Scott Goldberg, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Carve Communications
Trade shows, industry events and media presentations remain important. In recent years, many have even seen a significant increase in visitor numbers year over year.
The truth is, industry events and trade shows like New York Toy Fair, CES, Gen Con, etc. still have a purpose. The same goes for media and influencer campaigns such as The Toy Insider’s Sweet Suite and Holiday of Play, Pepcom, Showstoppers and Carve-X.
More benefits, less money
Therefore, the question to ask yourself and your team should not be whether you need to participate in these activities, but how to maximize the opportunity? How to do more with less? How to make your money more? How to get more juice from juicing?
We’ve seen this over the years, from massive multi-million dollar booths with over 100 employees, to six-figure hourly celebrity appearances, and even acrobats hanging from the ceiling, to booth In-house press conference and simple branded souvenirs or snacks. Here’s the problem: With multimillion-dollar booths and celebrity appearances, attendees have no idea what the company does, what products they’re promoting, or simply, what they’re trying to sell.
In the live event space, it’s not how much you spend that matters. You don’t need the biggest booth or be the biggest sponsor to cut through the clutter and noise and be successful. But you do need to be intentional about your audience and your product and/or brand message, and stay within budget and execute flawlessly.
Consider the following
- intention: Who is the audience you want to reach? What is your story/narrative?
- Budget: Remember, you don’t need to spend the most money to win, but you do need to stick to a budget.
- success: What does success look like? Such as appointments, on-site sales, booth traffic, or media coverage.
Based on the answers to the questions above, you should be able to make a plan. This can be anything from a “media stunt” or an influencer contest at your booth, to one of my favorites: the #SnoopDoop we performed at Play Holidays earlier this year, which included a video you’d seen The best Snoop Dogg celebrity doppelganger ever! Why is it so successful? The start-up cost was just under budget, the booth was packed from start to finish, and months later, discussions continue about whether he was the real Snoop Dogg.
It all comes down to understanding how to best capture your audience’s attention, and then how to maintain or maximize that attention to further your success at the trade show. For example, if you want media coverage, create an activation that stops reporters and has them come over and ask, “What’s that?” or “Can I take a picture?” If you’re looking to book on-site sales, consider What incentives can be offered to show attendees, such as exciting giveaways (not just free product samples) or buyer discounts on large orders. The tried and true method for influencers is to create some content that’s super shareable and worthy of a social media post, while making your brand handle and hashtag obvious, memorable, and easy to include.
The goal here is to give you the answers you need and the tools necessary to execute your next show with your team as successfully as possible. This leads to one final question to ask yourself and your team: Based on the plan you created, do you have the right team in place, know how to execute, and have a proven track record? If not, does anyone in your network know someone who can?
A version of this feature was originally published in The Toy Book’s 2025 International Innovation Issue. Click here to read the full article! Want to receive a printed copy of The Toy Book? Click here to view subscription options!
