The Zebras Head North

By Andy Oakes, CEO and Co-Founder

Last week saw a team from Bluestripe head north for MAD//UpNorth, the latest version of the trade show that has been running for the last four years in London. Bluestripe has been PR partner for the event for three years, and New Digital Age has been a media partner for all four. It's a relationship that has been mutually beneficial and one we share with many event partners. Bluestripe has always thrived on collaboration, and we will continue to do so.

The relationship between the two organisations has always been particularly close, and there are many similarities. Our attitudes to challenging the established model, taking on the big guys and understanding that B2B marketing can be fun are just three traits we share.

So what went on?

The Manchester event was a classic of the MAD//Fest genre. Huge crowds, great content, occasional chaos and some guests you just wouldn't expect to see elsewhere such as Bez from The Happy Mondays, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and footballing legend turned entrepreneur Gary Neville, who our very own Justin Pearse interviewed. There was also plenty of more industry-focussed content, with retail media very much a dominant element and Manchester’s thriving indie agency culture coming to the fore. 

One feature of recent events in Manchester has been that a sizable portion of the audience has been from London. Another criticism has been that too many of the speakers have been London-based which is a tad disrespectful to the amazing energy, innovation and collaborative culture that is endemic to Manchester. Yes, 25% of the audience for MAD//UpNorth did travel up from London but that did not detract from the very Northern flavour of the show.

From our point of view it was a great opportunity to talk to people who might not know as much about us as the London based market does. In true Bluestripe style, we didn't hold back in our sponsorship activation and really played up our zebra theme. It meant that people sought us out to understand what we were all about, and it played on the MAD//Fest theme of doing business in a fun way.

One size does not fit all

And that is a very important point. Marketers really do need to understand that the way you approach MAD//Fest is very different to other trade shows. It's noisy, it's busy, it's crowded and has a real mix of seniorities. Sponsors and exhibitors need to find a way to cut through and attract people to come to see them. Our friends at Adform have built a great reputation for being the first stand you visit every morning for the breakfast bagels and sandwiches. It gets talked about in the WhatsApp groups prior to the event and every morning. We’re now famous for our zebras and had to guard them carefully and make sure they didn't all disappear on the first morning!

Less successful were those trying to run panels on their stands or run presentations on screens on a loop. It's just not that kind of event, and it's too noisy even to try that. As we have covered in our Marketing The Marketers series, it's important not to take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to trade events. You really need to tailor your activation to the audience and style of the show while retaining consistency of message.

Your Bluestripe team will always be able to advise on how best to approach the various trade shows - we’ll have been to all of them - and the key to a successful event.