At the NRA (National Restaurant Association) Show 2010, show organizers launched the World Culinary Showcase, where attendees could experience interactive cooking demonstrations with top celebrity chefs and find the information and inspiration to create fun, flavorful and nutritious menu ideas. To promote the show’s new feature, show organizers offered attendees the opportunity to win two tickets and an all-expense paid trip to the Hollywood premiere of the new movie “Eat, Pray, Love,” which stars Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem and opens in theaters on Aug. 13.

Sony Pictures provided chances to win passes to advance screenings of “Eat, Pray, Love” around the country. The winners had to be registered for NRA Show 2010, which was May 22-25 at Chicago’s McCormick Place in Chicago, and were announced each day in the World Culinary Showcase, with the grand-prize winner announcement on the last day of the event.

Both of these examples are significant because over the last several years, official service contractors, like GES, have quietly been expanding their suite of products and services, as well as their customer base, to diversify their revenue streams beyond traditional sources. Last year was extremely challenging for all sides of the trade show industry, but contractors really felt the hit as both their two major customer groups—show organizers and exhibitors—cut back.

Yet, who would have ever thought that show organizers would be turning to contractors for experiential marketing solutions? As with most recessions, it has lead to innovations. To keep existing customers and pick up new business, contractors have had to add more strategic value to the logistical services they provide. Many started these initiatives before the economy tanked and, in some ways, the downturn has forced show organizers and exhibitors, with tighter budgets and fewer resources, to look to contractors and other suppliers for creative solutions. “Our relationship with Sony resulted in that sponsorship and a unique attendee experience,” says Paul Dykstra, Chairman, President and CEO of Viad, the parent company of Las Vegas-based Global Experience Specialists (GES). 

In the next several pages are examples of how the contractor business is changing from a strictly labor intensive business to a broader, more service-oriented business, using new technology solutions, mobile apps, branding and marketing strategies, sponsorship sales, and research and measurement tools.

Cleaning Their Own House

Before embarking on adding new services, some contractors focused on improving on their core services to find efficiencies to reduce costs and increase time. For Freeman, it began six years ago with a strategic planning process. “We had grown significantly throughout the 90s, and frankly we had outstripped our customer service,” says Joe Popolo, CEO for Dallas-based Freeman. “We needed to get back to the basics. If customers don’t trust us to deliver freight or their furniture or their carpeting, then there’s no way they would trust us with their brand and corporate marketing dollars at any significant level.”

Freeman launched a companywide initiative to revamp its compensation structure, goals, measurement, communication strategy and customer feedback. To head up the effort, Freeman hired Jeri Muller, Director of Service Quality for Freeman, who worked for Walt Disney World Co. for 14 years, and promoted Katy Wild, Executive Vice President, Customer Relations, who joined the company in 1977. Freeman employees went through a third-party customer service training and certification in 2003, and all 4,000 Freeman employees will be re-certified again this year. In 2008, Freeman received the Customer Service Excellence Award from the International Council of Customer Service Organizations. “It truly was a transformational effort to improve customer service,” says Popolo. “All of our employees receive bonuses, at least in part, on their customer service. It’s been a huge investment, but it’s been a great payoff in terms of strengthening our relationships with our corporate and show organizer clients.”

At GES, the company launched GES Excellence, a six sigma lean initiative employed by a number of Fortune 500 companies to improve its processes. “The idea is to ask employees on the frontlines to identify and offer ideas for improvements,” says Dykstra. “Basically, it’s a bottom-up approach to attacking the process.”  GES looked at everything from how it delivers furniture on the show floor to how the warehouse is organized. “We used to bring chairs on one cart and unload them and tables on another cart and unload them,” says Dykstra. “We changed how we rack the furniture to save the number of trips our employees have to make. It seems fairly simple, but it’s lead to significant efficiencies and cost reductions.” These cost savings have helped GES to offset the revenue declines.

In GES’s first-quarter 2010 earning statement, Dykstra says: “Our ongoing Lean initiatives are delivering sustainable productivity improvements and customer service enhancements, and we continue to drive down overhead costs through the rationalization of facilities and other consolidation activities.” Variable cost savings from Lean initiatives are expected to approximate $10 million, and Viad expects this savings to offset general market pressures on margins, according to the statement.

Beyond the Basics

In addition to these internal improvements, contractors have to make it easy for show organizers and exhibitors to do business with them. They had to determine how they could ease the points of pain for exhibitors and show organizers. “If we can take care of the tactical issues and meet exhibitors’ basic needs, we can move on to providing the next level,” says Bob Priest-Heck, CEO of San Francisco-based Wheelhouse Solutions. “Then we can look at the some of the directional innovations, like how we can help them do things better. If we help them do that, we’ll be able to provide programs that transform the community.”

Last year, Champion launched Exhibitor PACT, which includes pre-assigned Exhibitor Relations Coordinators dedicated to take a proactive approach—reaching out to exhibitors at the beginning of the planning process to offer help. Champion also enhanced its exhibitor communications process to make it easy for exhibitors to be aware of deadlines, discounts and time-saving services. Champion is working with show organizers to tailor the service offering to the needs of the event.  For some shows, this means custom Webinars, for others it means additional attention to specific exhibitors.

