FIT for purpose

Made for Trade’s marketing manager, Ian Bousfield, looks ahead to the 2023 FIT Show, and reflects on how the event has played a crucial role in the company’s success.

How do trade exhibitions fit in the online, social media and post-Covid age? It’s a question many companies might ask themselves when it comes to marketing and brand promotion, when the easy solution is just to push more and more potential customers online for image and video-based information.

That’s certainly not the case here at Made For Trade, especially when it comes to the FIT Show. When it comes to promotion, nothing comes close to the face-to-face demonstrations and hands-on displays at FIT.

When we were exploring promotional opportunities for our Korniche lantern back in 2016, FIT was the one event that stood out as the most suitable launchpad for what was set to become a truly game-changing product and parent brand.

Thanks to features that revolutionised fit, finish, quality – and most notably speed and ease of installation – the lantern raised some experienced industry eyebrows thanks to the application of practices, quality and precision from other areas of engineering to the fenestration market.

Whilst no new product launch seems to be complete these days without a slick online video, nothing replicates real life conversations with potential new customers and trade partners, and nothing beats being hands-on with a demonstration of just how a Korniche roof lantern can save time, hassle and money.

The initial launch at that 2016 event, was in many ways a journey into the unknown for MFT, but it proved to be the spring board for the Korniche lantern, which has since become a multi-award-winning and UK best-selling trade product.

FIT Show is the UK’s number one event dedicated to the window, door, hardware and flat glass industry and has established a reputation as the networking hub of the year.

Along with related advertising and enormous audience exposure, the FIT Show allowed Made for Trade to be more strategic and targeted with its promotion, and to really publicise the unique attributes and USPs of ‘a Korniche’ to those people who MFT knew it would directly appeal to – installers and builders.

As a result, three years later it was the natural choice for the second major Korniche product showcase; our new bi-folding door.

A product that pushes the boundaries in terms of ingenuity, ease of fitment and clever design, FIT was once again the number one choice for its first public display to attendees, trade partners and installers.

With the system in its last stages of development, the event also allowed the MFT design team to listen to intensive feedback, and as a result tailored the final features and market positioning perfectly to suit.

When the event returned after a two-year Covid hiatus, FIT Show 2022 provided Made for Trade with the opportunity to present both products to 100+ exhibitors and 10,000+ visitors.

With an impressive 170m² stand that featured live demonstrations, competitions and the chance to explore design features such as the award-winning clip-in ‘SpeedBead on the new Korniche bi-fold, being face, FIT Show provided another great opportunity to really express the qualities of a Korniche product’s advanced engineering-led design; saving hours on site and increasing trade partner profits as a result.

There has been a surge in product development and innovation within the fenestration industry in recent years. Exhibitions such as the FIT Show deliver a platform that allow businesses to maintain and grow brand positioning and allow consistent profile to trade audiences.

As a company we have come a long way since that initial 2016 event; we’re now an industry leader in aluminium fabrication and a multi-award-winning business.

As a result, we have seized the opportunity to showcase Korniche products at the FIT Show in May 2023; the event remains the number one opportunity to demonstrate a new development or offering to this diverse and dynamic industry.