How did we deliver successful media engagement at ISE 2025?

An impressive 85,000 attendees soaked up the innovations across eight halls of show floor exhibition space and special features, enjoyed unmatched networking opportunities, and boosted their professional development with ISE’s comprehensive content programme.

It was immense. It was invigorating. It was eye-opening.

And it was an experience that made me so incredibly proud of all the hard work we’d put in to ensure the delivery of another smooth and enjoyable show.

You see – as well as supporting multiple exhibiting clients – we are also the lead PR agency for ISE AND we manage the ISE Press Office on-site. It’s a mega busy week for Wildwood, but one that we carefully plan, prepare, and train for months in advance.

The experience of working for ISE, and at ISE, and wanting to walk the show floor and be a part of the action, is a thrilling well-choreographed juggling act. All of us playing a role to keep those balls in the air! The whole team gets involved to support the gargantuan effort of managing multiple activities on-site, including client campaigns, panel discussions, interviews, events and more. And there is the team back home who make sure the WW+ office runs smoothly while so many of us are in Barcelona.

Here are five tips for delivering successful media campaigns at big trade events:

1.Detailed Planning Pays Dividends

From comfortable footwear to ensuring your spokespeople are fully briefed – get every detail right and you minimise the impact of anything going wrong and it’ll be smooth sailing on the show floor.

We start planning ISE on-site media activity for our clients’ months in advance – confirming spokespeople, detailing key messages, collating media kits, arranging press events etc…

At WW+ we make sure our clients know which media will be visiting their booths and when – we provide a media briefing pack for all client spokespeople, and likewise we make sure the media know which clients they are visiting and when. Everyone is armed with the information they need on the day, and a WW+ team member is always on hand!

2.Careful Scheduling is Key

Build in enough time to get from A-B. And be sure to make the same consideration for your media contacts too. There’s no point in scheduling meetings with a 5-minute gap in between if one is in Hall 8 and the other in Hall 2 – it takes at least 15 minutes to walk that far.

Also think about your feet…it’s a long show and nobody wants to walk 67,000 steps on day one. Ouch

At WW+ we have a live team schedule that can be filtered by client or team member. So, everyone knows where they need to be, and where their colleagues are in case back up is required!

3.Remain Agile – Shifts Happen 😉

There are always factors that are beyond our control at big events like ISE. Being able to adapt and handle tricky situations like the level-headed pro’s we are is part of our agency DNA – resilience is one of our CORE values after all.

Here’s an example.

At ISE 2025, one journalist didn’t arrive for a VIP client interview. After contacting the journalist by phone (always ensure you have contact details to hand), it transpired that his travel plans had been scuppered by a flight delay. Rather than cancel the meeting, we were able to calmly rearrange to a later timeslot coordinating schedules with both the journalist (on the phone) and the spokesperson (on-site). The journalist was delighted that he didn’t miss out on this interview opportunity, the client was impressed with our quick handling of the situation, and the spokesperson was happy that we’d rescheduled without impacting their day further.

The key is being organised with the information readily available, so you can act swifty and find a solution that works for everyone.

4.Make Sure On-site Comms Are Watertight

With a twelve-strong crew across eight halls and two press offices, it’s vital to stay connected. We might be required to cover a press office shift, a media meeting, or set up a last-minute interview request at the drop of a hat.

We had various means of communication on the show floor, including a dedicated ISE team WhatsApp group, as well as client WhatsApp, Slack and WeChat channels – there are a lot of messages, but we stay in touch!

5.Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Working together and tag-teaming across the show floor not only kept the schedule flowing smoothly but also kept morale high. At ISE 2025 we had team members that have attended ISE since it launched 21 years ago (ahem, Jeff, Tanya, John) and others that have been coming for 10 years or more (looking at you Shereen, Oliver), as well as some who were there for the first time (hey Becca, Jen).

Then there’s the team back home who support us from afar, managing our non-ISE related accounts, and generally keeping WW+ running smoothly while the event is on. It’s a real team effort to deliver a successful ISE for WW+ clients – we simply couldn’t do it without an awesome team.

So how did we do? We’ll let some of our testimonials do the talking…

“Wow, what a week!! Thank you so much for the incredible work you delivered on ISE. The interviews, the panel, the coverage, and all your on-the-ground support. I am so appreciative of this team. “

Director of Global Communications, Sonos

“Thanks to the whole team for your support pre, during and post-ISE.“

Director of Media Relations, L-Acoustics

“Jeff and his team are impressive as far as PR firms go. I see the gamut when it comes to the PR world. They certainly take care of business in a professional way”

Editor, AV Nirvana

“Congrats on another successful ISE, thakns for looking after us all at the show”

Editor, All Things Media

“Thanks for all you and the Wildwood team continue to do at ISE supporting the press. Honestly the press room is such a haven and very much appreciated by all of us. If there was ever a ‘best in show press room’ award you’d have it!”

Editor, ProAVL