What is the best trade show strategy for a company? Using Story Design Studio as a case study

Abstrakt

Trade show participation is an enormous resource for businesses attempting to market their products, build a stronger brand name, as well as build up a customer database. However, there has not been much research conducted on the topic of trade show participation. The academic research that has been performed has been to satisfy specific areas, and not the entire show participation. This thesis aims to combine the research projects that have already been completed into a comprehensive strategy for trade show participation. The strategy should be beneficial to both those participating and those attending. The primary strategy this thesis undertakes is to look at the entire spectrum of trade show participation, from determining the business’ objective, to preparing for the show, to atshow activities, as well as post-show follow up and evaluation of the trade show. Companies should be able to increase their success rate by looking at the entire spectrum when designing a trade show strategy. The strategy will be presented in this thesis with detailed examples illustrated through a case story, Story Design Studio, a firm within the textile and surface design industry.