CASE STUDY
INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE FAIR
CLIENT: ICFF
INDUSTRY: FURNITURE TRADE
OUR SERVICES: Brand Messaging, Content Strategy, Market Expansion
Challenge: The largest design furnishings trade fair in North America, ICFF had lost its footing. Years-long slides in its revenue and participation had been accelerated by COVID, while technological change —including the rise in self-publishing and video tools —was making the three-day event less relevant and critical to attend than it had in its earlier days.
Heading into its 35th year, ICFF’s management team hired new brand directors to transform the show’s fortunes and remake it into a year-round design platform. The directors commissioned a firm to develop a new brand mark and visual system to signal the chance, and they hired us to rehaul ICFF’s brand positioning and content strategy. This included new ICFF central messaging and content pillars as well as assets and programming particular to the three-day event.
Solution
After conducting a competitor analysis, we were able to pinpoint ICFF’s unique selling points, including its wide gamut of exhibitors (students to multinational companies) and its location in New York (the gateway to the North American market). We expanded these and other insights into key messages that we wove across all of the brand’s sales and marketing touch points, such as prospectuses, press releases, web copy, and email campaigns.
Approach
We combined our findings with market and client research to determine the editorial subjects ICFF could, should, and wanted to own; all three points were important to ensure the brand could drive business growth while staying aligned with its values. We developed content around each pillar, building thought leadership and establishing our point of view. Elements ranged from editorial pieces to developing four talk series to working with ICFF’s international partners to create content that appealed to new markets. We also drew connections to adjacent industries—including greentech, biomaterials, and comedy—to keep content intriguing and expand the exhibitor, attendee, and sponsor pools.
Results
• Increased website views by 339% year over year (YOY)
• Increased website engagement by 236% YOY
• Increased website users by 236% YOY
• Helped increase attendee registration 35% YOY.
•Now, 50% of ICFF exhibitors come from outside the U.S.
