Ask An Expert: How to get your PR and Comms in shape for key trade events
What do you need to know when you are attending an industry event — like ILA Berlin or Farnborough International Airshow? When the whole world is screaming for attention, how do you get the best results and maximise the time and money spent on your attendance?
Viva’s Tony Garner shares his top tips after another successful trip to ILA Berlin working to support a client.
A little bit about the Berlin Air Show
I spent five days working with a client at ILA Berlin. The objectives for the team were to use the show to:
- Renew and strengthen key stakeholder relationships
- Build and develop new relationships
- Underscore the value of their programme in the European defence context
- Showcase their product’s wide-ranging capabilities on a global stage
- Enhance employee morale and build the internal team’s capabilities.
Every two years, ILA Berlin brings the global aerospace industry to the heart of Europe for five action-packed days. For our aerospace and defence clients, it’s an opportunity not to be missed, as Europe’s leading aerospace trade fair transforms Berlin into an international aerospace hub.
The show is a hive of activity from the very first day, with industry representatives, government policymakers, stakeholders, armed forces and academia coming together to discuss current challenges and opportunities for the sector.
Exhibitors from all over the world present their latest developments, innovative solutions, and research projects around the three key topics of Innovation, New Technologies and Sustainability.
Event planning and management
Planning is crucial. Understanding what you want to achieve is the starting point and then you can figure out how to go about it.
It’s never enough to just show up at events like this. To maximise the opportunity and get the best for our clients, you need a detailed plan and strategy, including objectives and potential risks – ie what does a good result look like and how do we handle any issues? Who do you want to meet – and who might you want to avoid? Trade shows are good because they bring lots of people together in one place.
In the most recent instance, we worked in the months ahead of the show to ensure we had a programme of activities and pieces of content to distribute across the five days:
- An interview with the Company CEO, highlighting the need for a responsive and resilient European Defence Industry
- A media announcement highlighting a new contract which we timed to go out on Day One of the show
- Using the presence of The German Air Force displays to create some impressive social media content.
That was all in addition to welcoming esteemed guests, delegations and stakeholders to the stand.
Stakeholder engagement – content creation
I head up the aerospace PR team at Viva – we are trusted to help clients communicate with key internal and external audiences and stakeholders using technical PR and copywriting skills that make complex themes more accessible.
A big part of ILA Berlin, and many of the air shows like it, is stakeholder engagement. Building stakeholder relationships is key to our client’s success in the defence sphere, and I’m there to support the comms team in this mission.
Obviously, I don’t sit in on the top-level meetings between the senior team and the guests. But I appreciate it is important that our broader comms messages in printed and digital channels chimes with what is being said behind closed doors. There’s a degree of choreography involved.
Pre-event content creation
I conducted an interview with the client’s CEO several weeks before the show. From this we created a standalone Q and A interview. Once this was signed off, we then had ample time to create a series of content pieces ready for use at the show.
This included:
- A media release (in this case we dropped it out to trade media at the show on the preview day)
- A blog for the CEO’s LinkedIn page
- A series of social media posts across all channels
- An editorial for a trade magazine.
Being prepared allowed us time to refine the plan depending on what else was happening during the show. Having content in the can ready to distribute certainly takes the pressure off. It also allows you to be agile and react to what’s happening on the day in a calm and measured way.
Because that’s another thing about big shows like this – stuff happens.
For example, Government Ministers might make surprise announcements — if you know what you’re doing, you can be fleet of foot and react. You may even have a ‘reaction’ comment embedded in the content you created earlier.
I touched down in Berlin just in time to witness German Air Force display pilot, Alex – call-sign ‘Noble’ – practising for the main event.
I’ve been writing about and watching these incredible jets for more than 10 years and let me tell you, I’ll never not be impressed by the sheer skill and unrivalled power on display.
These guys are pulling 9G figures of eight in the skies around the world. They fly close to the ground and don’t have time to check their notes. What we witness is the result of years of honing skills, and hours of tailored practice to make sure what they do is instinctive. Just mind blowing.
Media relations during ILA Berlin
The air show’s opening day would see our client announce a contract agreement.
We ensured the waiting media was issued with the news release and necessary briefing documents, plus the accompanying imagery.
But we were also able to react quickly to other announcements that were made during the industry event.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz used ILA Berlin to make a major announcement on behalf of the German Air Force. We had our response ready in minutes and issued on all our channels, as well as to the media.
Case study interview – German Air Force display pilot
Day three’s highlight was the incredible Typhoon display from the German Air Force.
I spoke to one of the display pilots – Alex, call-sign ‘Noble’ – for an exclusive interview all about how he made his dream a reality. The fact that his dad was a firefighter at Neuburg Air Base is a key part of the making of Captain ‘Noble’.
“As a little kid, because of my dad’s work, I was often allowed onto the base with him. At the time I watched the Phantom jets flying. It triggered something in my brain that said ‘I have to do this’,” Noble explains.
Read the interview in full here.
Case study interview – Ejection seats engineer, Martin-Baker Aircraft Co Ltd
I rounded off ILA Berlin with a fascinating interview to discover more about Martin-Baker Aircraft Co Ltd, an incredible UK-based family company with a great story to tell.
It’s all about engineering excellence, innovation and drive. Over the past 80 years, the family has created a world class brand.
One key fact stays with me. Since the first use, more than 7,000 pilots have used a Martin-Baker seat to eject. This is a company that has saved a lot of lives.
Looking forward to writing this one up. It will be one of our advance pieces in the bag for the Farnborough International Airshow in July, when we do this all over again.
I count myself lucky that I get to call this work!
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If you’re looking for PR support for your next appearance at an exhibition or trade show, speak to our team of experts.
We’re an award-winning agency with tonnes of experience in this field and across all sorts of business sectors – from aerospace to fashion, double glazing to dogs (yes, really) and everything in between, so we’d love to help.
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