The Write Stuff » Cannes

Four things to do before attending a trade fair

admin — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:07:33 +0000

I’m currently busy preparing for a trade fair, Midem in January. So like everyone else, I spend a lot of time mining the event database looking for potential partners. I’ve done this from different sides of the table for 15 years now (both copywriting and sales), and I still see the same mistakes coming back time and again.

What do you do when looking for potential partners?

If you’re like me, you inspect their website to see who they are, what exactly they do and what their current priorities are. When asked to list their company’s activities, a surprising number of people tick ALL the boxes. So we’re supposed to believe they are producers, distributors, video production companies, publishers, composers and managers that also do licensing and soundtrack supervision. Yeah, right.

A quick look at their website will tell you what they actually do to pay the rent, which is more useful. Why the confusion? Although the companies probably have a fair idea of why they are attending a trade fair, why don’t they think it through and tell the other participants clearly what they have and what they want? Small companies often say they don’t have the time to work on their websites. But bigger companies are just as bad at targeting their events for other reasons.

So here are four simple steps to focusing your trade fair communications.

It might seem obvious, but it’s worth sitting down with a partner to list your top three priorities, such as “finding licensors for our work”, “finding material to release locally” and “hooking up with a mobile platform”. Now go and look at your company website. Is it clear what your priorities are? And what you have to offer? How recent is the latest news?
Update and adapt your website to clearly tell people that you are attending – and why. If your website is both for consumers and business, create a dedicated page with the key points to get across. A page I created for the Cannes Festival 2009 continues to get direct hits due to the keywords (needless to say I have since updated it to reflect current priorities). When sending out e-mails, create a signature that links directly to this page rather than the homepage.
Check and re-check all data entered into the event database. I’d say about 10% of e-mail addresses in event databases bounce due to having being badly spelled. Check them once. Check them twice. And check all the websites you mention.
Make sure you keep pounding out Twitter (using the right hashtags) and Facebook announcements leading up to the events. Be consistent, be specific and ask for people to get in touch. Link to your business page. Never mind that people don’t answer; you only need a handful of good connections to make a trade fair an astounding success. And nothing attracts attention like success.

So take the time. You’ll find it helps focus any marketing you are doing and creates a loop that will attract the right sort of contacts. If you have questions about communication at trade fairs, call on our copywriting and experience.

The Write Stuff has specialised in trade fairs for 15 years, providing marketing and copywriting services, as well as business development during trade fairs. For 7 years, it developed marketing campaigns for Midem, Mipcom, Mip Junior, MipTV, Mipim Asia as well as finding names for Mipim Horizons and Amazia.

Cannes 2010: the art of the pitch

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:08:11 +0000

I remember when it was held as a truth that the written word was dying and the world would communicate visually. Luckily for writers, the Cannes film festival is there to remind everyone that in the beginning was the word. And not only are words essential to get a story moving, they are also there at every step of the way when it is pitched to a producer, who then pitches to co-producers and financiers, before pitching it to distributors and later the press.

Every year, Cannes produces mountains of newspapers, magazines, brochures, one-sheets, newsletters, treatments and – more recently – Tweets! We’ve been lucky enough to work several times for clients at the Cannes film festival, starting with Stella Artois about six years ago. We also worked for MIPCOM, MIPTV and the Junior and documentary versions. We’ve written newsletters, pitches, treatments, produced brochures and now run the foremost web site for visitors to Cannes at Cannes-or-bust.

For television, we wrote the FilmNet movie guide for two years solid, producing what were in effect thirty 50-word pitches for their subscribers every month. I learnt something very useful doing this: it was our job to give people the impression there were loads of great movies to watch each month and turn on their TVs. But it was up to the director to hold the viewers’ attention beyond 5 minutes. And this is in essence one of the “secrets” of pitching. You first have to perfectly understand your role and your goal – and the smaller and more precise it is, the better.

What constitutes a small, attainable goal? If you’re pitching verbally – the most nerve-wrecking but potentially powerful form of pitch – I’d say the one goal you should focus on is getting permission to follow up. Why? In a busy environment such as Cannes, people are bombarded with ideas and have to deal with pushy but often completely irrelevant people. By accepting to hear a pitch, your contact is in effect filtering. Is it worth spending time with this guy/gal? Could I see myself dealing with him twice a week for the next five years? All you want is for them to say “maybe” internally. That, largely, is the goal. If they hand you a card and say, “Sounds interesting. Get back to me next week”, you have scored.

The next step has other challenges, as the pitch is in effect just another step in the long road from page to screen. But mastering the art is one of the most useful skills a copywriter can learn.

If you’re attending Cannes or a similar event, call us on +322/644 02 30.

