^{September 2003}

Intelligence gathering and analysis are critical to exhibit sales in today’s increasingly competitive show environment

By Martha Collins

As General Manager of Advanstar Communication’s six call center technology

shows, Liz Crawford made sure she or her sales manager walked every aisle of every competitor’s show — exhibitor list and floor plan in hand — verifying exhibitors, booth size, partner pavilions, sponsorships and a range of other details. Back at the office, they created spreadsheets for each show, calculating total revenue, market share and average booth size, as well as how much each exhibitor spent. Paying particular attention to what bellweather exhibitors spent on Advanstar shows compared with what they spent on competing shows, Crawford and her staff developed value-added sales strategies based on what they learned. In one case, they were able to quadruple the market share of two shows in five years.

“I hate surprises. I’m always looking ahead and behind to see who I can take out and who’s on my heels. If you’re not looking ahead, you’re not going anywhere and if you’re not looking behind, someone can overtake you,” says Crawford, who is now Group Show Director for Advanstar in Santa Ana, CA.

Competitive analysis is nothing new. Show managers always try to have some feel for who’s out there, how they’re getting business and how their own efforts compare. But thorough, effective and results-driven intelligence gathering and analysis are critical to exhibit sales in today’s increasingly competitive show environment, with many exhibitors and attendees participating in fewer shows and marketing budgets stretched across a range of media.

Competitive intelligence enables show managers to promote and sell what sets their shows apart, target new market segments, attract new exhibitors and attendees, and evaluate potential launches and acquisitions.

Whether you handle competitive intelligence in-house or get expert help (see sidebar, Tracking the Competition), the important thing is to make it an ongoing process.

Gauging the Competition
Crawford identifies a competitive event as one in which the bellweather exhibitors display the same or similar products as they do in an Advanstar show. For the six call-center technology shows, she analyzed from seven to nine competitors with shows in similar markets each year.

The on-site intelligence was critical to getting the most accurate information, Crawford says. It was also often the only way to learn who was included in a partner pavilion sponsored by a major exhibitor. “There’s no substitute for going to the competing show and talking to the customer,” she says.

The spreadsheets Crawford and her staff created included each exhibitor’s square footage multiplied by the space rate. They placed a value on sponsorships and calculated the show cost for each exhibitor, as well as total show revenue. “This is a good benchmark. Although it doesn’t consider any special deals that may have been made, it does give you an idea of which companies have money to spend,” she says. “We tracked the bellweather share of market by looking at where they were exhibiting, how many square feet they took in the competing show, and how much they spent compared with what they were spending with us.”

Advanstar also tracked the information by product category to learn what products the major exhibitors were displaying at each show. “So if, for example, the bellweathers were exhibiting a lot of hardware and very little software at a competing show, and the reverse was true at our show, we could either expand our show through a line extension or launch a competing hardware show. We could develop the new niche and conference programs to support it, and add hardware buyers to the target market,” explains Crawford.

She also tallied the total net square feet of exhibit space for all shows in the industry, then calculated the market share of each show based on its percentage of that total.
Advanstar bought the International Call Center Management Conference & Exposition (ICCM) in 1997 with the goal of growing it into the world’s largest such show, but they wanted to do so without competing against their own Call Center Dallas Show, which they’d owned since 1993. So they used the spreadsheets they’d developed on all competing shows in that industry, including their own, to create a matrix identifying the largest overlapping exhibitors who were spending the most money already. Then they developed a multi-media sales package based on adding value rather than discounting. Major exhibitors who signed up for both shows were prominently identified as “Platinum Sponsors” in all marketing materials, the show directory, the program calendar, the Web site (extra links and banner ads), and at the show. Platinum Sponsors also had one point of contact for both shows, the opportunity to introduce a conference speaker and a chance to speak at the application showcase on the show floor.

“It’s a competitive industry, and visibility is very important. There was a lot of consolidation in the industry and being a Platinum Sponsor gave an exhibitor the opportunity to keep the product and brand name visible while an acquisition was going on,” says Crawford.

In 1997, the two shows had a combined 11 percent share of the market; by 2002, their market share was 44 percent.

“Competitive analysis is especially important now as the markets are shrinking and the economy is tough,” says Crawford. “It’s your road map. It shows you where you need to go.”

