and the field was crowded. It just was not
the time for a new little bird to pop its head
out of the nest and stumble its way onto the
field. The idea was not rejected. It was
placed on hold for continuing competitive
analysis. “Let’s sit back and watch for a
while” was the mantra.
Charts and grids on the competition
were maintained, updated, and archived
for future comparison. Close marketing in-
telligence was aimed at the other sponsor-
ing corporations, as well as the performance
profiles of their California expositions. In-
teresting trends were observed.
Seven years later, there was one show
left among the original five. The continuing
evaluation revealed that the market for buy-
ers had been oversaturated, time-of-year de-
cisions pitted too many events in too short a
time span, all of the shows were in down-
town areas of several major cities, and pro-
gramming was repetitive. Market analysts
and management saw one competitor left
Chapter Challenge 193and decided the time was ripe for the
bird to leave the nest and set up shop in
California.
They selected a mid-year month, six
months removed from the remaining com-
petitor. They analyzed sites and selected a
second-tier city with excellent facilities, close
to a major airport with convenient trans-
portation systems. They offered not only fresh
programming features, but also inducements
such as new car giveaways and bustling
bookstores of industry literature at discount
prices.
The show is no longer a fledgling. After
four years of careful growth designed to
maintain an equitable buyer-seller ratio, the
association has a solid product, a new mar-
ket of attendees and members, and a wait-
ing list for exhibit booth space. Sometimes
great things do not happen overnight. But
they do happen when analysts track their
data religiously and then respond at the
right moment.Chapter Challenge
1.You have been asked to increase the
number of your organization’s event
sponsors. What steps would you take to
locate new sponsors, display evidence of
the value of sponsorships, and leverage
this growth in support to gain higher
sponsorship levels among current
sponsors?
2.Chart an analysis of the demographic and
psychographic profiles of your market.
What major value and behavioral dif-
ferences would you cite between a
largely World War II constituency and
your emerging Generation X market
segment?