturers. (1) Video clips of INDUSTRY ICONS talking #mySURFACEstory about #whyTISE is the event for their business and for the industry. (2) #mySURFACEstory coloring and social campaign encouraging the industry to Tell Us Your Story (3) Capturing and sharing industry #mySURFACEstory SUCCESS TIPS from subject matter experts/speakers (4) SURFACES Live video series gave manufacturers a chance to share their product innovation stories.
TISE uses social software that pulls in social engagement and impressions based on keywords, hashtags, etc. This tracking system assisted in monitoring overall social media success. The unique social programs implemented helped in generating and contributing towards the outstanding social exposure for TISE 2019:
- 5M social impressions
- 460K social engagements
- 475K social activity
- 12M social reach
The Social Media Campaign for TISE also earned Informa Markets the coveted IAEE Art of the Show Competition BEST OF SHOW WINNER, which is the competition’s top scoring entry across all categories.
The 2020 IAEE Art of the Show Competition is now open! Take advantage of discounted entry fees by submitting your entries before the early bird deadline on 31 August! You can also check out all the winners from the 2019 competition here.
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