Trade Show Support

What's the difference between a trade show booth that's an empty, Death Valley-slow drain on your company's budget or a high-energy, traffic-building, sales-closing, Rock and Rolling new business magnet? The creativity of a marketing agency like Maccabee Group.

For example Golden Valley Microwave Foods was determined to get retailers attending the Video Software Dealers Association trade show 'popping' about its microwavable Act II Popcorn. They hired Maccabee Group to coordinate publicity for a new "Fast Forward To End Hunger" cause marketing campaign involving actor Jeff Bridges (shown at right; with agency president Paul Maccabee). Positioning Act II Popcorn as "The Official Popcorn of the Movies," Maccabee Group's on-site press conference with Bridges in Las Vegas kicked off the star's End Hunger Network partnership with Golden Valley Microwave through specially-marked packages in 8,500 video stores.

Consider the dilemma faced by VISI.com, the Minneapolis-based Internet Service Provider. Making a splash at the annual 'Strictly Business' technology show in the Minneapolis Convention Center was vital for VISI. But nearby booths were bigger, more expensive and far louder than theirs. So Maccabee Group, inspired by VISI's new digital "palm-reading" security technology, employed a Hungarian gypsy "palm-reading" psychic at the booth to read trade show attendees' fortunes - drawing hundreds of buzzing visitors to the site. VISI sales reps were able to connect one-on-one with prospects as they waited for their fortunes to be read.

And what of Pure Choice, a manufacturer of indoor air quality technology? Pure Choice needed to draw customers to their booth at the Building Owners and Managers (BOMA) show to introduce their newest building monitoring system - branded "The Nose." Maccabee Group designed a "Following Your Nose to the Freshest Air On The Planet" contest. The Grand Prize: a trip the clear plains of Iceland. Advance mailings included flesh-colored 'noses' for trade show attendees to bring to the Pure Choice booth. The impact? "BOMA ended yesterday," marveled PureChoice Operations Specialist Linda Soukup, "and we are thrilled with the results and the very solid leads. The booth was extremely busy, with people stopping by the booth just to get a nose because they had seen others with them. A big hit!"

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TESTIMONIAL:

"How valuable was Maccabee Group to Act II Popcorn? They helped us leverage our alliance with Jeff Bridges’ anti-hunger foundation and maximize our visibility at the VSDA trade conference, kicking off Act II’s positioning as the Entertainment Brand of microwave popcorn. Our popcorn products gained new retail distribution in video rental stores – a sales channel previously unavailable to us. Great work!"

- David Cooper
- former Director of Marketing
- Golden Valley Microwave Foods