Scaling Sponsorship Without Losing Your Mind - The MAD//FEST x FFAIR Way

Within two years, MAD//Fest has doubled its sponsor base across its flagship event at the Truman Brewery in London and its sister event, MAD//North, in Manchester. Manually managing sponsors and their exhibition stands was no longer a viable option, they needed a solution, fast.

Enter FFAIR.

Clare Povey, Customer Success Manager explains:

“Before FFAIR, we managed our ever-growing list of sponsors using PDF catalogues, spreadsheets, and Google Drive folders. I spent much of my time before the event acting as the go-between for sponsors and suppliers, handling space orders almost entirely via email,” says Clare.

“As the success of our events grew, it became clear we needed a better way of managing the process – not just for us, but for our sponsors too.”

Previously, sponsors were offered a standard space package, which simplified some aspects of delivery but limited their options for activations. When the team decided to open up their exhibitor offering, they knew that managing a more flexible and customisable model manually would quickly become unmanageable.

“MAD//Fest co-founders recommended a few exhibitor and sponsorship management platforms they’d used before and FFAIR really stood out to me.

From the very first meeting, I had a good feeling. I loved that FFAIR was created by a team who had experience on the ground as event suppliers, organisers, and exhibitors. They understood our pain without me needing to explain. FFAIR ultimately offered everything we needed to solve our exhibitor management challenges.”

The impact was immediate.

“It’s changed my life. Since implementing FFAIR, sponsor questions have dropped significantly. They’ve commented on how much easier the Shop is to use compared to searching through catalogues and emailing in requests.

The ability for sponsors to add multiple team contacts, whether it’s their sales lead or marketing manager, has cut down on requests for colleagues to be ‘looped in’ and repetition.”

For the MAD//Fest team, the benefits are just as clear.

“The team can now find the answers to sponsor questions without relying solely on me. And from a customer journey perspective, having all the information in one place is so much better than needing to track one-person down.

I’m far less stressed going onsite. There’s none of the risk of human error that comes with spreadsheets and manual tracking. I don’t go onsite wondering if I’ve updated a spreadsheet with the right order, I know the event supplier orders are completely accurate”

For Clare, the change has been both professional and personal. 

“Supplying information and answering sponsor questions is only one part of my role. With FFAIR in place, I’ve been able to focus more on other operational tasks in the final weeks leading to the show.

On a personal level, I’ve actually been able to see my family a little more before the event! FFAIR has freed up my time in a way I never thought possible.

I really value FFAIR’s approach to customer service. Just knowing the CX team is there is a huge comfort to me. They’re quick to respond, incredibly personable and go above and beyond to help. Nothing is too much trouble.

Having FFAIR’s CXO, Lisa McBride join our weekly sponsorship drop-in call to answer questions says everything about how their customer success stands out from other event tech platforms.”

Implementing new event technology can be daunting, but Clare describes the process as smooth and well supported.

“The onboarding session, detailed KnowledgeBase and the hands-on support from the Customer Success team made everything go really smoothly.

I like the update notifications and the openness to feedback. Having the ability to contribute to the development roadmap it’s clear the platform is evolving with us. 

Our events are growing fast and are expected to double in size in the coming editions. Having FFAIR as our event tech partner means we’re able to scale quickly without compromising on sponsorship experience (or our own sanity!)."