IMEX America 2011 was a Resounding Success…

…and Greenfield Services was proud to be a part of it!

In February 2011, Greenfield Services was approached by organizers of IMEX America to support their attendance marketing campaign.  We drew from our extensive database to identify 13,500 meeting and event planners that fit IMEX rigorous hosted buyer criteria.  The Greenfield list used was distinctly separate from the existing list maintained by IMEX.

This collaborative effort produced a compaign comprised of seven informative emails, as well as one postal mailing.  Greenfield Business Development Specialists took the marketing effort one-step further by placing phone calls to a select group of contacts after each email, to further support the key messages and encourage qualified planners to register for this groundbreaking event.

According to a press release from IMEX America:
The inaugural event was considered “A breath of fresh air”.

Feedback from over 2,000 hosted buyers, 1,700 attendees and 2,000 exhibitors who attended demonstrates that it lived up to its promise to reinvigorate business with a successful collaborative model.  The tradeshow received a widespread positive reaction, with a high-volume of pre-scheduled appointments (30,000 total appointments made), with many additional “walk-up” business meetings as well.  Nearly 53% of the hosted buyers had a budget that exceeded $1 million!

To read more from the press release, click here.

Says Doreen Ashton Wagner, Chief Strategist at Greenfield Services, “We were thrilled to be approached by IMEX to be a part of this groundbreaking event with our Attendance Promotion & Email Marketing services.  IMEX America generated a lot of positive feedback (both before and after the tradeshow) – and it was great to be involved with it in its first year.  We look forward to strategically partnering with them again!”

Occupy Wall Street: What Will It Mean for the Hospitality Industry?

I’m not a political scientist or sociology expert, but my gut tells me this Occupy Wall Street is big.  Beyond Wall Street, it’s now Occupy the World.

As the owner of a small business currently with 17 employees, I agree with some of the premises of this movement.  They basically boil down to: when anything gets too big (as it business, as in government), people are prone to excess.

Too many get greedy and forget about their fellow human being.

But I do not believe that capitalism itself is evil.  The alternative is just as nasty; socialism and egalitarianism are just as prone to abuse – why else did people bring down the Berlin Wall?

It’s the extremes that cause us trouble.  “Everything in moderation,” my grandma used to say…

We could go on and on about political ideology.  At the risk of being accused of the very sin that big bad business people commit all the time, I ask, “What will this mean to the hospitality business and the meetings industry in particular?”  Only time will tell, but here are a few (random) thoughts:

- This movement is facilitated by social media, but the online world is no match for getting people out into the streets so that issues get attention.  Face-to-face is where it’s at.  Will we be able to get the world to understand the importance of the meetings industry?

- We may be in for another round of the AIG effect.  But let’s get beyond the “what will people think” mentality this time, and really get down to objectives and how having meeting will change the way people do things.

- Face-to-face doesn’t have to happen in a fancy hotel.  This should be a loud alarm bell for hotel developers to start thinking beyond the real estate deal and look at the long-term sustainability of their expansion projects;

- This kind of change will threaten some brands and be a boon to others.  Especially those that are willing to change the rules of the game.  Those like the Alt Hotel where they only charge ONE rate, for ALL their rooms, 365 days per year.  No upgrades, no discounts.  Pretty egalitarian stuff – check out our blog about this hotel industry-alterring concept.

So, hospitality and event professionals, what do YOU think this #OWS movement will mean to you and your organization?