TIM LESMEISTER - Trade Show Executive

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Power Lunch TIM LESMEISTER WD-40’s VP of Marketing Uses the MLR Approach to Evaluate Trade Shows Tim Lesmeister is vice president of marketing for the WD-40 Company, which is based in San Diego but has a 160-country global footprint. Last year’s sales were $317.1 million with a net income of $27.6 million. Tim manages marketing strategies for seven of the nine company brands within the U.S. including WD-40, 3-in-One, Lava, X-14, Carpet Fresh and ShotSpot – all with the tag line, “We Live Under the Sink, In the Garage, and In the Toolboxes of the World!” He reports to WD-40’s president of the Americas. Tim is active in local community activities, serves on the Encinitas Union School District’s Site Council, and enjoys long distance running and playing the market. Photo Credit: Sherry Tesler 18 March 2009 Trade Show Executive www.TradeShowExecutive.com
Bob: Someone once said that the three most important inventions of the 20th century were duct tape, Velcro and WD- 40. Have you heard that? Tim: I hadn’t heard Velcro in the list, but in his last movie, Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood tells a young guy the three things you need to maintain a household are duct tape, WD-40 and a wrench. Bob: Which begs the question: What does WD-40 mean? Tim: In the 1950s, the Rocket Chemical Company attempted to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry. It took 40 attempts for the small company to get the correct water displacing formula, so WD-40 means “Water Displacement perfected on the 40th attempt.” In case you’re interested, WD-40 is now in over 80% of American households and we’ve listed over 2,000 uses submitted from our fan base on our website. Bob: That makes sense. What’s your overall approach to exhibiting at WD-40? Tim: We have two goals: to always promote our brands and to educate consumers through sampling. It’s a great way to get end-users involved with our products, which usually leads to distribution and sales. Show Strategy. Tim Lesmeister (L) and Graham Milner, executive vice president of Global Innovation, discuss WD-40’s strategic platforms, which include 12 to 20 trade shows per year. Bob: Do you measure ROI and/or ROO? Tim: We do this when we can. In shows where we sell, we can easily tie sales from the show to the time-talent investment we make. In shows where we only generate leads, it becomes a bit more complicated and tedious. Many times we are just interested in branding or deciding whether to participate more heavily the following year. We also scope out what others are doing, make contacts and look for possible partnerships and/or acquisitions. Bob: Are you driven by ROI? Tim: As head of marketing, I always need to determine the return on our marketing expenditures. In addition to ROI, I use the term MLR: Measure, Learn, React. For everything we do – trade shows, sampling, advertising, etc. – we do an MLR. We measure what we did, what we learned from it and then we react accordingly. Bob: How do you identify and evaluate new trade shows? Tim: We have a core of 12 to 20 annual trade shows, and we look to our director of new business development to take us where no one else has gone. His job is to identify new channels, new customers, and often, new trade shows. A good example of this is the pet channel and pet shows: due to our entry into this marketplace through events, we are gaining significant distribution in the pet industry where we had nothing before. Bob: With seven product lines, you must have a lot of competition. Tim: There are hundreds of players out there. Bob: What are your criteria for selecting a show? Tim: We consider the target audience, of course, and the number projected to attend. Then we look at the cost to participate, which covers everything: travel, staff members’ time, the exhibit and anything else involved. We determine if it is a selling or lead-generating trade show or an event which we are simply evaluating for future participation. Bob: What about your trade show budget in this economy? Tim: Trade shows are one part of our annual marketing budget, and we’re spending more marketing dollars than a year ago. We will exhibit in 11 big shows in 2009 such as SEMA – The Specialty Equipment Market Association Show, which Continued on page 20 www.TradeShowExecutive.com Trade Show Executive March 2009 19
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