Everyone went...

I've had a few people ask what the 'Everyone's going' image is on my profile. Well, let me tell you a story... My old agency was one of the biggest in the glass and glazing sector, we looked after the biggest glass co, the biggest door co, the biggest conservatory chain, the governing body, the ombudsman, the biggest profile co, some of the biggest window companies... we were on fire. Then two very lovely friends/clients of ours decided to start a trade show (Matthew and Paul) the trouble, was that the last trade show had gone bust a few years prior, so everyone was skeptical. We got the job of creating a new trade show with Matthew and Paul called The Fit Show (the fabricator, and installer trade show) that would take the industry by storm. We had to come up with a killer campaign that would engage with business owners and drive sales of stands and then importantly, the take up of tickets to the exhibition.

Our old agency was known for disruption, I had a firm belief that the acronyms of B2B and B2C were just convenient tools to describe 'styles' of communication for marketing types. They missed the detail that in effect we're only ever marketing human to human. The same humans that run large, dirty, gritty factories, also went out and bought Gucci bags, Mercedes cars and their daughter's lovely shoes and iPhones. They understood brands and they interacted with clever, eye-catching creative. However, in the trade magazines, the ads were boring, typical 'look at our tool' ads, nothing about the business (apart from we deliver great service...yawn) nothing about how they were going to add value to the business, just stale, uninspiring creative. (open any trade mag today and you'll see what I mean).

We had to think differently, it would've been too easy to come up with a 'B2B' campaign that simply told potential exhibitors that they could buy a stand, and somehow we'd drive people to their stand to protect their investment. I mean, any agency could, and do do that.

I was lying there at night thinking through how we could get something so engaging that everyone would get involved, you see, the glass and glazing industry was a huge family, everyone knew everyone else. The company owners tried to outdo the others with their bling and their cars (and helicopters), they were the gods and goddesses of glass. We needed something that played on this friendly competitivity and healthy collaboration. We needed everyone to go to the Fit Show and we needed everyone to talk about it.

My logic for the campaign was simple, if we could convince door company X to go, then door company Y and Z would go too. I also knew that the owners of the companies were incredibly proud of their products, they designed them, nurtured them, and brought them to life with love and attention (I'm not adding this for dramatic effect, these people adored their creations) So we had to somehow use their products in the campaign too.

Remember the Wembley Way leading up to the old Wembley? I imagined Gareth from Solidor traveling on the tube with his famous duck egg blue door, people looking oddly at him, and Dan Gill with his beautiful flush sash window getting out of a cab, hundreds of suppliers with their products all walking towards the show to show off their wares. I came up with the strapline 'Everyone's Going' ... Only Matthew said at the time... But no one's going yet? He was right, but we believed and knew they would.

We got our team onto creating the initial graphics and mockups so we could present to a handful of our existing clients, showing them what was going to happen. Luckily, they loved it. The team arranged a press conference at the International Centre in Telford, we had a room to fill with about 3/400 people, we needed to do something dramatic. We knew the majority of people coming to the event would be skeptical business owners, worried about a brand new show, so it had to be amazing.

We decided to photograph 12 or so business owners with their products. Our plan was to blow them up onto huge 30ft banners suspended from the ceiling (look at my profile pic) and have them hanging around the room, all lit up from below so they looked like roman gods. It looked better than we expected. Everyone was shocked, they came up to the organisers and asked 'when do I get one of those!!!!' everyone wanted to be part of it. But we had another plan up our sleeve. We wanted every exhibitor to be part of the marketing plan. We wanted them to get involved, we wanted them to tell everyone of their customers and followers that 'Everyone's going' We knew each exhibitor had a marketing and creative agency so we gave every company guidelines and a brand book, encouraging them all to market their attendance at the Fit Show.

The event was a huge success, almost selling out the entire show. But what happened next was wonderful...

Because we used the images of the bosses of the companies in the marketing, and because we hoped they'd get their own marketing companies to join in, it became an enormous engine of marketing for the Fit Show, You couldn't see an advert without mention on there saying 'I'm going to the Fit Show' Then, all of a sudden a viral trend started happening. People were taking pictures of themselves holding up signs saying 'Everyone's Going' we had images from the Great Wall of China, from Bondi Beach up skyscrapers around the world, and people posting across all channels that they were going to the Fit Show. We even had one couple hold the Fit Show sign up on their wedding day. It became a festival of collaborative marketing.

Suffice to say, the whole campaign was a success, winning the Best Trade Launch Show at the AEO Excellence Awards, and another for Promotional Campaign of the Year at the G Awards. It was a lovely feeling.

It was one of my proudest moments as an agency owner, our team at the agency was incredible, we went onto work with the Fit Show until they were bought out by Montgomery group, moving from a medium exhibition at the Telford International Centre to the NEC in Birmingham. I enjoyed my time as the shows Creative Director and the opportunity to work with a client team that were friends, colleagues, open-minded and most of all brave. I was also proud to prove that not all 'B2B' marketing has to be 'B2B'

Sometimes this job has some good days...

Simon