by Wayne Dunham and updated by Danica O'Donnell Vasos

How do consumer show managers get the best bang for their advertising buck? As the largest single expenditure, advertising makes up an average of 15 percent of consumer show expenses, according to the International Association for Exposition Management's (IAEM) 1993 Exposition Income and Expense Report. Optimizing that budget can make or break your show.

Most consumer show organizers agree that television is the most effective medium, followed by radio and print. A combination of all three is ideal, but not necessarily feasible for every show. No matter the size of your budget, the key to getting the most for your money is effective media buying.

Ad agencies

"We hire a small advertising agency each year to handle our advertising program," says Jerry Cizek, Executive Vice President of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, which stages the Chicago Auto Show each year. "We've found over the years that using an expert is the only way to take advantage of the special space buying deals. An agency works with the media every day, so they know what's available. They also know our demographics and can match us with the electronic media and newspapers that best fit our needs."

Another advantage to using an agency is that most will have established credit with the media in their communities, eliminating advance payment for ad space.

Cizek, whose 1989 show drew 980,000 people during its 10-day run in February, doesn't recommend using a large advertising agency. Consumer show ad budgets are generally too small to get major-league attention from large agencies, he says. There are small agencies, however, for which a show media budget from $50,000 to $100,000 would be very attractive. Generally, ad agencies will work for an agreed-upon fee, or a 15 percent commission of the total media program.

Herb Duke, President of International Gem and Jewelry, which sponsors 40 annual events, has used a variety of agencies across the country. "We have an expert on staff now who handles all our advertising," Duke says. "But as our shows were growing, we found that hiring someone in each of our show cities worked best."

Duke also found that a local representative could get lower rates than he could as a national organization. "They knew the market better than we did, and could take advantage of the special rates we didn't know about," he says.

Do it yourself

You can go the media-buying route alone, but it will take some time to learn the ropes. As a rule of thumb, most consumer show organizers start advertising 14 to 30 days prior to the show's opening, with the heaviest schedule the week before the event.

You'll need to do some research, learn the jargon and ask the right questions. For example, "What are your demographics?" and "What is your best cost per thousand for a particular age group?" You'll have to analyze the pricing and demographics of the different media -- determining how to reach your chosen demographic at the least possible cost per thousand.

Examine radio and television rating books to find when to place your ad to get the most exposure to your target audience. This can be quite time consuming, especially if you're not familiar with the market.

The best advantage of doing your own media buying is that you receive an agency discount of 15 percent. Most media will give you the discount if you tell them that you are an in-house advertising agency. Also, the facility's in-house public relations department can sometimes offer discounted rates and a list of media contacts. Another tip: In some cities, newspaper or cable television sales reps sell for several outlets and can give you several ads at a combined rate.

Getting lower rates

Duke, whose shows average between 5,000 and 20,000 attendees, saves money by buying space in quantity. Since many of his shows meet two, three or even four times a year in one area, he can take advantage of discounts offered to advertisers who buy large volumes of space within a one-year period.

Even when he can't save by signing a year-long contract, Duke often achieves a discount by booking all his space within a given seven-day period. "Newspapers especially will discount their space cost if we sign up for a certain number of inches per week," he says. "But we have to be careful to ask what the period is in each city. Sometimes, the week begins on a Saturday, sometimes on Sunday or Monday."

That was a lesson Duke learned the hard way. "If a newspaper week started on Monday, and our first ad ran on Sunday for a show the following weekend, we wouldn't qualify for the discount," he says.

The same type of frequency discounts are offered on a monthly or quarterly basis by most television and radio stations. In many cases, however, the "months" of the electronic media do not correspond to calendar months. Find out when the discounted rate period begins and ends. Also, the cost for time varies greatly per quarter.

So, too, do costs vary at different times of day. "We're lucky," says Duke, "that the people who buy jewelry tend to watch TV shows with lower rate costs. The rates can be as low as $100 per minute during the late movie, instead of several thousand dollars for a minute during prime time."

The same situation exists in radio. Morning drive time is almost always the most expensive. Stations will sometimes offer a "run of station" package that will give up to a 25 percent overall price discount if the media buyer will allow the station's computer to place the ads throughout the broadcast day. Usually, the computer is programmed to place a few ads in each time slot, but it's best to ask.

Other media

Billboards would seem a logical choice for promoting a consumer event, but surprisingly, they're seldom used. According to Cizek, "Billboards aren't sold separately. You have to buy a package. That means you get some good locations and some not-so-good locations. You also can't buy them normally for just one month. The packages we've tried to put together always turn out to be cost prohibitive."

Even Cizek will agree, however, that billboards should not be overlooked. "Sometimes billboard companies in major convention cities have special deals available," he says. "For example, we rent a billboard near McCormick Place each year for one month. Then, when our show is finished, another show rents the board. But that is the only deal we've ever been able to put together."

Ed Baugh, Managing Director of the Cleveland Home and Flower Show, had the same experience in Cleveland but has solved it in another way. "We work with our vendors to get 'rolling billboards' on their vehicles," he says. "Last year we had the backs of all the Pepsi-Cola trucks in Cleveland and signs on the sides of the Transit Authority buses. Both were trade-outs and gave us much more visibility than billboards would have."

City magazines are another medium seldom used by consumer show managers. "The main reason is cost and timing," says Duke. "They are very expensive to use, often $1,000 for one-third of a page, and their demographics don't really fit the profile of our average attendee. Also, their lead times are very long -- sometimes two months in advance of publication."

Baugh, who does advertise in a city magazine, disagrees. "Its readers fit our market, but our ad budget is limited," he says. To stretch that budget, Baugh allows the magazine to control advertising in the show program -- they sell the ads and keep the revenues. In exchange, they print the show programs free of charge and place the show's promotional ads in their publication.

Trade-outs

Although Duke doesn't do much bartering or trading for his show, Baugh extends his ad budget four or five times through sponsorships and trade-out arrangements with the media. In addition to his rolling billboards and print media trades, he also arranges sponsorships with several radio stations each year. "We trade tickets for air time," he says. "We give booth space at the show in return for a station's sponsoring our childcare center. We even give a new home away each year in cooperation with a radio station and several other vendors."

For Baugh, the extra media involvement is the key to his success. "It creates excitement at the show," he says. "It gets more of the community involved, and it extends our media buying power."

Measuring results

The most difficult aspect of media buying is measuring results. Were the ads effective? Was the copy aimed at the right audience? Were the ads placed in the right media? Was a segment of the population overlooked? Show attendance is the gauge by which most show managers measure their results.

Duke uses coupons in his newspaper ads that can be redeemed for free jewelry. He averages about 1,000 coupons per show and feels his newspaper buys work well. Cizek and Baugh both use discounted tickets as a barometer of their media programs' effectiveness.

For all three, the challenge of making the right media buys is constant. Almost immediately after a show ends, they begin studying the changes in demographics since the previous show. Then, working with their media experts, they plan a buying program targeted to reach the new audience segments.

"The primary purpose of our media program is to generate awareness of the auto show," says Cizek. "And since our show has continued to grow, we feel our purpose is being achieved."

Excerpted from the May/June 1990 issue of EXPO.