Successful visitor marketing with one ticket for three trade fairs

One ticket for three fairs.A plastic card in credit card format achieves a great sympathy effect. In the run-up to the trade fairs Ineltec, Security and Swissbau Siemens sent out 19,928 transferable premium cards, which allowed unlimited access to all three events.High, emotional value17,000 more such tickets went to vendors, who presented them personally to selected customers. "The card has a high, emotional value because it conveys appreciation to the holder and gives him the freedom to organize his visits to the trade show in a completely flexible way," says Claudio Schubert, Marketing Manager Comfort & Safety Technology at Siemens Building Technologies. If I want someone to come somewhere, the only promising way is to talk to them about it," explains Thomas Fischer, Head of Building Technologies Southern Europe. That's why they deliberately chose a physical access card made of plastic. Unlike virtual or printable tickets, it is also easier to carry around and use.This seems to have gone down well with Siemens customers. "It's great that you can now get in without having to fumble around," was frequent feedback from trade show visitors, according to Schubert.MCH card as a modelThe idea for the Premium Card originally came from the organizer of the three events, the MCH Group. I saw that something like this was possible and wanted to apply it to Siemens," explains Schubert. Although the target and customer groups of Ineltec, Sicherheit and Swissbau usually overlap, there are also customers who can be attracted to additional trade fairs that they would not otherwise visit by means of a standard ticket.Whether the Siemens card actually generated more trade fair visitors is not yet clear. Armin Kirchhofer, Exhibition Director Ineltec, confirms that around 1300 visitors used the Siemens Premium Card. "The fact that the ticket is well received is shown by values from 2013, when Siemens courted visitors with the usual vouchers. At that time, 120 such tickets were redeemed, ten times less than now," says Kirchhofer.Heinz Salzgeber, Exhibition Director Security, counted 1250 redeemed Premium Cards compared to just under 1000 Siemens tickets in 2013, where the company already achieved initial success with its own paper tickets.The exhibition directors assume that, depending on the trade fair, around two to ten percent of visitors used a Siemens card. "It will be interesting because many admissions overlap. After all, our goal was to bring as many visitors as possible to the three trade shows," says Schubert.

Theme partners and exhibitors at the Ineltec, Safety and Swissbau trade fairs.Anonymity is aired at the boothOne fly in the ointment for organizer MCH Group is the fact that the Siemens card is not personalized. "We naturally have a vital interest in generating contacts in order to use them for marketing activities," says Rudolf Pfander, Exhibition Director Swissbau. In the medium term, he said, the group is aiming for full visitor registration. This would not be possible with such an initiative.However, Siemens deliberately refrained from depositing names, according to Thomas Fischer. "On the one hand, there are many visitors in the area of trade fair security who are very sensitive when it comes to personal data, and on the other hand, we wanted to specifically reach new potential customers," says Fischer. The production of the 40,000 premium cards cost Siemens 8,000 Swiss francs, plus shipping costs for the invitations. As a theme partner of the three exhibitions, the company benefits from a special sponsoring package in which visitor marketing activities are free of charge, which is why the MCH Group assumed the costs for the redeemed admissions. These amount to between 10 and 12 Swiss francs per day ticket, depending on the exhibition. As Schubert points out, the Premium Card has real value. "One of our cards was even auctioned off on Ricardo," he says with a smile.Image gainShortly before the end of the entire campaign, Siemens draws a positive conclusion. "I have the impression that customers have perceived us as even a touch more professional. Not only in terms of our day-to-day work, but also in how we deal with them," says Fischer. The image gain will hopefully be visible after the next Net Promoter Score evaluation, he adds. "Now we will think about whether we want to do everything the same again at the next trade show season or create one more kick," says Fischer.Whether the Siemens example will set a precedent is nevertheless doubtful. As Rudolf Pfander explains, there is no other exhibitor who plays all three trade shows with a similar intensity. Moreover, for financial and organizational reasons, something like this is only possible with the special status of theme partner. And apparently the interest of competitors is small. "We have no inquiries from other companies that would like to do something similar," explains Pfander.Author: Denise Weisflog