How Little Cricket helped Blue Lucy make a big impression at the IBC exhibition
Since 2010 Blue Lucy has been a regular exhibitor at the annual International Broadcasting Convention and Exhibition at the RAI in Amsterdam. But, as a relatively small stand holder using a shell scheme, they struggled to stand out from the 1700 other exhibitors, most of which had bigger budgets and a more elaborate presence. They were looking for way to stand out and attract the attention of the 55 000 show visitors without breaking the bank.
Blue Lucy’s Business Development Manager, Jonathan Lunness reached out to Little Cricket in 2016 after seeing how the company’s founder, Candice Cowan, had helped Forscene attract attention with innovative stand design and trade show activations at IBC and at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas in previous years.
“Forscene’s stands at IBC and NAB always seemed to attract a lot of attention with creative activities and eye-catching design and the company seemed to be punching above their weight when competing with bigger brands for attention. When we heard that the Little Cricket team were behind Forscene’s exhibition success we wanted to see what they could achieve for Blue Lucy.”
Breaking the mould for trade show stand design at ibc
Blue Lucy’s exhibition stand prior to contracting Little Cricket
In the past Blue Lucy had followed the typical corporate approach to trade show stand design with artwork that clearly identified the brand, product and value proposition, but which didn’t reflect the brand’s personality or do enough to attract attention away from their competition.
With a company name like Blue Lucy, an asset and workflow management product called BLAM and the bold leadership style of Julian Wright, there was certainly no shortage of creative potential and Little Cricket worked with Blue Lucy and the HeavyLight design team to come up with a creative design concept and campaign that couldn’t be ignored for the next show.
At IBC 2016 Blue Lucy unveiled their new Lichtenstein-inspired stand with eye-catching graphics that highlighted the BLAM product in a way that was different to any other design across all of the show’s fifteen exhibition halls. The stand design was part of a marketing and PR campaign which included pre-show direct outreach to high value prospects, press engagement, email marketing and creative ad placement in the least contested space at the RAI – in the toilets!
“Little Cricket gave us the courage to dare to be different.
Because they understand the industry, the technology and the target market they were able to help us identify unique ways for Blue Lucy to make more impact than our (often bigger) competitors. Their creativity combined with their industry experience is what sets them apart from other providers.”
In 2017 we expanded on the previous year’s concept, using the introduction of a new pre-packaged product, BLAM-in-a-can, as a mechanism for on-stand giveaways and social engagement that fit in with the existing stand design. Our efforts were rewarded when Blue Lucy attracted the attention of the show organisers and were awarded the IBC award for most imaginative use of a shell scheme space.
Capitalising on the cloud theme at IBC 2018
Based on the success of IBC show in 2016 and 2017, the Blue Lucy team decided to book a bigger space for the exhibition in 2018. This meant that their existing modular stand wouldn’t be fit for purpose so, once again, they turned to Little Cricket for inspiration.
The concept Little Cricket came up with was centred around Blue Lucy’s cloud-based service and was designed to challenge the concept of physically demonstrating hardware in an industry that is moving towards software-as-a-service in the cloud. Rather than building a physical stand using traditional methods, Little Cricket proposed that Blue Lucy bring the cloud to earth by creating an exhibition stand made entirely from balloons!
There was no doubt that the idea of creating a cloud out of balloons tied into Blue Lucy’s messaging and that a stand like this would get noticed at IBC, but not every client is brave enough to risk standing out from the crowd in such a big way. To their credit, the Blue Lucy team didn’t hesitate.
With no precedent for this approach at IBC, Little Cricket managed the entire process – including finding suppliers, negotiating costs and managing design and health and safety approval with the IBC exhibition organisers. Little Cricket also conceptualised and implemented the marketing and PR campaign for the event which included an extensive teaser campaign, press engagement and email marketing as well as securing a highly-contested speaking slot in the Future Trends theatre.
Blue Lucy’s marketing and PR campaign for IBC 2018 was an unprecedented success. The cloud stand attracted attention from visitors, exhibitors and members of the press and resulted in a fantastic social buzz while the speaking session, focussing on the potential use of blockchain technology for rights management, generated enormous pre-show publicity and opportunities for post-show editorial coverage.
Results
Blue Lucy’s IBC activities between 2016 and 2018 raised awareness of the brand and BLAM product and attracted visitors to the stand, which translated into new business. The following metrics help to demonstrate the success of these campaigns;
• 400% return on investment through new business secured from meetings at IBC
• 214 trade publication news and editorial pieces resulting from show activity
• 260 % increase in LinkedIn visits and 500% increase in LinkedIn engagement
• 100% increase in Twitter profile visits and 500% increase in Twitter engagement
“The work we’ve done with Blue Lucy over the last three years at IBC is exactly what I set up Little Cricket to do – to help challenger brands get noticed and change the traditional approach to B2B marketing and PR. The success Blue Lucy has enjoyed at these shows demonstrates how powerful PR can be for clients that are brave enough to take creative risks. ”
Watch the video below to see how Blue Lucy attracted attention at IBC and get in touch if you’d like to find out how Little Cricket can help your company make a big impression at your next trade exhibition.