Page 16 - February2019

FROM PRODUCEBUSINESSUK.COM 02.13.2019
Narrow Thinking And Missed Opportunities: Trade Show Miscalculations
JIM PREVOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Flying home from Fruit Logistica, the largest produce event in the world, I pondered the question I am sometimes asked: Which is “better” — the larger or the more inti-
mate events? To me, it is an odd question, because both offer opportunities for the willing.
We launched Produce Business magazine at the Produce Marketing Association event back in 1985 — because it was the biggest produce event in America. But I made excellent contacts and built wonderful relationships attending intimate PMA board meetings for many years.
In general, the industry “under markets.” This is true to consumers; it is true to the trade. And when it comes to trade shows, it is worth looking at why the industry, companies and organizations large and small have trouble recognizing the return they get on their investment.
The problem starts with budgeting. Internally, most companies must allocate expenses for booths or sponsorships to a particular division. Although theoretically different divisions could chip in and split the costs, the practicalities of doing this are often dif cult. This leads to a very narrow de nition of success.
Sometimes the expense is narrowed by
geography. Companies very often expect
that an event will be paid for by a subsidiary based on geography, so a Dutch subsidiary might be expected to pay for an event in the Netherlands. Or a regional of ce in New York metro might be expected to pay for a New York event.
Yet, in a global world this doesn’t correspond to the way business is done. So, let us say a global conglomerate exhibits in London. Its Peruvian subsidiary is part of the display, and a big buyer from China becomes a big customer — buying millions every year. You would say it is a triumph, right? Actually, if that is all that happens, the company may still cancel its booth next year! Why? Simple: The subsidiary that is paying for the stand is the UK company, but the pro ts from the China transaction are going to the Peruvian company. So, if the team in the UK is incented based on its bottom line, it would be wise to cancel the spend even if the overall corporation loses out on enormous amounts of pro table business.
Sometimes the issue is division by business classi cation. Many companies are organized with different divisions ... say, one to sell retail, another foodservice, another wholesale. Sometimes
they are divided by product, with separate divisions focused on berries or potatoes and onions, etc. Again, few companies are organized in such a way that these disparate divisions can market smoothly together.
So, typically, one division spearheads a purchase. If the retail division is paying for the booth, the fact that a big foodservice operator or distributor made a very pro table deal with the foodservice division may not count at all. If the sourcing division saves a quarter million a year on doing visits to producers by having a booth, in many companies that savings doesn’t get
calculated at all.
Then there are the myriad ways being at
trade shows and industry events can lead to positive outcomes, but, again, not in a way the division paying for the booth will recog- nize. We’ve seen executives meet people at their booths and then lease out unused warehouse or of ce space, in some cases on multi-year agreements worth millions. But the bene t of doing that is rarely attributed to the division that bought a booth!
Many times, we have seen people hiring visitors they met at the stands. We’ve been thanked for introducing them to the person who became their top salesperson — a contribution to a company worth millions over years — but that is HR, not the retail
division, that bene ted from the booth! In fact, there are plenty of acquisitions, joint ventures and similar cooperations that grow out of engagement with industry events — yet, again, the corporate mechanism for assigning value to these things is almost non-existent.
Because everything is so siloed, even those who do participate don’t get as much value as they could. In Berlin, I was walking with the most senior produce executive at a Top 5 U.S. retailer — a man in control of billions in procurement dollars. We walked through the booth of one of the top ve produce companies in the world, and nobody knew who my pal was! The exhibitor didn’t bring any Americans and didn’t train any of its staff to know even the top people in the world of produce.
I kept thinking of the movie The Devil Wears Prada, in which the Anne Hathaway character proves her chops as a personal assistant because she studied up and knows the name of a reception guest, and the existing assistant forgets.
In general, marketing is an afterthought to many in the produce industry. A friend of mine once partnered up and built a fantastic
There are myriad ways exhibiting at trade shows and industry events can lead to positive outcomes, but often not in a way the division paying for the booth will recognize.
16 / FEBRUARY 2019 / PRODUCE BUSINESS