Food Marketing Institute (FMI)

background:

FMI2012 is the premier show for the food retail industry. The biennial event boasts a strong conference program and is produced by the Food Marketing Institute, whose members (and show attendees) include national, regional and independent retailers; drug and convenience stores; gourmet, ethnic, natural food and other specialty shops across North America and worldwide. Exhibitors offer everything from products you’d see on a supermarket shelf to the shelving itself.

show Size: 145,000+ nsf
attendance: 10,000 total attendance (projected), 90+ countries represented
exhibitors: 520+ exhibiting companies

challenge:

As a mid-sized show with a marketing budget to match, keeping costs down is important. No problem—in collaboration with FMI, we came up with a single marketing concept that worked for exhibitors and attendees. It also spoke to large chain retailers as well as smaller, independent operators, and it translated internationally. 

Another hurdle: FMI2012 was co-locating with three other retail-food industry shows. We had to distinctly promote the value of FMI while communicating the benefit of having the other shows there with it.

obsession:

It's all about doing more with less. So using a ubiquitous symbol in retail, we landed on a concept that challenged both attendees and exhibitors to “go beyond the barcode” at FMI. In the exhibitor campaign (check out the award winning Digital Exhibitor Prospectus), we featured well-known executives from companies like Harris Teeter and Publix and their ‘”beyond the barcode” reasons for attending FMI. 

Keeping a close eye on the bottom line, we developed a comprehensive and dynamic marketing plan that gave us the leeway to evaluate tactics and make adjustments throughout the campaign. In addition to the regular attendee campaign, we were able to produce a micro-campaign targeted to Independent Operators, a key audience for the show.

Campaign elements included website design and content development, print ads, banner ads, e-mail, direct mail, list management and digital brochures.

results:

A cost-effective—emphasis on “effective”—dual-sided campaign. A nearly sold out exhibit floor. And a core concept that resonated so well it went beyond marketing to be incorporated into onsite branding and was made the theme in the education program.