For the past several years, JRT and our Dana clients have collaborated on exciting, interactive and content-rich in-person trade show experiences for thousands of individuals in the commercial trucking industry.

Even with large in-person gatherings on pause, JRT understood the importance to Dana to share their industry-first technologies, exclusive news and OEM partnerships. So, JRT crafted a virtual trade show that could mirror the excitement and importance of the previous in-person shows.

The idea took flight as the Dana Sustainable Mobility Virtual Event.

“It was about more than launching an experience on a website,” said Keats Dolgin, Senior Account Supervisor at JRT. “We needed to go farther to ensure the experience was personal, with individually focused content for a wide range of attendees. And we needed to provide relevant, useful information, yet in an intriguing way, so our guests would leave the event with useable data for business decision-making.”

To make the virtual event a reality, the JRT team schemed a powerful approach that addressed important audience variables, including reasonable expectations for time on site, all the while maximizing client budget and other resources.

By design, the virtual trade show was quite exclusive; it began by sending a total of 120 invitations to previous in-person show guests, current customers and other targeted individuals. Each invitation had an individual entry code and registration instructions that allowed recipients to select from a series of pre-recorded video content, then attend a live breakout session most relevant to them.

“The architecture allowed everyone to view the range of content relevant to them, yet all still in one place, providing individual experiences much like in-person shows. Although it happened remotely, our Dana subject matter experts were able to connect one-on-one with customers just like they would at the in-person Dana trade show space,” said Dolgin.

The site even featured a live concierge, who directed inquires to the appropriate Dana team members to answer within minutes.

The show, which ran for one week and remained accessible for several weeks after, proved to be a massive success with more than 6,000 customer interactions. Due to the enthusiasm and feedback, the Dana Sustainable Mobility Virtual Event is likely to become a replicated event in Dana’s marketing repertoire in 2021 and beyond.