A Marketing Student's Blog

This post will explore the functions of global television trade shows, and will explore the trade dynamics that take place within them. Whilst researching this post, I found the following article very informative: Exhibiting Global Television: on the Business and Cultural Functions of Global Television Fairs by Havens, 2003.

Broadly, there are 3 key tradeshows:

MIPCOM
NATPE
ATF

Havens (2003) states “Rational business concerns often take a backseat to showmanship at television programming trade shows. However, trade shows serve numerous business and cultural functions; efficient networking, concretizing power relations among participants, differentiating otherwise similar products, and providing the terrain on which distributors construct their corporate brand identities.”


Exhibitors must communicate with potential clients before the show to stimulate awareness and driver potential purchasers to the stand, and whilst at the show relative power is displayed by the size and/or decoration of the stand. Promotional activities include short five to ten minute previews of shows, as well as famous celebrities being present to create buzz around the stand.


O’Hara, (1993 in Havens 2003) states that “trade shows offer a variety of pre-sale or non-selling opportunities  that are crucial to future sales, with regard to products with complex purchasing decisions.”


Therefore trade shows function as an important catalyst within b2b program purchasing. Trade shows allow for exposure, buzz, and relationships to be created. Even though trade shows maybe a fairly capitalistic endeavor, their place within the industry looks sealed, even with the emergence and availability of web 2.0 technology to replace the need for physical presence – trade shows are about people.


This post is part of my revision, is not well written or in depth, and for that… I apologize! Consider it a work in progress..