Red 7 Handpicked for EDPA Management
EDPA's relationship with media company leads to new contract
By Stephanie Corbin -- Tradeshow Week, 8/11/2008
It was a strong existing relationship between Red 7 Media and the Exhibit Designers and Producers Assn. that led to the media company recently taking over management of the association.
“We are confident and enthusiastic about this model change between the EDPA and our association management partner,” said MaryBeth Gieser, president of the EDPA. “We believe Red 7 is a content and media machine, and the dynamics between us will be visible in the months and years ahead.”
With the multiyear contract, Red 7 will assume responsibility for the EDPA and the EDPA Foundation, plus related education, programming, member advocacy and events, according to Gieser. Both Red 7 and EDPA officials declined to state the exact length on the contract.
This is the first association management contract for Red 7, said the company's CEO, Kerry Smith.
The Kellen Co. managed the EDPA for the past 10 years. Its contract with the EDPA expires Aug. 31.
“As a business media company, our goal is to be more than a producer and distributor of content,” Smith added. “... For us, managing an association is a natural evolution.”
Red 7 publishes several magazines for the events industry, including Event Marketer, Event Design, Agenda and EXPO.
Smith said Red 7 hopes to update the EDPA Web site and populate it with relevant content that it has access to, apply the company's model to EDPA's annual conference and tap into Red 7's database to recruit new members for EDPA.
“There's a pool of potential members we can shine a light on,” he added.
However, it was the existing collaboration between the company and association and their common interests that prompted the EDPA board's choice of Red 7.
Gieser said the EDPA and Red 7 both are active in investing in future designers through certified exhibit design programs, scholarship funds and design competitions.
“We can now create more efficiencies, reach broader audiences and grow these initiatives,” she added.
Red 7 launched its Event Marketing Institute about a year ago, Gieser said, which prompted EDPA's interest in working more closely with the media company.
Smith said EDPA officials approached him with the association management idea. At that time, he added, “the one area we didn't have was 'how do you manage an association.'”
But, because of the Event Marketing Institute, Red 7 has launched a Membership Development Group, which includes membership service management personnel.
“That one blind spot, we filled for ourselves,” Smith said.
Red 7 currently isn't in talks with any additional associations concerning management contracts, he added, but the company will pursue more opportunities in the future.
“It creates a framework for us to take on more relationships of this nature,” Smith said.
Red 7 will work with Kellen to smoothly transition the association's management, he added.
“We anticipate a number of new, exciting initiatives to emerge from this new partnership,” Gieser said.
