Trade Show Tips #2: Make Events Work for Your Brand

In this ongoing series, we’ll share our best basic tips on how to leverage your trade show booth to garner media and retailer excitement, as well as some PR insider advice that we’ve gleaned along the way.

Look, we’ve all been to an awesome trade show happy hour, only later to forget who the hosting company even was. Booth events or celebrity appearances are a way to build excitement and break through the clutter at a busy show, but make sure that your theme has a strong connection to your brand or products to guarantee a lasting impact. For example, we asked celebrity chef John Besh to create exciting new recipes for Tate & Lyle’s new Purefruit™ ingredient to play up the great taste of the product. During his great demo at the booth, visitors were wowed by the delicious mango cream pie and spicy smoothie, and learned a lot about the product at the same time.

PR insider advice: When you invest in a celebrity to appear on your brand’s behalf, try to leverage them for retail presentations during the show to excite your contacts and show the depth of your brand support. However, it’s crucial that you “buyer-train” your celeb in addition to media training them so they know how best to handle tricky questions that may arise.

What’s the most memorable event you’ve attended at a trade show?