Battling the Fear Economy

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov, 2001 by Joe Hagan, Jillian Ambroz

Amy R. Churgin, vice president and publisher of Architectural Digest, which has its Architectural Digest Home Design Show this month at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, says the show is using 60 percent more direct mail this year than last. "We gunned the motor a little bit because of the tragedy," she says. Churgin is mailing 100,000 brochures to AD subscribers in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) and is inserting another 450,000 in the home section of The New York Times.

Jim Bracken, chairman of VNU Expositions, agrees that intensified attendance promotions are a must, but says expenses can be contained. "The increased marketing costs more, but we look for ways to soften these costs by using e-mail, networking and other cost-lessening initiatives where we can," he says. Maximize house ads and blast faxes and e-mails to attendees.

2. PLAN SURVIVALIST PANELS. Tackle the terrorist issues head on, says Douglas L. Ducate, president and CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). Adding high-profile speakers who can discuss the possible effects of the war on terrorism will draw people to events, he says. "They add that bonus feature that will be the thing that convinces someone to go," he says.

Internet World has added sessions on building IT infrastructure in the New York area in light of the attacks to its show in December. "We're putting together a conference track that is relevant to the issue at hand," says Dan Ramella, president and COO, Fenton Media.

And if the event you originally envisioned no longer seems appropriate, call it something else. Until September II, Fortune billed its conference on leadership "Revolutionaries' Ball," but the event was renamed "Leadership in Turbulent Times." While the agenda was scrapped, the speaker lineup remained the same.

"The response has been excellent," says John Needham, president of Fortune Multimedia. Of the roo-plus attendees who signed up, he says 85 percent have reconfirmed, only 5 percent have cancelled and ro percent are undecided.

3. INCREASE SECURITY. Many potential attendees are not only afraid to board an airplane, they're also nervous about being in major cities, and around landmark locations and large crowds. Calm fears by promoting and providing added security at events. Advanstar Communications CEO Bob Krakoff says his company has been working to handle safety concerns on a city and venue level. "A lot is going on to improve security--and to the degree that that's successful, it will build confidence in people attending shows," he says.

"If there has been an increase in the number of security guards and security on site," says Mary Beth Rebedeau, executive director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers, "that will be reassuring to people."

4. GO FOR THE HOME COURT ADVANTAGE. To maintain attendance in this climate, you're going to have to really push the locals, says Rebedeau. Target promotional efforts by Zip Code, because you have a much better chance at drawing those who don't have far to go.