Marketing
Speciality & Fine Food Fair was one of the first trade events out of the gate this September , taking place on 6-7 September in Olympia London ’ s National Hall . What with Covid restrictions , Brexit , international travel , and renovations at the venue to name just a few factors , the lead-up to the event was stressful at times , but the Montgomery Events team pulled off a fantastic show . Feedback from exhibitors , speakers and buyers has been incredible , we reunited the world of food and drink post lockdown , and the sales team absolutely smashed their rebook targets onsite . As marketing professionals , it ’ s our job to build hype and excitement and instil the idea that our event is one not to be missed , and visitor registration ahead of Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2021 was up on 2019 . The team smashed the conversative targets we ’ d set for this year ’ s event , and anecdotally , talking to other organisers and looking at other trade shows , the same has been true across industries and across sectors as events continue to reopen . The one thing dampening our postshow glow is that our conversion number dropped from our pre-Covid average . This isn ’ t hugely surprising : the stresses around the pandemic are just one of a multitude of factors that make this year an exceptional one . The hospitality and foodservice industry , like many others , is experiencing unprecedented staffing shortages and our audience of retailers and producers are incredibly busy people . Not to mention , in many cases we ’ re now tempting our audiences away from
Making stronger connections
Sam Chance , marketing director at Montgomery Group , discusses the company ’ s launch of a new online platform and the journey to 365 engagement
the comfort of their homes , rather than the monotony of their offices . The question is , how long will this ‘ new normal ’ last , and what can we as marketing professionals do to make up the difference , fill our venues and satisfy our customers ?
Back to live Over the past 18 months , we ’ ve been unable to bring our communities together face-to-face , and like many event organisers we ’ ve been exploring the alternatives for audience engagement , and enabling the industries we serve to meet , learn and do business . Our show brands have been hosting webinars , virtual tastings , online networking events , and even a largescale virtual cooking competition which had over 500 entries from 23 countries , but we wanted to implement a more long-term change , and invested in a permanent , year-round platform to engage our audiences 365 days a year . So , for each show brand in the Montgomery Events portfolio , we ’ ve launched a Connects platform , with the most recent being Speciality & Fine Food Fair Connects , which was unveiled at the event in September . Speciality & Fine Food Fair Connects enables us to host a wide range of content , from articles and
20 — Autumn