Integrated Media: PMMI Packs All in One Portal

You've heard the mantra from for-profits for years: integrated media, integrated media, integrated media. Now, at least one association has joined the choir, all in the name of staying relevant.

Just listen to Francesco Leboffe, vice president of marketing for the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute: "People can get information in many different ways. Why not make it possible for them to get it in the way they're most receptive to, whatever that is, from us?"

Since the rise of the Internet, business-to-business media companies have talked about leveraging the combined power of their brands across platforms — face-to-face, in print and online. They've heralded the day when salespeople, who know as much about showfloor sponsorships and vertical banners as they do about half-page three-color ads, would write million-dollar orders that drive readers to Web sites, Web surfers to events and event-goers to magazines in a seamless circle of profit and convenience.

But only a handful of tradeshow producers have found this utopia. Even wealthy corporations like Reed Elsevier (parent company of both Reed Exhibitions and Reed Business Information, which owns Tradeshow Week) have struggled to get there. In a recent interview, Nancy Walsh, Reed Exhibitions executive vice president of North American exhibitions, acknowledged that cooperation with the publishing division was "stronger in certain sectors than in others."

So, it's all the more remarkable that PMMI, a nonprofit trade group for packaging machinery manufacturers, appears to have accomplished the feat.

PMMI's integrated media plan goes by the name of Total Access. It debuted at the organization's PACK EXPO Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center Oct. 15-17. Although PMMI still has some gaps to fill in, Total Access at least made a promising debut, and at best sketched a road map to integrated media utopia.

First, a little history. PMMI is a 75-year-old association. With packaging machinery technology constantly evolving, the tradeshow long ago became an important annual gathering-place to see the latest developments. Consequently, it also became a significant source of revenue for the association.

Mark Jacobson, vice president of Econocorp (which makes machines that make packages) and former PMMI chairman, recalled, "For years, when it came to the success of PMMI itself, we said, 'It's the show, stupid.'"

Jacobson also recalled how, during the Internet boom of the late 1990s, media analysts predicted the demise of tradeshows and advised organizations to spread their revenue eggs among different baskets.

So, PMMI launched a Web site. Soon after, recognizing that several large publications were already serving the horizontal packaging businesses, PMMI launched a niche print publication for the machinery sector, PMT.

All three — tradeshow, Web site and magazine — have thrived.

The biennial PACK EXPO, held in the fall of even-numbered years at McCormick Place in Chicago, is No. 2 on the most recent TSW 200 with 1.25 million net square feet of exhibit space, 2,302 exhibiting firms and 45,741 professional attendees (not including exhibit personnel). PACK EXPO Las Vegas, held in odd years, was No. 30 on last year's TSW 200, with 555,703 net sq. ft., 1,447 exhibitors and 21,907 attendees. And it's growing like gang busters, with an 11-percent increase in net square footage and a 19-percent increase in attendees from 2003 to 2005.

Meanwhile, the Web site claims 53,000 monthly visitors and the magazine has a circulation of 36,000.

"A year or so ago, it became obvious to PMMI leadership that we had these three reliable sources in print, online and face-to-face, and we were putting them into the market as three distinct pieces," Jacobson said.

This is where Leboffe comes into the picture. With a lengthy resume of marketing positions at trade associations, Leboffe joined PMMI in February. At the top of his to-do list: integrate its disparate media properties.

What is Total Access? In Leboffe's words, it's "a marketing concept to facilitate the exchange of information between our exhibitors and attendees. ... It provides all our products and services, as well as those of our members, under one umbrella, so buyer attendees can cherry-pick what they want, when they want it, through whatever medium they want."

The advantages to the buyer are numerous. For free, on the Web site, a user can create a profile that allows him or her to personalize product searches, share findings with colleagues, design a custom tradeshow map, set up meetings and otherwise reduce the headache of wading through information from various sources.

From an exhibitor's perspective, Total Access allows companies to buy advertising, promotions and sponsorships through one PMMI sales rep', across various media, according to their own marketing goals.

Jacobson was thrilled with it. "Before the show even started, I had over 300 people that had me on their event plan," he said. Even more important, he added, was the ability to see who was interested in Econocorp but didn't show up at the booth, so he could follow up with them.

Jack Aguero, vice president of business development and marketing for Pro Mach (one of PACK EXPO's biggest exhibitors), said nine out of 10 of his company's divisions participated. "Among members, PMMI did a good job of announcing it," he said. "I think they should reinforce it now with some testimonial about how valuable it is, so that maybe other members who didn't participate can."

Awareness-building seems to be PMMI's next hurdle.

Of the 10 PACK EXPO exhibitors TSW randomly contacted about Total Access, six didn't answer; two didn't have any idea what it was. The others thought it was great.

"It's an evolving concept," said John Kowal, global marketing manager for ELAU. "It's important to integrate the different media and have them all working together."

Leboffe said PMMI more than reached its own goals with the program. The association installed a huge Total Access booth right in front of the main showfloor entrance. There, attendees could stop by kiosks, watch tapings on PACK EXPO TV (another component of Total Access) and fiddle with their MyPackExpo.com accounts.

They could also request a Total Access PDO (personal desktop object) allowing them instant access to customized PACK EXPO information from their computer.

Leboffe said 1,000 qualified buyers (of the 24,000 at the show) did just that.

"We'll keep the Total Access booth for 2008 in Chicago," he said. "The show is very strong, but audience participation is a challenge in any industry for any association, every year. You have to constantly stay on top of it, reinvent yourself, to stay relevant to your audience."