Groups Study Face-to-face Experience
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 3/19/2007
The results of a new study suggest that marketers believe experiential marketing is an overall good value.
In the study, conducted by TBA Global and Event Marketer magazine, 36.5 percent of marketers chose experiential marketing as the most effective vehicle for developing a bond between company and customer — beating out advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, online and public relations. TBA described experiential marketing as a nontraditional interactive brand experience.
"These findings help validate the impact and value of experiential marketing as a cornerstone in establishing a critical brand dialogue with a target audience," said Lee Rubenstein, president and COO of TBA Global.
Meanwhile, another report, issued by Professional Convention Management Assn., showed steady international participation at association tradeshows.
In the report, which summarized 400 survey responses by convention planners, only 10 percent of respondents said the number of international attendees in 2006 had decreased compared with 2005, while the rest reported consistent or increased international attendance.
Twenty-nine percent of those surveyed said more than a 10th of their attendees were from international markets, and 11 percent said more than 10 percent of the exhibiting companies were international. Other respondents had fewer than 10 percent international attendees and exhibitors.
James H. Sweeney, the co-chair of the PCMA Industry Issues Committee, which facilitated the report, said one of the most important outcomes of the study was that it revealed "the lack of knowledge in the industry of visa regulations."
Less than half of the respondents considered themselves "extremely familiar" or "very familiar" with visa regulations, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and Department of Homeland Security initiatives.
Sweeney said PCMA would educate its members and emphasize working with coalitions and governments to understand the regulations required to travel to the United States and ship exhibits.
"The end result is that it will increase the number of international attendees," he added.
