How a Bunch of Has-been’s Took Over Sundance (Part II)

This is Part II of a guest post by “Nominated” director/writer Dan Pavlik. If you haven’t read Part I, click here.

Soon after, I was in a shuttle with an Australian reporter whose wife had a documentary in the festival. We struck up a conversation, and when I mentioned Nominated, he said, “Man, I’ve heard a lot about that.”

It was definitely the soft sell. We weren’t shoving swag or DVDs in people’s faces. It was a grassroots effort where the attendees became the advocates of our concept. And as the festival went on, the time we had to put into “selling” was reduced every day. It began to feed on itself, so after four or five days, our people were getting recognized for wearing the “Has-Been” logo and people were stopping us and asking if we had any more of those “Has-Been” t-shirts.

We felt our way through it as we learned the ins and outs of Park City, but it was definitely working. The “Has-Been” logo didn’t even have the name of our movie on it, but proved to be a successful icebreaker. And once in conversation, people would ask us, “What’s that about?” We just led with a provoking question rather than pushing our film. Ken said he felt absolutely fearless going up to anyone. And it was because he wasn’t desperately trying to sell; he was hanging out and having a good time. We talked to Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Greg Kinnear, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Cheryl Hines, Julia Ormond, Andie MacDowell, Elijah Wood, Ed Helms and James Franco, and at least half walked away with “Has-Been” buttons pinned to them.

Coldest Rock Band Session Ever

I did a corporate event a week and a half before Sundance. At that event, we played Rock Band. It was a fun sendoff for the group, and those people had a blast. So, we decided: That’s what we’ll do. We’ll set up Rock Band and invite people to play and never even mention the movie. We found a spot outside in the 14-degree temperatures, did our best to look like we belonged there and set up a 9-foot screen projecting the hit rhythm video game.

Two things happened:

(1)  We got tons of foot traffic, and we’d just give people buttons and t-shirts as they left. We had this incredible stream of people coming to play and have fun—and we weren’t selling anything at all.

(2)  As they left, they were going out into the city telling people about what was going on. So, as the night went on we continued to get more and more people, who in turn became our button- and shirt-wearing marketing team throughout the grounds.

We were able to make our audience active participants as well as the entertainment itself! And because we were asking nothing of them, there was no resistance. It just worked.

Dan Pavlik is the director/writer of Nominated, which also co-stars Ken Newman of “Hey Newman” fame. For more information about the film and director, click here.

Tags: booth traffic, crowd gathering, Nominated, Rock Band, swag
Posted in Booth design, Booth staff, Trade show giveaways, Trade show news & trends, Trade show presentations | 1 Comment »

How a Bunch of Has-been’s Took Over Sundance

This is a guest post by “Nominated” director/writer Dan Pavlik.

If I could only offer one piece of advice to a trade show exhibitor, it would be: Figure out a way to get people leaving your booth to tell other people on the floor about you. You only have a finite amount of floor space. If you’re depending on foot traffic into your booth alone, it’s not going to work. You need to figure out how to get that one person who leaves and walks to the complete other side of the trade show to talk to a friend and say, “You’ve got to go over there!”

That’s what we did at Sundance.

Let me back up and start from the beginning. When our film, Nominated, didn’t get into Sundance, we decided we’d go anyway and just act like we were in. We came armed with swag, but we agreed from the outset that if we “pushed” our movie, we’d be viewed as irritating outsiders. So, we decided instead to push a concept: “Has-Been.” Our film is about a former childhood TV star who has become a has-been. So, we decided we’d create commotion, attract people to us and give them “Has-Been” buttons and t-shirts before they left. If it worked, the Sundance attendees would become our sales force.

It did work, because it was something fun that flew in the face of what was expected. We were literally handing “Has-Been” buttons to amazing actors like Paul Rudd. And what could be more mortifying for an actor at Sundance than to consider the moment when he crosses into the category of “has-been”? It’s the last thing they want to be. But it was playful, and people got a kick out of wearing them. And it created an opportunity to give our 30-second pitch about our movie as we created context for the “Has-Been” button or shirt. We never led with the movie; we led with humor … and it caught on. Soon people started recognizing the logo and began conversations with us, which inevitably led to discussion of the film the swag was for.

Location, Location, Location

We also took our concept to the locations everyone hung out at. We realized:  Why try to hand out this stuff to one person at a time? It was much more efficient to give buttons and shirts to the bartenders of the local hotspots, to the doormen of the popular clubs, to the shuttle drivers and coffee house baristas. Soon, they were all playfully declaring themselves as “Has-Been’s” and in doing so, promoting us. It was the equivalent of going up to support staff at a major trade show and having them put on our buttons and shirts. All over Sundance, people were seeing our stuff and our logo and then would come up to us and ask us about it. And in each of those locations, we just made sure our group was the life of the party. After about three days, I looked at Ken and Brian and said, “You know what? This is catching on!”

Note from ‘Newman’: Dan had so much good stuff that we had to break it up into two parts. Part II will go live Tuesday morning.

Dan Pavlik is the director/writer of Nominated, which also co-stars Ken Newman of “Hey Newman” fame. For more information about the film and director, click here.