At the same time, contractors are making huge investments to ease online ordering and increase transparency so exhibitors can budget. For example, last October Freeman rolled out its revamped online ordering system, an integrated platform offering a online event information, planning, and ordering resource. The integrated ordering feature gives exhibitors the ability to order all Freeman services, including AV, as well as non-Freeman services such as floral, photography, lead retrieval, and Internet, from specialty contractors through its Web site.

Expanding Their Services

As exhibitor and show management clients began asking for more creative solutions, contractors have responded by hiring or acquiring experts in these fields to provide enhanced services. “As a traditional service contractor, we knew we weren’t necessarily viewed as a forward-looking, creative, strategic supplier,” says Popolo. “That was our reasoning behind the purchase three years ago of ProActive, an agency based purely on the business-to-business and the face-to-face market.”

In 2008, Champion Expositions acquired Immersa Marketing, a full-service experience marketing agency. The combined companies, now known as Wheelhouse Solutions, provide digital experiences, event strategy, attendee marketing and sponsorship sales services.

“The whole industry has been rocked, and show organizers, especially associations, are asking for more from their partners,” says Ray Pekowski, CEO, The Expo Group. “We’re trying to broaden our suite of services to provide convenience to our customers.” To that end, The Expo Group launched several new initiatives last year to help show managers and corporate planners better brand themselves. April Hurley, a 13-year veteran of the company, was promoted to Vice President of Products and Services. Costas Varkarotas, who has extensive experience in the exhibits and events industry, both in general management and as a creative director, joined the company as Vice President of Branding and Innovation.

All About Branding and Experiential Marketing

Today’s contractors are building on their experience with thousands of event clients in every industry to leverage that knowledge to offer branding and strategic solutions to both corporate and trade show clients. In the last 18 months, Champion has audited about 40 shows to evaluate how they’re serving their community, marketing, engagement, social media, technology tools, sponsorships, etc. “It’s compiled into a report from tactical to strategic, and it provides a tool for discussion,” says Priest-Heck.

For example, the Windpower 2010 Show, which was held in May in Dallas, worked with Champion and Immersa to offer an experiential component at the event. The Wind Works section featured digital photos from the event, a Google mash up, plasma screens with Google maps tagged with wind projects. Attendees could tag additional projects and send advocacy messages to their congress people. In addition, Immersa had roving reporters produce on-site video with interviews, programming, and more that could be used online during and after the event.

In addition, the SIA (SnowSports Industries America) SnowShow, which was held in January 2010 in Denver, partnered with GES to launch the Ski Lodge experience at the show. After 37 years in Las Vegas, SIA decided to reinvent the show with a new name and new location in the Rocky Mountains.

To enhance the attendee experience, GES designed a modern Ski Lodge, featuring backlit panels and abstract forest-like décor to “bring the outside in.” New focal points include branded entrance monuments, registration counters, a book store, a central lounge, a fashion boutique and artistic decorations.

Investing in Digital Tools

While contractors are looking for cost-saving in some areas, they must continue to invest in digital tools—like mobile apps, virtual events and social media—to stay at the forefront and meet customer demands. In April, Freeman launched Concierge Elite, a mobile customer service and productivity application. Concierge Elite offers exhibitors the convenience of self-service through their mobile device, while providing show management real-time visibility into their event’s move-in and move-out activities.

Show Managers can track the progress of their show via dashboards. “They benefit from improved exhibitor satisfaction, increased visibility and a real-time view of what’s happening at their show anytime,” says Popolo. “Concierge Elite provides standard reporting for post-show analysis and year-over-year comparisons. In the next year, about 130 shows will be CE-enabled.”

Last year, The Expo Group rolled out Yourspace, an add-on that show organizers can use to promote and view sponsorship opportunities. The interactive tool captures inventories and also provides financial reporting functionality.

The Future of Contracting

Will show organizers and exhibitors turn to contractors for these services? Clearly, some already are. Most contractors count on these new revenue streams to drive growth in the future. The trade show industry has matured and while most see strong prospects for the face-to-face event industry, growth appears to be coming from the corporate side.

“Not many people know it, but Microsoft, McDonalds and 3M are three of our largest customers,” says Freeman’s Popolo.

In addition, they’re forging strategic alliances with other industry suppliers. For example, Freeman and Maritz Travel Co. are crossing selling their services to each other’s clients. Through this alliance, Freeman can now offer a virtual meeting service tools for improving meeting results to its association and trade show customers.

Contractors, like Freeman or GES, are looking to expand in North America and worldwide. “As the economy solidifies, we think the face-to-face medium will continue to be strong,” says Dykstra. “I think GES sees growth in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the UK and Canada.”

Earlier this year, GES unveiled its new name and brand identity. As a part of this transformation, Exhibitgroup/Giltspur and Becker Group became part of newly named Global Experience Specialists Inc. The consolidation follows the July 2009 strategic reorganization of experiential marketing and event services under parent company Viad Corp.

“Our results for the 2010 first quarter reflect solid execution against our key initiatives to drive productivity and cost structure improvements, while maintaining focus on winning market share and delivering an excellent customer experience,” Dykstra says. “Although the weak economy continues to negatively impact the industries we serve, the declines are slowing and we’re seeing signs of improvement in certain exhibition industry sectors and select events. With the improving macro-economic environment and the actions we have taken, our business is positioned for improved results in 2010 and beyond.”