As part of our mission to grow Drupal’s adoption in global markets, the Drupal Association launched a co-marketing campaign this year that included exhibiting at major industry events in Europe. With help from our sponsors Wunderkraut (WunderUK), undpaul, and Deeson, we were able to take Drupal to two marketing industry events: dmexco, and the Festival of Marketing.

Why showcase Drupal at marketing events? Marketers are constantly seeking out new tools to manage their content and track and improve their customers' digital experiences. That's why we set out to convince them that Drupal could be the best way to turn their websites—the strongest tools in their arsenals—into even better platforms for great content and customer experiences.

Drupal at dmexco

Drupal swag is a hit at @dmexco! Swing by & say hello to the Drupal crew from @DrupalAssoc @Wunderkraut & @undpaul. pic.twitter.com/kVHOWT4lBU

— Drupal Association (@DrupalAssoc) September 17, 2015

Our first co-marketing event was dmexco 2015 in Cologne, Germany. dmexco is a leading international exposition and conference for digital marketing, media, advertising, and technology. With the media and publishing sector being a target market for Drupal adoption, this two-day event was the perfect opportunity to introduce brand marketers and media professionals to the world of Drupal.

To show attendees why marketers love Drupal, we got expert assistance from two strong industry leaders, Wunderkraut and undpaul. As sponsors of our co-marketing campaign, they not only helped offset the costs of exhibiting, but were also instrumental in conveying our message to the attendees. Anja and Luca from undpaul in Hannover, and Lea and Daniel from Wunderkraut’s Munich office joined our staff on-site at the booth. They did an outstanding job preparing case studies and answering even the trickiest attendee questions. (Thanks to all of you for your support!)

The attendees we met at our booth had diverse professional backgrounds. Many had not heard of Drupal and were curious to find out who we are and what we do. Others were evaluating Drupal as their future CMS or were looking for a specific solution for their company’s needs. Others simply stopped by to snag some swag. Drupal-branded sunglasses and stickers were a hit, and so were our staff’s “I love Drupal” t-shirts!

Mit Luca auf der #dmexco, Halle 9 D15, kommt vorbei! #drupal pic.twitter.com/UbEsGYOOpw

— Anja Schirwinski (@aschiwi) September 16, 2015

Our presence at dmexco allowed us not only to connect with a somewhat untapped audience, but also provided great networking with fellow exhibitors. It was especially interesting to talk with software developers interested in integrating their products with Drupal. And of course it was great running into some familiar Drupal faces in the exhibit halls!

Overall, dmexco was a good experience for us raising awareness and highlighting our community’s work in the European market. As our first co-marketing event, it also allowed us to experiment and learn how to best promote Drupal in the marketplace. Some of our biggest “lessons learned” revolved around what questions marketers were asking about Drupal. So we updated our collateral to better reflect the answers to those questions and headed out to the Festival of Marketing.

Drupal at the Festival of Marketing

With support from Deeson and Wunder UK, we created a Building Block at the Festival of Marketing. The Drupal experience included LEGOs, how-to’s, demos, and case studies, and a raffle.

Had a great time at #FOM15! Congratulations to our winner and may the force be with you. pic.twitter.com/t2XDIudqn2

— Drupal Association (@DrupalAssoc) November 13, 2015

Our goal for the event was to promote Drupal as a complete digital marketing solution. Going into the event, we expected there to be very little knowledge of what Drupal was, and we were right.

But we had a lot of really great conversations at the Festival. Visitors to our booth became very receptive and curious when they realized we weren’t trying to sell them anything. Lots of people got excited and began asking more about how Drupal works. In a venue full of marketers and salespeople for proprietary companies, many people seemed curious and excited about the concept of open source software. It was also wonderful that when people asked what our “community” was all about, answering it was easy: after all, they were witnessing it first-hand! Seeing Deeson and Wunder UK working in unison was a great illustration of the Drupal community at work, and we couldn't be more thankful that they came together to help us out.