Roundtable
Do your research
EN discusses the growing trend in UK event regionalisation and why it is
essential to build stronger, healthier and financially rewarding brands on
our ‘home turf’ before launching internationally
K
nowing when and where
to clone or launch your
event is one of the toughest
decisions an exhibition
organiser has to face. Not
only does it require guts,
energy, plenty of money and
resources thrown at it as
well as months of planning
- you have to get your
research spot on. For every
successful launch, there’s a
similar number of failures.
We teamed up with Event
Centre Liverpool (ECL) for
the latest EN Roundtable
and assembled an all-star
cast of event marketers and
entrepreneurs to dig a little
deeper into the processes
that lead to launching an
event and what are the key
factors involved in cloning
an event regionally or
internationally.
How do you decide to clone an
event?
Tomas Benjamin, brand
director at Clarion Gaming,
who works in events
including ICE, believes you
have to get your research
right. He said: “We look at
other competitors in the
market. We then look at the
continents that we want to
launch the event in where we
believe we can do a better job
for our customers. We aim to
recreate a feel similar to our
existing events. You can’t
just take a strong brand and
move it anywhere you want.
You really need to think
about who you’re targeting
and you have to really
understand the customer in
that country. If you don’t get
that right, it can reflect back
on your existing event. We
do a lot of research asking
our audiences what they
really want. You can’t just
rely on your exhibitor and
event research locally. As
a result, each event should
be localised for that region
and in some cases have a
slightly different feel for that
market.”
Aurore Braconnier, COO
at Raccoon Events, who
is launching The Running
Show in Paris, believes that
culture plays a key role in
cloning events. She adds: “I
hate the word geo-cloning,
it’s more geo-adapting. You
really need to understand
the culture. There are core
differences in the culture
and if you understand this
you really can adapt an event
well.”
EN ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS
» Ian Stone, MD, UK Industry Events
» Aurore Braconnier, COO,
Raccoon Events
» Ed Tranter, MD, 73 Media
» Colm Graham, senior exhibition
manager, ECL
» Paul Brown, COO, Investor
Publishing
» Jenna Gardner, show manager,
QD Events
» Adrian Evans, director of sales,
ECL
» Athena, portfolio marketing
manager, Media 10
» Tomas Benjamin, brand director,
Clarion Gaming
» Sam North, MD, Inflection Point
that your brand may be well-
known in the UK but people
may not know who you are
internationally. He adds: “I
remember going to Las Vegas
to visit another event and I
was talking to people about
ICE and they had no idea
what I was talking about.
It was fascinating because
some of us assumed that
everyone knew the brand
and that we reached every
single gaming company.”
Braconnier explains that,
apart from having the
advantage of being French
when choosing Paris for the
National Running Show, she
believes you need to
How important is it to have a
strong brand on your ‘home
turf’?
Benjamin explained that
it’s crucial to understand
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