Tags: booth traffic, humor, Nominated, Sundance Film Festival, swag
Posted in Booth staff, Trade show news & trends, Trade show presentations | No Comments »

There is No ‘Away’ in ‘Giveaway’

Hey Newman, there seems to be an awful lot of talk these days about “going green.”  Is there a way that can be applied to the trade show industry? –Ellen in Oakland

Ellen, that’s a great question … and I almost went off on a rant about my random thoughts on “greening” your trade show presence. But that’s just what it would have been: random. So, I decided to do a bit of research and reach out to those who really know the answer to your question. Ever since you asked, I’ve been in an ongoing dialogue with Janet Pomeroy from The Good Mix. She’s a Green Marketing expert with one of the first Green MBAs offered. So here’s a real, informed answer to your question:

For starters, take a good, hard look at your trade show giveaways. Products have a lifecycle. You purchase it from a manufacturer, who generates waste in the making of the product. That product is then packaged and travels thousands of miles to get someplace. From there, it’s redistributed, repackaged and sent out again (this time to your company). In the end, that adds up to thousands of pounds of carbon for thousands and thousands of pieces of swag.

And where does that squishy ball or flying guerrilla go after you give it away at the booth? It’s going to go home with that trade show attendee, end up in the hands of his son who plays with it and breaks it … and from there it ends up in a landfill. It really never does go … away.

That’s because most of this stuff is cheaply made. Giveaways have a very short lifespan because they’re not made to last. So, one of the first things Janet asked was: “Do you need so much junky swag? Are there alternative forms of messaging that will last for years instead of just one show? … Especially when all the leftovers are going to be tossed in the trash.”

What Janet’s words made me realize is I’ve always been against wasteful giveaways, but for an entirely different reason: You want the person to hold on to your branded item!

Years ago, I discovered a number of items that could effectively substitute for the typical giveaway—and not end up in a landfill a week later.

In one case, it was a simple card trick.  The mechanism is this: One of three cards, a 5 of Clubs is placed into a spectator’s hand. Everyone is sure it’s the 5 of Clubs. When the card is turned over, it has magically turned into the company’s business card. It’s a simple illusion, but one that trade show attendees love to learn and repeat. I was recently at a trade show and an attendee recognized me from a show six months earlier.  He asked me if I had any more of those magic business cards. I asked him why, and he said it was because he had been using it over and over as an icebreaker in meetings, and it wore out.

I couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement. Instead of a propeller hat, here’s something fun that keeps branding your company again and again. I guess in this industry, you can equate sustainable with interesting. If it holds their interest, they’ll hold onto it longer.

So, Ellen, giveaways is one place to start. And we’ve got plenty of ideas on giveaways that are practical, useful, interesting and won’t be thrown “away.”  Keep an eye on this blog for much more about “greening” your trade show presence. I couldn’t even come close to fitting it all in one post. Thanks to you and Janet Pomeroy from The Good Mix for getting the gears turning on this important topic.

If you’d like more information on eco-business strategies (or anything green), please visit Janet at http://thegoodmix.com.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Tags: going green, swag, targeted giveaways, trade show trends
Posted in Going green at trade shows, Trade show giveaways, Trade show news & trends | 1 Comment »

Trade Show Giveaways Can Still Serve a Valuable Purpose

Hey Newman, what’s your take on trade show swag? Is it worth doing anymore? – Kenneth in Los Angeles

Back in the heyday of COMDEX, an attendee could come home with literally two suitcases full of freebies—enough for the next five years of stocking stuffers. Companies would spend an extra $5,000 to $10,000 just on T-shirts, stress balls, hats with propellers on them or whatever else they could come up with.

These days, companies are spending more frugally on “swag” and trade show attendees are coming home with less of it. This change is primarily because companies are asking a very important question: “If we lure 2,000 people into the booth with free T-shirts, are these people actually qualified leads?

At Magnet Productions, we don’t think so. We think those are just people who have a rabid desire to get a new T-shirt.

When a salesperson calls those folks two months after the trade show, they’ll have no idea who the salesperson represents or what the product is. They’ll have no compelling interest; they just wanted a free tee.

Now, the T-shirt did accomplish something: It created buzz in the booth. But you can’t assume for a moment that the free T-shirt is also going to be translated into a qualified lead.

We recommend that clients use a different mechanism to attract and identify qualified leads: a two-tiered giveaway. You offer the typical swag on the front end—some sort of stress ball or trinket or USB keychain—whatever will get people into the booth. That will create the necessary commotion to get your booth noticed by passersby. It also means your trade show presenter will be delivering a talk to 50 guests instead of five.

But Phase II must be much more targeted. There are many different possible approaches, but one is to have the presenter follow up with questions and comments that identify qualified leads:

“How many people here are familiar with our technology or use our technology? Well, in addition to all that, we also provide consulting services. An hour-long Needs Evaluation is normally $500, but we’re going to give one away to a lucky person. So, for those of you who are interested, we’re doing a drawing. Just come on in the booth and talk to one of our people. We’ll stamp your card and enter you in the drawing.”

So, essentially the giveaway prequalified the people who had actual interest because the giveaway was directly related to the company’s technology. It wasn’t a DVD player. It wasn’t an iPod. It was something very specific and relevant.

If you don’t have something like that you can offer, you can still utilize a raffle. In order to be entered in a drawing for a high-ticket item, they have to come into the booth and actually watch a demo. And then you can gauge the actual interest of a person.

If you’re just trying to get numbers, you absolutely can do that with T-shirts because they have always been, and always will be, one of the greatest draws. T-shirts (and other gadgets with a “wow” factor) can succeed in getting a lot of butts in seats and a lot of eyeballs on a screen for a demo about the company. It’s just that many of them won’t necessarily be the “right” people.

Trade show swag can still be worth the expense. The key is there has to be clarity about the purpose of a giveaway in order to get the most return on your money.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Tags: booth buzz, clarity, qualified leads, swag, targeted giveaways
Posted in Trade show giveaways | 9 Comments »