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The IAEE Art of the Show Competition’s Attendance Promotion Brochure category evaluates a single brochure (printed or digital) used to promote attendance at a show. Judging criteria includes overall presentation, visual appeal and creativity; organization of the information presented (ease to follow/find information); clarity of information, overall message and content usefulness; how the presentation relates to the overall “theme” of the event; and how well the piece met its intended goals.
In today’s IAEE Art of the Show Competition Winners Circle, we highlight the winners of last year’s Attendance Promotion Brochure category:
Under 75,000 nsf
Informa Exhibitions
Dwell on Design
Dwell on Design celebrates international design by showcasing the latest trends and products, and gathering architects and designers with industry tastemakers for a sensory experience in Los Angeles. As the largest design fair on the West Coast, Dwell on Design is a magnet for architecture and design professionals working in residential, contract and hospitality design. The exhibition and conference feature the best in modern furniture, lighting, accessories, kitchen and bath, home and office technology, outdoor and design materials.
The Digital Event Magazine is a preview of some of the brands that were featured in curated, beautifully designed spaces on the fair floor. Rather than printing the magazine, the marketing team opted to publish it digitally so that it was constantly updated with new companies’ products, providing attendees a greater experience with the magazine.
The brochure served as an event magazine to promote exhibitors and their products. By publishing it digitally, the magazine was able to increase its distribution as well as keep the information as updated as possible. Digital Event Magazine reached more than 750,000 impressions via email, web, social media and Dwell Magazine e-newsletter.
“Many exhibitors, as well as Dwell Magazine, loved the look and feel of this beautiful event magazine,” said Amie Gilmore, Show Director for Informa Exhibitions. “We look forward to expanding upon this beautiful piece in the future!”
Between 75,001 and 200,000 nsf
mdg
2017 BOMA International Annual Conference & Expo
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is a federation of 90 BOMA U.S. associations and 18 international affiliates. Founded in 1907, BOMA represents the owners and managers of all commercial property types including nearly 10.5 billion square feet of U.S. office space that supports 1.7 million jobs and contributes $234.9 billion to the U.S. GDP. Its mission is to advance a vibrant commercial real estate industry through advocacy, influence and knowledge.
BOMA International is a primary source of information on building management and operations, development, leasing, building operating costs, energy consumption patterns, local and national building codes, legislation, occupancy statistics, technological developments and other industry trends.
With a front cover die-cut and a headline incorporating ellipses, this piece generates intrigue and invites interaction. The campaign concept, “What’s Your Story?” is supported by a loyal BOMA International Annual Conference & Expo attendee, alongside a testimonial attesting to the benefits of attending the show – creating a grand reveal when opening the cover of the brochure. Bright, eye-catching colors and familiar icons assist in the readability of the piece allowed recipients to easily find the information needed to register. The use of white space and the reduction of photos cut down on clutter and open the spreads up to bright, legible pages with compelling headlines and a clear call to action.
“Aside from the clean presentation and general appeal of the brochure, the show itself experienced a 22 percent increase in registration within two weeks of the brochure hitting mailboxes,” noted mdg Marketing Coordinator Talia Franco.
Over 200,001 nsf
Tarsus Group
Labelexpo Americas 2016
Launched in 1989, Labelexpo Americas is held biennially in Chicago. It is North America’s largest dedicated label and package printing industry event and known as a “buying show.” Exhibitors are machinery/material suppliers and visitors printers who produce labels and packaging for FMCGs (food, pharmaceuticals). The show is quite unusual with its large scale, complex and technical exhibits of live working print machinery and high level buying audience. Dominating a niche market, it has no direct competition within the label sector, but does share a target audience/purchasing opportunities with general print industry shows like Drupa.
Despite many print shows suffering over the past few years, show organizers set the following key objectives for Labelexpo Americas 2016:
- Increase visitor numbers;
- Increase re-visits to the show;
- Broaden the scope to include visitors from other areas of the printing industry, especially flexible packaging and folding cartons; and
- Increase number of visitors from outside the USA (particularly Canada and Mexico).
Marketing for the Labelexpo events is well known as daring to be different and eye-catching. From superheroes to fairy tales, the Labelexpo marketing team was tasked to follow up previous campaigns with a suitably dazzling theme for Americas 2016. In a nod to Rube Goldberg, the team was inspired by the show exhibiting heavy working machinery and settled on “a fantastical world of possibilities” where the use of machinery and technology could solve problems for the modern day printer. Rube Goldberg was a prominent American cartoonist and inventor, famed for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways and generally involve a chain reaction; giving rise to the term Rube Goldberg machines for any similar gadget/process.
Rather than focusing on print runs being overly complicated or needing to be simplified, the marketing team chose to highlight the machine and its various steps to stress the importance of optimization. Each part of the process needs to work together perfectly for the technology to work at its best. This could refer to the printing process or a company’s workflow. Being a label printer isn’t simply a case of putting paper in a press and pressing a button. There are many things going on in the background and even a small change could provide big rewards. And of course, Labelexpo Americas is the only place where you can see solutions for every part of the process.
As a technology show, Labelexpo Americas is where printers go to see the very latest innovations on display. So for the personalized direct mailer, the team created its very own “fantastical machine.” Also, as a show aimed at the print industry, there is a high level of scrutiny on the quality of the show’s print marketing – and an expectation from exhibitors that it produce high quality and innovative direct mail.
45,000 personalized mailers in two Rube Goldberg-esque visual designs were produced which included two different 3D lenticular prints that showed segments of the team’s “fantastical machine” in a 3D effect on a flat surface. This design and production using 3D lenticular print was the most technical the marketing team had undertaken.
3D lenticular print is a way to present a 3D effect on a flat surface. The idea is to use a plastic sheet with many lined lenses so that light will be refracted in different angles for the left and right eyes. When an image behind the lenticular sheet is designed in such a way that one image will be seen by the left eye and another by the right, our brain will render a 3D effect.
The team segmented the direct mail, not only by language (English and Spanish), but also by industry sector (label, flexible packaging, folding carton). It also adapted content based on the recipient’s history at the show. Additionally, the team segmented the data so that if there were two people from the same office receiving the piece, they would receive lenticulars with different artwork.
The 2016 show was the most successful in its long history and yielded record results:
- Highest visitor attendance ever – 17,407 (up 8.5% on 2014)
- Widest reach ever – visitors from 88 countries (81 in 2014)
- Largest ever show floor ever – 201,000 net square feet
- Highest number of exhibitors ever – 455 (441 in 2014)
- Re-visits to the show increased by 42%
- The show recorded a 54% increase in visitors responsible for folding cartons (17% vs. 11%) and a 33% increase in visitors responsible for flexible packaging (32% vs. 24%)
- Visitors from Mexico increased by 23% and visitors from Canada by 7%
“This was a highly complex operation that required close four- way cooperation between design team, illustrator, printer and lenticular provider to produce the two final designs,” said Tarsus Group Public Relations Manager Lee Robertson. “But the results speak for themselves and the hard work was well worth it!”
The 2018 IAEE Art of the Show Competition is now underway – you have until 14 September 2018 to submit your entries! Check out all the winners from the 2017 competition.
