Supplier Spotlight: TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing

TRG Trade Show & Event Marketing Sparks Innovation for American Honda Motor Co. Power Equipment Shows and Exhibits

As part of its ongoing commitment to supporting supplier diversity, American Honda Power Equipment will work with TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing, a Chicago-based event marketing and management company. As a certified women’s business enterprise (WBE), TPG has been an industry leader in engaging trade show attendees through experiential marketing, initiating brand touch points and telling their clients’ solution stories.

Thanks to a WBE certification, TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing was able to present, and win, over a million-dollar contract with American Honda Power Equipment.

With every request for proposal, American Honda’s Corporate Procurement department works with its Inclusion & Diversity Administrator, Samantha Varela, to source qualified diverse suppliers like TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing.

“Hiring diverse suppliers promotes innovation and adds economic value,” Varela said. “I believe that if you continue to partner with the same supplier without tapping into new markets, like diverse markets, you risk stymying the creative benefits you could be receiving.”

TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing, which started in the ‘90s to help clients market booths at tradeshows, is now run by Christina Piedlow and specializes in tradeshow event marketing and management. “We immerse ourselves in each client’s corporate experience and consider ourselves an extension of their brands, enabling us to become true product experts and develop innovative solutions tailor fit to both short- and long-term. marketing strategies,” Piedlow explained

TWO EXAMPLES OF TPG EVENTS’ WORK SO FAR WITH HONDA MARINE AND HONDA ENGINES.»

For the next three years, TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing will work on 12 to 15 shows a year with both Honda Marine and Honda Engines, focusing on cost efficiency and innovative techniques to quantify the results of showcasing Honda products at each event.

“Working with TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing has been fantastic,” shared American Honda Power Equipment advertising manager Nina Bryson. “We truly have been allowed to dream together, and TPG implements that dream.”

CHRISTINA PIEDLOW»

Bryson also believes that if it wasn’t for American Honda’s Supplier Diversity program, they might never have found TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing. “I think it’s great to work for a company that gives all suppliers the same opportunity,” she said. “Without that program, we may have never met TPG Trade Show & Event Marketing, and that would have been our loss.”

As a corporate member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Varela found Piedlow’s company through their database, which lists certified women-owned businesses. To qualify for the certification, these businesses must be 51 percent owned, controlled, operated and managed by a woman or women. WBENC is the largest certifier of women-owned businesses in the U.S. and a leading advocate for women business owners and entrepreneurs.

“We’ve been certified for nearly a decade, and it has been one of the best things that’s happened to us,” Piedlow said. “Not only does it open doors, but it’s also something to be very proud of.”

Since becoming certified, Piedlow appreciates the incredible opportunities, such as presenting to Honda and working with American Honda Power Equipment.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a client so interested in getting to know us and how we operate,” she said. “Honda invested in making us feel like a valued partner.”