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So, I’ve just got back from Barcelona after attending Mobile World Congress 2013 with Sony …

Mobile World Congress 2013 was Wolfstar’s fifth calendar tradeshow with Sony Mobile’s global PR team… and my fourth … and a few more years knocked off my life expectancy…

Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest telecommunications tradeshow; mobile heavyweights and aspiring challenger brands alike flock to Barcelona to showcase their latest innovations and mark lines in sand for Q2 toward year-end.

For the first time, the congress was housed at “Fira Gran Via”, a pretty huge setting marking organisers GSMA’s anticipation of the industry’s (and show’s) growth over the next few years.

Our mission – a) execute the global launch of Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z, the world’s thinnest and slimmest b) announce Sony’s corporate intent for its mobile business in 2013 and c) launch the new television campaign for Sony flagship smartphone Xperia Z … with liveblogging and content creation for a media audience thrown in for good measure.

We also supported at a few other events – a post-MWC presentation to Sony brand ambassador / Barcelona & Spanish international / scorer of the last World Cup’s winning effort; Andres Iniesta, Rita Ora and Paloma Faith gigs and a special event involving two Spanish Olympic synchronised swimmers using Sony’s latest devices for a one-off routine.

After an Xperia Z pre-order frenzy crashed Sony Mobile’s website, Xperia Tablet Z’s raft of show awards and great blogger feedback, I got thinking about the tradeshow PR “role” in a brand’s go-to-market product strategy.

The “tradeshow”, (for argument’s sake, MWC) audience roughly comprises operators, analysts and media – all eyes are on the event as the platform for brands to articulate propositions.

The brand needs complete consistency across all messaging (media programmes, press materials, social media activity, signage, staff verbalisation etc) and this is an opportunity for PR to wholly own the way info / positioning is delivered – it gives us the ear of top level decision makers and the opportunity to tangibly demonstrate the value of strategic comms.

I’m always up for chatting about the above, so if you fancy it?