Analyzing the Market
Project managers for E.J. Krause & Associates gather information about competing shows by talking directly to participants. “We talk to exhibitors and attendees who go to both our show and the competitor’s, as well as some who go to only one or the other,” says Jim Forlenza, Senior Vice President of the Bethesda, MD-based show producer. The managers work from a list of questions designed to gauge impressions of both the show and the industry (see sidebar, How to Analyze Competing Shows, for ideas on sample questions to ask participants). They pose the same kinds of questions to representatives of industry associations and to the trade press.

This kind of competitive analysis for their Expo Manufactura, a machine tools show held in Mexico, helped E.J. Krause identify a change in the industry and a gap in the competing show, both of which they turned to competitive advantage to increase sales for their own show.

Expo Manufactura rotated each year between Mexico City and Monterrey, while the competing show was always held in Mexico City. “Through our competitive research we learned that more and more manufacturers were moving to Monterrey. Many of the exhibitors we talked to told us, ‘We’re looking to set up shop in Monterrey and find a distributor there,’” says Forlenza. “Also the competing show is run by an association. And some of the feedback we got from talking to exhibitors in that show was that they were seeing the same buyers year after year, all members of the association. Exhibitors wanted to see some new buyers.”

In 1998, E.J. Krause moved their show permanently to Monterrey, making it easier for many exhibitors to attend. And in 1999, they added exhibitors from ancillary market segments. “Broadening the exhibitor base helped attract new buyers to the show. The surveys we get back from exhibitors indicate they’re much happier with the audiences here than previously,” says Forlenza.

E.J. Krause touted the new location and the expanded exhibitor and attendee base in their sales materials and presentations. When the show moved to Monterrey permanently in 1998, booth sales increased 31 percent and attendance increased 45 percent from the previous year. When the exhibitor base was expanded in 1999, booth sales rose 11 percent and attendance 40 percent. Increases continued in 2000 (33 percent booth sales, 23 percent attendance) and in 2001 (20 percent booth sales, 12 percent attendance). There was no growth in 2002, thanks in large part to a 40-year low in the machine tool sector, notes Forlenza.

Scrutinizing All Media
When a DMG World Media consumer show goes into a city, the show manager and sales staff have competitive intelligence on every competing media in that market. This includes not only competing events, but also radio, magazines, television, newspapers, the Web, billboards, and even banner ads on buses and at transit stations. DMG’s customer base is primarily local and regional, so their exhibitors advertise heavily in local media.

DMG hires a public relations firm in each city to make their media buys, as well as provide them with detailed information on each competing media, including rates, frequency, circulation and audience reach. The PR firm also outlines the advantages and disadvantages of a company spending marketing dollars with each competitor.

“We really don’t just sell against shows, the money comes out of a company’s marketing budget. Shows are not a separate line item in that budget. Our salespeople know that we’re competing against every other media’s marketing strong points,” says Dwayne McKillop, Director of Sales for DMG’s North American headquarters in Toronto.

“When the economy gets tight, companies tend to buy low risk and safety and they equate that with traditional marketing. So shows are not in every company’s marketing mix. But one advantage shows have over other media is that it’s easier to verify results,” says McKillop. And competitive intelligence enables DMG to use that as a selling point. “For example, we might go to a potential exhibitor who buys space on billboards and say, ‘Put the $5,000 from just one of those billboards into exhibiting at our show and see what we can do for you.’ From a show standpoint, of course, you can actually count the return on investment in terms of sales made on the show floor.” Additionally, post-show surveys indicate how many attendees plan to purchase particular products within the next six months.

For a consumer show, a competing event is anything that competes for consumers’ attention. So part of DMG’s competitive analysis involves events taking place at the same time. In this case, competition can sometimes be turned into cooperation.

When the three-day Phoenix Home and Garden Show 2001 Presented by GMC took place at the same time as the Arizona Diamondbacks were competing in the World Series, a home game coincided with one of the show days. So DMG ran a promotion touting the two events as a full-day outing — people could come to the show during the day and stay for the game that night, and save money on parking because the convention center and the stadium share lots. DMG tied some show décor into the World Series, show staff wore Diamondbacks baseball caps, and an attendee won two tickets to the game.

“If you don’t know what’s going on in your marketplace, you can’t thrive.” says McKillop. “Without competitive intelligence you’re flying blind when it comes to sales strategies.”

Martha Collins is a freelance writer/editor who has covered the exhibition, convention and meeting industries since 1993. She can be reached at mccwriter@aol.com.