Background
Although Labelexpo Europe is our largest show and grew further during 2009, it was not our fastest growing one last year (that was Labelexpo Asia at the end of 2009). However, as acknowledged by the media, our exhibitors and visitors, Labelexpo Europe proved to be the turning point for our industry.
Visitor numbers were about the same (down only 2 per cent from 2007), but the increased seniority of the attendance and the high level of spending signalled that people were investing again.Indeed, many exhibitors told us that they thought the attendance was up (see testimonials), judging by the number of leads collected. The shows that followed, including our own Labelexpo Asia as well as others like ICE, benefitted significantly from the goodwill created at Labelexpo Europe, which in turn, was largely generated by the tone of the marketing campaign. The show grew in size (by 5 per cent – remarkably for such a mature show during a recession) driven by the positive and humorous message that was summarized by its simple tagline – “The greatest label show on Earth!”
Labelexpo Europe (launched in 1980) is the world’s largest event for the label printing and converting industry. Its main exhibitors are suppliers of machinery and materials, while its visitors are mainly label printers/converters. It is a mature event in a mature market.
Visitors come to invest in capital equipment and individual visitors can spend over a million pounds. Although there are few label events, there are many printing and packaging events that target the same audience.These include Drupa, Ipex, Fachpack and ICE.
Horrors unseen by human eyes
2009 was projected to be a bad year for the printing and packaging industry, with investment in capital equipment hit particularly hard.
As late as June, the main trade association, FINAT, projected label production (often the strongest performing part of printing/packaging) to be in decline in Europe. The trade media was particularly negative about the recession and, since they were experiencing the impact themselves (several of our usual media partners closed down in early 2009) it was reflected in editorial coverage of the industry. It was assumed that the show would be smaller (10-15 per cent by most external accounts).
Objectives
To dazzle & delight:
- To increase geographic reach (as developing markets were still growing)
- To maintain the show size. (It actually grew)
- To promote growth areas (such as digital printing)
- To create a positive message despite the recession
- To maintain visitor numbers
- To create a personalised, dynamic campaign that addresses each visitor and their needs individually
The theme was based on the idea of a circus tent as metaphor for an exhibition hall. The tagline, “The greatest label show on Earth!”, was a positive, simple message (easy to translate) that reminded people to choose this event over others. The artwork was illustrated (to stand out) and based on vintage circus posters, using circus metaphors to represent technology at the show (escapologist for brand protection/security for example). The language was humorous and overtly positive – in contrast to the negative media coverage of the economy.
Using vintage-style illustration helped to emphasise how established the show is, a technique used by many consumer brands later in the year when they ran their old advertisements from decades ago.
Impact of the theme
The campaign immediately stood out against pages of doom and gloom as well as photos of grey machinery.
At our last show we learned how creative artwork can have an influence on ad positions. This time 53 per cent of our ads were placed in premium positions (inside/back covers etc) despite the fact that all ads were placed on barter basis. In at least one case (Media Management BV) the artwork proved instrumental in convincing them to sign a barter agreement.
It became part of the story (see examples). Several magazines wrote about the campaign and included our materials in their editorial pages – providing additional coverage.
Exhibitors started using the theme in their own promotion and several incorporated it into their onsite promotion/stand design aswell.
Stand sales were slow early in 2009 and we received several cancellations / reductions after slow attendance at Converflex – the largest printing/packaging event last year. Once the visitor promotion campaign started the situation completely turned around and we were approached by companies we hadn’t even been speaking to, resulting in a five percent increase in exhibition space. Our publishing team also reported that potential advertisers commented positively on the campaign in conversations and it made it much easier to sell advertising.
The greatest direct mail campaign ever devised by human ingenuity
Due to increase in email volumes during 2009 (as people were trying to save money) we put renewed effort into our direct mail. We had already produced a large variable data campaign in 2007, but decided to stop using gimmicks (like creating an image out of someone’s name), but instead using information we know about people (i.e. Have they been before? Did they register onsite? etc).
We created five circus characters (three male, two female) and assigned them to people based on their gender (ensuring that people in the same office got different ones). The characters were all given circus act names, based on the name of the recipient and an adjective that started with the same letter (e.g. The Amazing Andy, The Marvellous Michael etc). All the copy was based on that character and promoted the show. The flyer was essentially promoting the person “performing” at Labelexpo Europe. Entire project (including all the adjective names etc) were done in nine languages and demonstrated digital printing, the fastest growing sector in our industry.
The large size of the mailing pieces as well as the level of detailed personalisation led many exhibitors to comment positively on the fact that we were spending an “enormous” amount of money on the campaign. In fact, by carefully reviewing printing and mailing options we were able to produce more flyers, with more personalisation at the same price as the relatively simple 2007 campaign.
Increased in percentage of final decision makers: 13 per cent (2009 vs 2007)
” The campaign was great. I was particularly chuffed with the personalized poster that I received in the mail! The theme worked very well and provided a good hook for editorial headlines.”
– Gill Loubser, Packaging & Print Media [journalist]
Many curious and original data feats
Data quality for this was absolutely essential, and ensured that we could target people effectively. Each record contained 36 variable fields which had to be perfect – as any mistake would be immediately obvious to the recipient. In multilingual countries like Belgium and Switzerland, we
even split the records into towns to ensure that the right language for that region was sent. The small number of returns and email bouncebacks (less than 0.02 per cent) is testament to the great effort put into our data.
Most of our promotional pieces (mailings, inserts, emails) were tracked live using registration codes, which visitors were asked to enter on our website, enabling us to constantly review areas of the campaign which needed more focus.
The most astounding email miracles
All emails were translated into nine languages and sent to a database of approximately 60,000. Links at the top of each email provided access to all the language versions, in case someone wanted to change their preference.
Several emails were personalised using the same characters for the direct mail (see printed examples) and all the links pointed people to personalised website (again using the same characters). This ensured that people were treated as individuals rather than just a list of email addresses.
We learned from the experience of our previous show, where we translated the key materials in 13 languages. After careful database analysis (including potential external data sources) we reduced the number of languages to nine, but translated almost everything into all nine languages.
