Feature
Britt Gorniok,
International Project
Manager, Innovation
Norway
“Geo-cloning can build
your reputation, build
loyalty and enable you to
take the brand into new
regions in a cost-effective
way. But, as discussed
at the roundtable event,
there are many pitfalls,
mainly around market
knowledge and cultural
issues. Solid market
analysis is therefore key,
but it is also important to
choose the right venue
with a convenient location,
a solid reputation and
with a network of full-
scale suppliers. Being
the largest exhibition
and conference centre
in Norway, located
10 minutes from Oslo
international airport – Oslo
Trade Fair welcomes new
international partnerships
for mutually beneficial
cooperation.”
work.”
“There always a risk with geo-cloning,”
adds Sewell. “Brand damage and all the rest
of it. But I like to think we don’t go until
we’re absolutely sure. No one gets shot in
Clarion for trying, we’ve got a measured
approach to risk.”
There are ways of soft-launching an event
with an established community, says Trew.
“You can get a feeling when you just have a
webpage and test the waters before going full
‘save the date’.”
“Things like that are cheap,” agrees
Chesterman. “You can invest in a website and
start to build a community and build a story
around it.”
Consistent across events like ICE North
America and ICE Africa, says Sewell, were the
bellwethers.
“There’s a two-pronged approach,” he
explains. The bellwethers are interested,
they’re at contract signing stage before we
start to move. Second stage, and this is not
uniquely Clarion, but we’ve expanded our
global footprint with every acquisition, so we
have offices all around the world. We’ve got
that local knowledge so it’s not quite such a
big risk to go fishing when you have someone
“It’s possible to do too
much research. At a
certain point the event
organiser just has to
make a decision” – Juliet Trew
on the ground who can tell you what the
dynamic is like.”
Local knowledge
Macdonald asks how the attendees
navigate relationships with local stakeholder
and agents.
“We could be getting into country
stereotypes, but they really do dominate how
we work with agents,” says Sewell. “We have
agent networks in our power and utilities
group, which is where we mostly focus our
agent groups because they are the areas
where we’re getting international presence
the most.
“We couldn’t operate without a strong
agent network. Most of our agents are in
Germany and China, and they are fiercely
protective. We’re really at the mercy of
some agents; they demand exclusivity and
we have to hand over large swathes of our
key accounts and it creates internal friction.
Having said that, we cannot operate without
them, and even with the geographical
footprint that Clarion has, it’s still the most
cost-effective way of getting the coverage
that we need.”
Trew comments that on the whole she
doesn’t use agents, instead using the in-house
sales team and contractors.
“Agents are also a way to overcome
language barriers,” adds Ozfescioglu. “In
somewhere like China the culture is so
different that if you don’t have an agent
you won’t be able to bring certain groups of
companies to your event.”
Chesterman says that he has worked
with agents and had offices in international
locations.
“The challenge is controlling agents,” he
comments. “Stepping back a bit, say you have
a European-run show and you want to geo-
clone in another location. It’s quite useful
to have one of the sales guys who has the
reputation with the market to go and do the
work in that new location.
“It depends on the mix. When you first
geo-clone you use the existing team and get
them working on that first geo-clone. Agents
can help you out but having that person who
is well-known in the market and has good
relationships can help with that step.” EN
July — 31