Last weekend, I went to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. I hadn't been before, but I came away absolutely amazed at the fantastic way in which it delivered on it's brand promise.
During the three days I attended, everything a motoring enthusiast could want was provided, from food and drink, memorabilia and toilets to the ability to look, touch (and smell!) all kinds of vehicles including F1 and Le Mans entrants. Really knowledgeable people could also meet their heroes and chat with them in a relaxed manner.
Now this obviously made for a great experience for the paying public, but what was readily apparent was that this also made for a fantastic environment for the sponsors associated with the event.
In my experience, this was a perfect and unusual match of customer and supplier. You only had to look at the photo above to see how much effort was put into the marketing by the sponsors (amongst them Toyota - thanks to Roger Walker www.fareham.org for the picture), my favourite being the very swish Porsche catering pavilion. The pavilion reflected the Porsche brand down to the last detail. Audi showed off the new R8 - and had marketing staff there to take the orders - catching potential customers at a relaxed moment.
What can you learn from this? And how will you apply it at the next event or trade show you attend?