Off the back of an extremely successful FIT Show, DoorCo’s Head of Technology & Marketing Ben Aspinall, shares his key pointers for making the most of the exhibition in the GGP Magazine marketing supplement
DoorCo isn’t a company that features regularly on the exhibitor list of the FIT Show. In fact, we have only ever exhibited twice and both times were strategically important to the business. In 2016, we were relatively new to the market and we wanted to make a statement: This is DoorCo, we do things differently. Our focus was to share what we stood for and the innovative doors in our portfolio. Skip forward to 2022, and there is an element that our message remains the same. But we’ve matured, our portfolio has expanded, and so has the business. FIT Show 2022 cemented DoorCo’s position as leaders in the UK composite door market.
Set the strategy
Committing to exhibit at the FIT Show is a big deal. It requires significant amounts of investment, and therefore, it is fundamentally important to get it right. DoorCo initially committed to the May 2021 show, and our original intention was to launch two new products, GRiPCORE and FLiP. But three postponements thanks to Covid, the goal posts kept changing. Thankfully there’s a lot going on at DoorCo and our “new” offering snowballed. We ended up with having ‘much to say’ – the overriding message of our campaign.
Get the message out
For DoorCo, our FIT show campaign started from day one and covered all bases, from building up a comprehensive exhibitor profile detailing products, news and videos, and promotion using a mix of advertising, PR, social media and direct marketing to underpin the message. With ‘much to say’ it was important to make sure that the message didn’t get confused or diluted, both during the marketing campaign and on the stand. Therefore, all key marketing partners were involved in the project supporting the in-house marketing team, including our PR agency, design partners, and a dedicated exhibition stand designer. This meant we were able to deliver a campaign from inception to completion, strategically and coherently.
The stand had colour coded zones designed to journey visitors through the world of DoorCo, with areas like the FLiP wall, ORiGINAL arch, GRiPCORE, PAiNT and GLAZiNG zones, and the Korean tapas bar protected by FiRECORE, our new FD30+ composite fire door.
Everything on the stand was on brand, from carpets to staff uniform.
Technology
Incorporating technology onto the stand and in the marketing, helped us effectively deliver a simplified message. Video featured heavily in the campaign, from teasers on FLiP and GRiPCORE on social media, to a specially prepared ‘An insight into DoorCo’ video, delivered just ahead of the show and used throughout the exhibition on FIT Show TV and the stand.
As well as the main video, we had a CGI video wall that showcased the wide range of DoorCo door design options. We used this alongside physical product to demonstrate the quality and engineering of the products, the varying textures and finishes available. All in all, we only had 12 physical doors on the stand but everyone understood there’s a plethora of options available. Video was also a great vehicle to show manufacturing processes such as foaming on FLiP cassettes, PAiNT technology and the engineering behind GRiPCORE.
Share something new
The main driver to anyone attending FIT is to see innovations that can help their business. DoorCo delivered the most comprehensive range of unrivalled composite door innovations, including previews of pilots for soft market testing like our new Metallic and TWiNTONE cassettes. All the protypes received such positive feedback they are now part of the product portfolio.
Be sociable
Another one of our key objectives was to connect, with customers, prospects, and the wider industry. To facilitate this, a Korean bar and authentic tapas were served from the stand throughout the show, the theme representing our dedicated manufacturing partners, DoorCo KR (Korea). People were literally queuing around the block for lunch on each day of the show.
The joint stand party, hosted with Kubu, was the place to be on Wednesday evening. Guests were entertained by a live band, a fully stocked bar and the Korean food & drink, and both stands were packed the whole evening.
Engage with FIT
The FIT Show team are incredibly supportive, hosting seminars and exhibitor days, marketing and social media support, all intended to help you get the most out of the event. We engaged with FIT in the build-up, as well as at the show, where I took part in a FIT Show TV interview on day one. This was worthwhile, as the interview was played throughout the exhibition and shared after the event on social media too.
For DoorCo, FIT Show 2022 was a resounding success where we met all our key objectives. Marketing played a significant role in achieving this result. To anyone considering exhibiting at FIT Show or any other exhibition, the key to getting the most out of the investment is to be considered and strategic.
Customer quotes
John Whalley, Managing Director, Nationwide Windows & Doors:
“Dan and the team at DoorCo delivered a fantastic event at FIT Show 2022. The stand was outstanding, showcasing not only existing, but the exciting range of new products they have to offer with GRiPCORE and the FLiP cassette range being the stars of the show. The atmosphere on the stand was fabulous, the hospitality great, and the staff were a credit to Dan and Jayne. It emphasised not only their ambition as a business, but that they also understand their customers and their needs. On the evidence of this outing, there is no question that DoorCo have got the customer front and centre of all they do, and as a result will continue to go from strength to strength.”
Ryan Johnson, Managing Director, Emplas:
“Who doesn’t love Korean tapas? I was genuinely impressed by the DoorCo stand at this year’s FIT Show, it was very creative and built around a genuinely innovative product offering.
“The digital representation of GRiPCORE and FLiP worked really well in communicating the benefits that each delivered. What I also liked was that it was balanced with ‘physical’ product that you could get your hands on.
“The same goes for the door designer. Colour is increasingly important, and it was a great way to showcase the offering available.
“I was genuinely impressed and that was before the band came on!”
