Boston Bridal Show Scam: Area wedding vendors believed the hype! Learn from their mistakes
NEWS ANALYSIS AND OPINON: By now you may have heard about the Boston Bridal Show scam. If you haven’t, here is the short version, and a news video clip, as well.
Many Boston area wedding vendors were taken in by an elaborate scheme. Having invested significant money in booth rental and exhibit preparation, at the eleventh hour, they discovered that the heavily promoted show would not happen. In fact, according to the venue, it didn’t ever exist. Brides, too (several thousand by news reports), had purchased advance admission passes to the show.
For the brides, it was just an annoyance. For vendors, it was misplaced effort and lost dollars, both in the hard costs of booth rental and show preparation, as well as a lost marketing opportunity for wedding business.
As I observe wedding business professionals, I see frequent mistakes when spending marketing dollars…. particularly on NEW bridal shows, publications or websites. The Boston situation is the most extreme example. But there is plenty to think about.
Here is a quick list of what I observe happening… all to often.
- When a new show, publication or website comes into your area, have healthy skepticism. There are no guarantees of success, but the track record of existing show producers is something you can check out with other industry professionals.
- If you are considering exhibiting with a first-time promoter in your market, and you can only afford an investment in one show, you are in dangerous territory. Trade Associations, such as BSPI (Bridal Show Producers International) do not even consider applications for membership, before a a show producer has a 3-year track record. The members understand that it takes some time to establish a credible track record.
- You are always better to be a spectator, at a show, before spending hard dollars on being part of it. On a new show, let other people take the risk, unless you have money to burn.
- Ask fellow vendors about their past show successes and challenges. Any answers you get, immediately after a show, should be discounted. A thoughtful wedding professional knows that the show is the trigger for appointments, followed by sales. As well, you should observe their trade show presentation, and see if it’s up-to-snuff, in your eyes.
- Don’t believe the hype! Many promoters (wedding show producers, nightclub promoters, concert promoters) are highly positive people. Some are very energetic, and can whip you into a frenzy. Slow down. Gather your facts, and don’t get caught up in the hype. The final result rarely lives up to the hype.
- The Numbers: An ethical show promoter should provider clear numbers, in terms of: registered brides, grooms, other attendees. Typically, the number of brides attending a show will run 40-50% of the total attendance. Recently, I observed a show promoter being asked by a wedding professional, “So how many brides did you have at your last show?” The Promoter responded, “We over 1600 people registered for the show.” It was an accurate answer, but a misleading. The question was “How many brides?”, not “How many people (total)?” - The real answer would likely by 500-800, or thereabouts. The same promoter slapped Bride stickers on other people in the wedding party to make it appear that there were more brides in attendance than reality would show. Exhibitors were not fooled for long, and were incredibly annoyed by the failed deception.
- Filter the feedback from exhibitors: It’s always good to talk with wedding professionals who are not in your category, and therefore don’t have a direct stake in your success or failure. Even then, a wedding professional, almost unknowingly, tries to justify their big marketing investment by talking positively about it. They are unwittingly hyping themselves. Get comfortable asking probing questions of willing wedding professionals in a different environment to try and get to the reality the matter.
So there is history, hype, and an actual result. It is good to remember the old adage.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Don’t believe the hype!
Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority
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The situation in Boston is truly unfortunate, and I feel sorry for the brides and vendors who were taken in by this scam. That said, I think that the numbers thrown about by the media are grossly inflated.
Through my years of experience in producing shows, I know that only 20 to 40 percent of attendees purchase their tickets in advance, and more than half of those sales come the week of the show. Applying these percentages to this situation, if they had sold 6000 tickets a week out, their total attendance would have ended up as as high as 25,000. There are only a few bridal shows in the entire country that get even 5000 attendees, and these are long-established shows with lots of television, radio and print advertising.
I highly doubt that a new show that was promoted only online would have had anything close to these attendance numbers. Likewise, wedding vendors tend have a healthy degree of skepticism, and even in shows where we have a 15 year track record, there are very few who would pay by phone or Paypal without some sort of documentation.
When the smoke clears, I believe that you will find that, at best, they sold a couple hundred tickets and a couple dozen booths. Still unfortunate, but not nearly as bad as the press has described.
Marc