Trade shows are tough for exhibitors. You’ve got a ton of competition, lots of distractions, and (frankly) most of the attendees want to avoid you.
One way to stand out: Extend your presence beyond the booth with a clever handout.
BazaarVoice had a great booth at the Shop.org Innovation event. They passed out funny ribbons for people to put on their nametags. By the end of the show everyone was wearing one.
Everyone had fun, BazaarVoice got noticed, and it must have made their competitors insane to see everyone walking around with them.
To make this work keep it really, really simple and fun. No one is going to wear your advertising. You need to think about what makes the participants happy, not your marketing department. (Notice that the ribbons don’t even have the BazaarVoice logo. But everyone knew where they came from.)
P.S. I’m an advisor to BazaarVoice
Someday someone is going to shout from the rooftops:
YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR BRAND. Your customers do.
They don’t want your propaganda, they want to display or talk about something proudly because it’s clever, individual, fun, or just plain noteworthy. If people were happy to cart around advertising or pretty four color trifold brochures, smart marketers would be out of a job.
Very clever, Andy. That gives me a smile, and that’s what it takes at trade shows. Very well done.
Very neat idea, but if EVERYONE at the convention does it next year, it won’t matter.
That’s what makes marketing fun-always something new. = )