Table Of ContentManagement for Professionals
Klaus Solberg Søilen
Exhibit Marketing
and Trade Show
Intelligence
Successful Boothmanship
and Booth Design
Management for Professionals
Forfurther volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/10101
ThiSisaFMBlankPage
Klaus Solberg Søilen
Exhibit Marketing and
Trade Show Intelligence
Successful Boothmanship
and Booth Design
KlausSolbergSøilen
SchoolofBusinessandEngineering
HalmstadUniversity
Halmstad
Sweden
ISSN2192-8096 ISSN 2192-810X(electronic)
ISBN978-3-642-36792-2 ISBN 978-3-642-36793-9(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-36793-9
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013939355
#Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2013
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor
informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar
methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerpts
inconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysisormaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeing
enteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.Duplication
ofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheCopyrightLawofthe
Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from
Springer.PermissionsforusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter.
ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt
fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityfor
anyerrorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,with
respecttothematerialcontainedherein.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScienceþBusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Dedicated to:
Leipzig
Old city of trade shows
and
University of Leipzig
Alma Mater
ThiSisaFMBlankPage
Preface
This book is about trade shows, which is a function studied under the heading of
exhibitionmarketing.Somereadersmaywonderaboutthetitle“tradeshowintelli-
gence”. That is an aspect of exhibition marketing which focuses on information
gatheringand analysis. It is a consequence, we might say, of the Information Age
andtherealizationthattradeshows,tobetrulyeffectiveandprofitabletoday,need
totakefulladvantageoftheinformationopportunitywhichatradeshowis.
Tradeshowshavebecomeincreasinglysophisticatedandcomplexjustoverthe
past 20 years. That itself has resulted in part from advances in the study of
marketing, which has given company managers many more choices. People who
attendtheseoccasionstodayhavemuchhigherexpectationsfortheexhibitionand
the behaviour and performance of exhibitors than they had only a few years ago.
That in turn has created a demand for more education in this field. Students and
budding professionals need a thorough understanding of the different roles and
functionsofatradeshow;thedaysofjustshowingupanddoingone’sbestareover.
Theaimofthisbookistwofold:tosurveytheresearchliteratureinthefield,and
toshowhowsuccessfulboothmanshipandboothdesignisachievedattradeshows.
The book is not written from any individual national perspective, but sets out to
addressatrulyinternationalaudience.Thishasmeantdrawingonculturalelements
andcitingexamplesfromtradeshowsallroundtheworld.
To date, trade shows have been neglected in the literature of marketing. Philip
Kotler,forinstance,devotesonlyafewparagraphstothetopicinhisPrinciplesof
Marketing. At the same time, these events continue to prove themselves to be a
highly significant function within the marketing profession, indeed one of its
leadingactivities.Thatisreflectedinthefiguresforspendingontradeshows.
Statisticsfor2010showthattherearenowmorethan30,000exhibitionswitha
size of over 500 m2 annually, attended by 2.8 million companies and 260 million
visitors.1
1SeeUFI,2011ExhibitionIndustryStatistics,p.14.TheUFIorganization,basedinParis,isthe
largestinterestorganizationfortradeshows;theacronymoriginallystoodforUniondesFoires
vii
viii Preface
Theprojectofwritingthisbookhasstemmedfromtheexperienceoftakingpart
in a number of different international trade shows with dozens of companies for
overadecadenow,initiallywithsmallerITcompaniesandwithSwedishfurniture
manufacturers.
The aim has been to write a university textbook for students who plan to
specializeinthefieldofeventmarketingandmoreparticularlyexhibitionmarket-
ing, while at the same time producing a book that might be of interest to practi-
tioners.Assuch,itisverymuchado’s-and-don’tsbook,butnotlikethebulkofthe
existing literature: for instance, it does not contain as many checklists as other
books on this topic tend to include. Checklists are unavoidable in the practical
activityofexhibitionmarketing,buttheyarenotanecessaryelementofmarketing
theory.Also,thisbookdoesnotgodowntothesamelevelofdetailasmanyother
books;forinstance,itwillnottellyouwhatvoltagetouseindifferentcountries,or
how to fill in the registration form for a particular show. Rather, it offers you
different ways of organizing your exhibit or booth, and it outlines the particular
sales behaviour and managerial challenges required to make trade shows both
efficient and successful. To help the reader in the task of learning exhibition
marketing, all keywords important for a thorough understanding of the theory are
giveninitalics.Thusyoucancheckyourknowledgebyseeingwhatyouareableto
remember and explain. This is also done in order to help employees in company
trainingsessions,andteachersinfindinggoodexamquestions.