MIDEM TRADE FAIR: THE TOUGH GOT GOING

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:15:21 +0000

MIDEM 2010 campaign image

In 7 years of creating the campaigns for Midem, we have seen the world of trade fairs transform at an unbelievable rate. It’s not unfair to say that many trade fairs until recently had been seen by their organisers pretty much a way of renting space to companies. Yet Midem, part of the Reed MIDEM group, has blazed a trail and is re-inventing the way trade fairs see themselves and engage with their audiences.

Central to Midem’s philosophy is the idea of “community”. Now this is a word that is bandied about a lot, and in many marketer’s minds, it still translates as “target group”. If that is your approach, please call us! Trade fairs such as Midem are fighting tooth and nail to provide a leading role for the industry that it serves, music. For Midem, it transpires through the visuals (which we work hard to develop with the talents of Guy Stevens of Pix&Com and Consor), the pricing (they froze many prices several years ago), the number of services and conferences they provide and – new this year – the way they communicate. It’s not a little add-on, such as a Twitter button! You have to go further.

If your trade fair has been getting by on a few e-mails and brochures, expect the worst. It is vital that you keep a closer eye on what is happening within the business, and that you have systems in place to actively identify and pursue the various groups of people that can make the difference between a busy event or empty corridors – or profit and loss, if you prefer.

Think louder

To quote from our 2008 Midem campaign, trade fairs and conferences have to think louder. Midem is interesting. As it serves the music business, it has been dealing with a ferociously difficult market for the past 5 years at least. And when the going got tough, Midem responded in kind. But I can’t help feeling many trade fairs will suffer from the downturn, rather than recognising it as an opportunity for the industry as a whole to re-define its way of functioning and relationship with its participants.

We also worked on the EAS 2009 in Amsterdam, which was very successful (not just because of us!). If you are involved in organising events such as this, we really think we should be talking. Call me on +322/644 02 30.

MIDEM WEBSITE REFLECTS CHANGES IN MUSIC BIZ

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:03:05 +0000

Spare a thought for the music biz: over the past seven years, overall sales of recorded music have been slashed by 50%. Whole parts of the business, such as CD plants and retail outlets, are disappearing. Even professional users, such as video games and TV stations, are putting pressure on the rates to be paid. In fact, the very notion of a “record” business is no longer really applicable. Midem, as the worldwide music community’s annual gathering, has obviously been affected by this. Despite what you might think, the trade fair has been growing over the past few years (with the obvious exception of last January when it fell right after the credit crunch). How? By staying one step ahead of the game.

The traditional role of a trade fair was to enable companies to showcase products and services and meet people. So the operators were basically companies that sold square meters to other companies. With the web, something as mobile as music has no problem finding showcases that are faster and cheaper. And if you’re looking for contacts in the music biz, LinkedIn has literally thousands of people willing to meet you.

Better ways to connect

So what could a trade fair possibly have to offer? This is the challenge facing the developers of the new website and indeed Midem globally. The answer is quite simple: better ways to connect and the very latest market information. Although it seems like an easy conclusion, turning this into real customer benefits and an effective website is another matter.

I won’t go into the changes on the trade fair site,which are quite extensive. But on the website, the new direction is reflected by offering lots of ways to engage with visitors through newsletters, Twitter and a very informative blog. They are also putting their noted conference sessions online throughout the year (hint: these involve monetisation of websites – you might want to check them out). Ultimately, the principle being applied is that you have to stay relevant to your target’s business, both in what you do and in how you offer it.

The Write Stuff provided the copywriting for the new site and brochure through Consor, and we’re currently working on the newsletters.

CANNES 2009: THE HUNT FOR KILLER TAGLINES

admin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:47:18 +0000

With the Cannes Fest (and its market) coming up, I’m reading a lot of blurbs, pitches and write-ups at the moment. These are the one- or two-line – sometimes only five-word – summaries that people use to grab our attention and perhaps give a little flavour of what the story is about. I always remember “Alien” being sold under the warning that “In space, no one can hear you scream“. The producers of “Speed” showed remarkable focus when they were pitching the project as “‘Die Hard’ on a bus“. That’s five words, folks. Considering the millions of profit it generated, I’d say that’s pretty effective writing.

So I thought I’d start a collection of killer taglines as I come across them. The opening salvo comes from the British company Swords & King.

They have a number of good one-liners. But I was immediately caught by:

Marilyn: Life is never easy, especially when you’re dead

It’s most likely the contrast that caught me. What does it promise? Comedy? Murder? It’s sufficiently intriguing for me to want to find out more. The least you can say about Blood Life Films in Canada is that they are clear about what they offer:

Scarce: How will anyone find you when you’ve been eaten?

I think you can guess what is happening in that lonely hunting cabin in the woods. No intrigue here! Just the promise of gore. British digital distributor Content Republic is handling an animated version of the Prokofiev classic:

Peter and the Wolf: It’s a wolf-eat-duck world

Cute. By the way, I haven’t seen or even read any of these projects. I’m just going by first impressions, which is too often the only impression you get to make in this line of business.

I’ll be filling this up as we get closer to the date. Feel free to throw in any you find.