Posted by
Barry Siskind
UFI’s Community Manager

Simon Foster is the Chief Executive Officer of United Business Media Limited. His wealth of experience and good sound business acumen makes for a compelling addition to UFI’s growing body of “Focus on Leaders and Trends” interviews. The issue of branding is something many of us have struggled with and with which UBM has considerable experience. I asked Simon what makes a successful trade fair brand?

He said:

In my opinion, a successful trade fair brand reflects a role within the community it serves. We see success when the brand is immersed within the community, and works towards continually improving and innovating to adapt to evolving needs. The quickest way for a brand to fail is when it forgets that it serves a community, and instead believes it owns that community. A successful media brand is merely a part of a larger established community, and it will adjust with the evolution of that community.

I then asked; which trade fairs would not make successful brands?

Simon answered. “There are many answers to this question, depending on your definition of a successful brand. As I mentioned before, I believe that a successful brand serves a community, in any format or method. With that in mind, an unsuccessful brand would be something developed that was a reaction to a short term development, trend, or need. Intrinsically, that brand would not be able to sustain a lasting business. Some would argue, and quite fairly, that this is fine as long as the brand does what it is meant to in that short time, but that is not the strategy I believe in for our markets.

If you would like to read the entire interview click here: http://www.ufi.org/Public/Default.aspx?Clef_SITESMAPS=748