Manypeopleimaginethatsellingatexhibitionsisjustlikesellingathome;that
theskillsandrequirementsaremoreorlessthesame.Oneoftheaimsofthisbookis
toshowthatpeoplewhothinklikethataremistaken.
The book adopts the exhibitor’s perspective. The emphasis is on exhibition
behaviour.Exhibitorsoftenoverlookthefactthatexhibitionsgivethemtheoppor-
tunity not only to distribute information, but also to gather information from
customers, from their competitors, and from stakeholders. Exhibition behaviour
draws on the study of market psychology, the psychology of marketing, and
behavioural economics. All of these subjects are explored here as we set out to
presentthetradeshowineachofitsaspects.
Oneprobleminwritingabookontradeshowsisthatlittleresearchisavailable,
eventhoughthereareplentyofbooksoneventmarketinginparticular,andthings
haveimprovedoverthepastdecade.Alargemajorityofexistingstudieshavebeen
carriedoutbytradeassociationsandinterestgroups;fewerbyacademics.Mostof
thebooksavailablearewrittenbyconsultants,whooftencarrytheirownpersonal
viewsoverintotheconclusionsinthehopeoffosteringbusinessopportunities.That
isonlytobeexpected;itisunderstandableenough.
Internationales.ItisnowtheGlobalAssociationoftheExhibitionIndustry,buttheoldacronymis
stillused.ThesecondlargestinterestorganizationistheSocietyofIndependentShowOrganizers
(SISO)intheUSA,withabout2,700events,accordingtoitshomepage.InLatinAmericathereis
AFIDA,andinSouthernAfricaEXSA.
Preface ix
I first became acquainted with trade shows when I worked as an auditor with
KPMG at the Norway Trade Fair in Oslo in 1996. Since then I have had the
opportunityofattendinganumberofthelargestexhibitionsaroundtheworldasa
consultant,workingformorethantwodozencompanies,mostlyinEuropeandthe
USA. This took me to events such as the International Furniture Fair of Milan
(Salone Internazionale del Mobile), the world’s largest interior-decoration trade
fair, and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at Las Vegas, one of the world’s
largesttechnology-relatedtradeshows.Muchofthecontentforthisbookbeganas
notesImadeinordertohelpthosecompaniesunderstandhowtogetthemostoutof
the trade shows we attended, either as exhibitors or as visitors. At the same time,
Ihaveverymuchremainedanacademicwithakeeninterestinmarketingandlater
also in intelligence studies. I hope the book will appeal to both practitioners and
academicsalike.
I would like to express my thanks to the staff members of all the various
companiesIhavetravelledwithovertheyears.Theyaretoomanytobementioned
individuallyhere,butsomeoftheirnameswillcropupinthebook.Specialthanks
areduetoProf.PerOdenrickoftheUniversityofLund,GeorgGa¨rdhofTra¨riket,
LarsE.Thon,ChiefSystemArchitectatAelurosInc.,TheKnowledgeFoundation,
PerJensterChairmanofNIMI,PaulWoodwardManagingDirectorofUFI,Annette
Fink of AUMA, Gordon Nary and Jim Wurm at E2MA, Richard Liden of
KarskronaMunicipality,UNIVA inLund,Charles M.OrgishofStanford Univer-
sityandtoPrashanthMahagaonkarandBarbaraBethkeatSpringer.
CompletedinBlumenauandPortoBelo,Brazil
Halmstad,Sweden KlausSolbergSøilen
January2013
