Will exhibitor no-shows be missed by attendees or buried by competitors?
In June, the Affinia Group launched a pre-emptive explanation to justify cutting down on its AAPEX trade show booth space this fall.
"Understanding that our business is much more global in nature, Affinia Group has substantially modified its plans for AAPEX and Automechanika," wrote President and CEO Terry McCormack in an open letter to media. "Affinia's footprint at the 2008 AAPEX show in Las Vegas will be much smaller than in past years."
McCormack, who went on to write that a "business as usual" mentality is no longer viable in the aftermarket, explains that Affinia will reduce its AAPEX space in alternating years so it can improve its presence at the global Automechanika shows, a sign of the global thinking companies are undergoing.
"We cannot justify a major presence at AAPEX every year, along with Automechanika in even years," McCormack wrote.
Of the few manufacturers that returned our phone calls by press time, some are decreasing their AAPEX presence this year, while others are increasing space to make way for new product launches. Most, however, declined comment on the matter.
Honeywell representatives say the company will not reduce its booth space this year; however, the company is still closely evaluating every dollar it spends on promotional types of activities.
"We're looking at all dollars more closely than ever and evaluating the most cost-effective means of promoting our brands and products to our core markets," says Shannon Lara, senior manager, global marketing services, for the Honeywell Consumer Products Group.
Individual booth sales are down 3 percent for this year's AAPEX show, says Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO of the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), one of the show's organizers. But on the flip side, the number of exhibitors has actually increased. AAPEX organizers expect approximately 2,000 exhibitors this year.
"We sure know it's a challenging year for folks," says Schmatz, who adds that it's understandable if a vendor is looking to cut costs this year. "Folks are making decisions to be a little bit smaller."
Reducing trade show space is one tactic vendors can implement to cut costs.
"We have talked to a number of major exhibitors and have suggested ways they might want to cut the costs of their exhibit," adds Schmatz. Other strategies include watching the overtime pay of support employees who help set up exhibits and bringing fewer people to the AAPEX show.
"I don't blame anybody for examining all their costs," she adds. "But when they do, they're going to find out the show's a bargain compared to other (venues)."
Honeywell's Lara agrees. She adds that industry week is an important opportunity for the company to get face time with some of its biggest customers.
"We're always evaluating the most cost-effective means to spend marketing dollars, and industry week represents a great opportunity each year for us to connect with our biggest customers, as well as some of our biggest potential customers."
She adds: "It's one area we feel is critical for us to continue to monitor the pulse of the industry and our customers' needs in a concentrated, once-a-year format."
Trade show budgets are just one way manufacturers are coping with a marketplace that's seeing little to no growth. Advertising and marketing budgets also are typically displaced in times such as these.
But amid economic uncertainty, companies need to be front and center with their customers, perhaps more so than in prosperous times, say industry marketing leaders.
When corners are cut for marketing and promoting a brand, a company risks losing its brand equity and what some refer to as "mind share," that intangible gauge of a brand's true value.
From a trade show perspective, a vendor's absence is perhaps most noted by that company's competitors.
Says Schmatz: "When folks decide to skip a trade show completely, they run the risk of their competitors telling their story."
