The International Association of Exhibitions and Events, the global trade group for trade show managers, has signed on Edelman as agency of record after a competitive pitch process.
Kimberly Hardcastle-Geddes, who heads the group’s nine-member PR task force, said the decision to tap Edelman was unanimous. She said a major fundraising effort has allowed IAEE to begin planning the largest PR blitz in its 83-year history, slated to run through December 2014.
“We will diligently work to tell our story in the general business marketplace, and I am confident the results will make members proud,” she said.
The 8,000-member group, based in Dallas, released an RFP in August.
The PR effort is set to kick off at the IAEE’s annual meeting and exhibit in December in Las Vegas.
Edelman will develop “core messages” supporting the trade show sector’s pitch of “face-to-face marketing,” supported by traditional and new media PR.