Editor ' s letter
The best product doesn ' t win , the best marketing does ...
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Editorial Director
Martin Fullard
Portfolio Director Andrew Walmsley
Digital Editor Cameron Roberts
Reporter Joe Gallop
Contributor Louisa Daley
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Guest Editor
Phil Soar
Head of Marketing Max Agostini
Senior Graphic Designer Robert Fletcher
Production Manager Sabrina Boucher
Sales Director Paul King
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Exhibition News Magazine
Since we last spoke , I have since received in the post a penalty charge from the good people at the Dartford Crossing . They kindly wrote to inform me that I had failed to pay the arbitrary £ 2.50 to drive through their tunnel .
My first response was to storm the crossing ’ s head office , then to take to social media to declare that , in actual fact , I had paid the fee and that they were wrong . So , I smugly sifted through my chockfull inbox and sure enough there was the receipt confirming I had paid the crossing charge . But it turns out I hadn ’ t paid it at all . I had paid £ 6 to a confidence trickster .
On the day in question I had headed to ExCeL and , since I rarely use the crossing , simply Googled ‘ pay Dartford crossing ’ when I arrived . I proceeded to click on the convincing website at the top of the Google rankings and paid what I thought was a legitimate fee .
As a result of my haste and failure to identify such fraudulence I must now make my representation through the correct channels to avoid the £ 72.50 penalty .
The point is , in order to reach my destination , I needed to use the crossing and I knew that would cost me £ 2.50 . Yet , in the hubbub of the moment , I was prepared to pay £ 6 for the same service without questioning it and ended up getting burnt . Jonny Scammer had got his fraudulent product to the top of the Google rankings and watched the cash come rolling in . With my pride in tatters , I concluded that the best product doesn ’ t always win , the best marketing does .
Now we are back in business , the exhibitions industry must exercise great care in maintaining the quality of its products . But people can be easily taken in by the first thing they see , but that doesn ’ t necessarily mean it will be any good and could cost them more in the long run . As you will learn in this issue , marketing has never been more important than right now . As our guest editor , the indefatigable Phil Soar , surmises on p10 , survival of the fittest is very much the theme the industry is facing , will it learn a lesson from the past 20 months ?
We have all learned lessons , and how to spot a legitimate winner and changing moods . For example , next time I head to ExCeL I ’ ll use the Old Kent Road .
Martin Fullard Editorial Director Exhibition News
Autumn — 05