Sponsorship Models: U.K. Firm Takes 'Day Out'

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 6/20/2005

Many consumer shows rely on features to attract an audience, and sponsorships and tickets sales for the bulk of their revenue. But one U.K. producer is pushing this model to its limit.

Chris Hughes and Nicola Meadley started Brand Events in London four years ago. Hughes, the company's managing director, had experience in event organizing (at Haymarket Exhibitions, among others) and Meadley, the company's director, had a brand marketing background (Thomson Holidays). The pair combined their backgrounds to create events with a business model based on a brand experience.

"Basically, we operate more with the mentality of an agency when it comes to major brands and events," Hughes said. "We rarely sell clients exhibition stands. Instead, we create brand solutions for them."

Hughes gives the example of the Vitality Show, an event for well-being products and services geared toward women. Several large companies in the sector were interested in the show, but didn't want to exhibit. So, rather than selling them booths, Brand Events sold them workshop space where they could have exercise classes, relaxation areas or spas, drawing attendees to sample health treatments.

Brand Events sold the Vitality Show and two others — the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show and the Outdoor Adventure Show — to dmg world media in February 2004. Brenda Daly, dmg's vice president of consumer events for the United Kingdom, said the feature areas at these and many of her other shows work well and are "standard practice" at U.K. consumer shows.

"It's about live theater," Daly said. "Food shows will have celebrity chefs. The Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard Show I run has a ski and snowboard competition throughout the entire duration of the show."

Daley estimated her shows make, on average, a quarter of their revenue from sponsorships, another 60 percent from stand sales and the rest from ticket sales. Depending on the show, she added, "we change the skew, to see where we can get more revenue."

Hughes also emphasizes flexibility in his approach to what he calls his "brand partners," the major companies that sponsor shows. Brand Events presents an event to its partners as a fully integrated campaign, with media exposure, content and experiential marketing opportunities — then tries to help them participate in the way they think works best.

For instance, MPH was designed as an auto show for car companies that were fed up with auto shows. According to Hughes, the automotive show market around the world was under pressure from manufacturers, who wanted to spend less on booths. A major auto show in London was canceled a few years ago, leaving a Birmingham event the area's only major auto show.

"So, we created a car show that doesn't require manufacturers to exhibit," Hughes said. Instead, he explained, it's first and foremost a theater. Visitors pay ?25 to ?45 ($45 to $80) for a ticket to see celebrities drive, race and perform stunts with cars. The cars are then parked in a gallery, where people can see "the world's sexiest cars," said Hughes.

Oh yeah, there's an exhibition too — for anybody who wants to go that route.

MPH is scheduled Nov. 10–13 at the Natl. Exhibition Centre in Birmingham and Nov. 17–20 at Earls Court & Olympia in London.

High ticket sales are an important piece of the equation for dmg's U.K. consumer shows. "We charge more to get in than Brand Events does," Daly said. "They launch shows, and they do some complimentary tickets to build attendance early on. As we mature the shows, we charge more."

In fact, Brand Events started as an incubator, Hughes said. When the company sold three of its five shows last year, it practically started over from scratch.

"We've grown two medium-sized exhibition organizations in four years," he said. The closely held company now employs about 40 people — of which about half are in sales and marketing and four are in operations — and will produce nine events in 2005.

Brand Events' second life is centered on the day-out concept, and the most ambitious example of this is coming Sept. 23–25 at ExCeL London.

Named Weekend at Dave's (not for any specific person, but because a focus group determined everybody has a buddy named Dave), the show was inspired by the success of lads' magazines in Britain. It's all about "football, music, cars, sports, and lots of girls and lots of beer," Hughes said.

In fact, the title sponsor is Foster's beer, whose name is integrated into the show logo. Other sponsors are the online game Party Poker, Braun shaving products and Sony Ericsson.

Dubbed a "theme park for men," the event offers three days of drinking beer, racing go-karts, watching movies and listening to concerts.

But of the 30,000 sq. m. (322,917 sq. ft.) show, only 1,500 will be set aside for about 100 exhibitors.

"We think of the stands like the classified ads at the back of the magazine — smaller guys who might be retailing something for that audience," Hughes said.

He expects about 40 percent of the show's revenue to come from sponsors, 30 percent from ticket sales and 30 percent from booth space sales. As the show gains traction, ticket sales are projected to rise as high as £40 ($72). More than 20,000 attendees are expected at the first show.

Kristie Harrington, a consumer show producer with North East Expos, said this is something that distinguishes Brand Events, dmg and other U.K. organizers who produce similar shows from many of their U.S. counterparts.

"The Boston flower show (New England Spring Flower Show) is $25 per person, and that's the most expensive one I've ever been to," said Harrington, who is a director on the board of the Natl. Assn. of Consumer Shows.

She noted that American shows often feature attractions. "My Connecticut Flower & Garden Show has a whole series of seminars by local horticulturalists, and I have 20 landscape gardens in full bloom in the middle of winter," she said.

"But do I charge extra for that? No," Harrington said. Her ticket prices range from $7 to $12 per person.

In fact, Hughes said, the heavy emphasis on entertainment also presents one of the drawbacks of the Brand Events model. "We have high costs, because you spend more money to get it going, and it's risky. Having said that, it opens up a lot of new opportunities in areas where the traditional exhibition model wouldn't allow you to go."

The approach appears to be working for Brand Events. Hughes estimated that his shows have so far averaged profit of 20 to 30 percent, and last year generated revenue of £12 million ($21.7 million).