TIM LESMEISTER - Trade Show Executive

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