In 2004, Clotheshow Live's 16th year, organiser Haymarket Exhibitions decided it was time the teenage show grew up. "That was the year we made the decision to make sure the brand was being portrayed as a credible fashion event as well as a great day out, and it all shifted slightly in terms of our communication," explains Clotheshow Live group marketing manager Pascale Walsh.

Securing a blue-chip sponsor, in the shape of Nokia, assisted in reaffirming the show as a credible fashion event. Nokia came on board as sponsor of the Fashion Theatre in 2005 and is now title sponsor for Clotheshow Live.

"Overall we were aiming to get in the public eye as much as possible," explains Walsh. "In terms of what we actually did as a marketing campaign, it didn't differ drastically but the method of communicating did. We wanted to make sure we were being as interactive as possible. People have a lot of entertainment to choose from so I think it's really important that events and exhibitions step up and really engage with their audience."

As part of this process of engagement Clotheshow Live took to the road, visiting six universities - including Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds - in conjunction with Storm Models, which had produced a male model calendar. "We rocked up to Student Union bars with some promotional staff who handed out goody bags and leaflets about the show while the male models signed the calendars. It was a great form of entertainment but at the same time we made sure it had real cut-through in terms of promotion," explains Walsh.

The marketing team followed up on this initiative with Dress Up Day.

Turning 'dress down' Friday on its head, Clotheshow Live and its PR agency Ketchum worked with tourism body Marketing Birmingham and the city's two prominent shopping centres - the Bullring and the Mailbox - to encourage people to wear their most stylish outfits on the opening day of the show.

Model scouts were sent out to find the two most stylishly dressed people who were then whisked away to the show in a limousine to strut their stuff on the catwalk. "Our ultimate goal is to drive people to the show and raise ticket sales," explains Sarah Thornhill, account manager at Ketchum.

"It worked very well as a last minute push - that's when interactive stuff really comes into its own."

As well as being a newsworthy event that generated a buzz around the opening day of the show, takings at the Bullring shopping centre were the highest since it opened. Dave Hodgson, marketing director at Marketing Birmingham, is looking forward to celebrating Clotheshow Live's 18th year in Birmingham. "Last year's launch of Dress Up Day went so well we are taking part again on Friday 1 December. So far we've organised a photo shoot with property company Masshouse to make-over its employees and to inspire people to go glam for the day and show how stylish Birmingham can look," he says.

After a difficult year's trading on the high street, Walsh was relieved to see attendance at the 2005 show top 178,000 and she hopes this year's event, from 1-6 December, will break the 180,000 mark. "We're looking to invest more in the marketing this year and come up with more clever ways to interact with people," says Walsh. "We're in talks at the moment about rolling out Dress Up Day on a national level and The Clothes Show TV series will also make a comeback on the UK TV Style channel from 22 October. It's incredibly exciting for us as Clotheshow Live is really getting back to its heyday."

RESTORING CREDIBILITY

Clotheshow Live appointed PR agency Ketchum in 2004. "When we first started we were pitching to what was already a successful fashion and beauty event, but it lacked a certain credibility. There was a lot going on with the show but not really anything the media could link into," explains Ketchum senior account director Wendy Brierley.

One element of the agency's strategy has been to focus on managing media interest during the show with initiatives such as the Fashion Train, which takes fashion and beauty writers from national newspapers and top women's glossies - such as Glamour and Elle - to the show as VIP guests.

This year three top models who were first spotted at the show - Lisa Ratliffe, Hannah Shaw and Erin Fee - will be the face of the brand and are being styled by British designer Tristan Webber to front the advertising campaign. "We want to illustrate how the show has always been renowned for being a top scouting event for the modelling industry," Brierley says.

Although the impact of PR on ticket sales is difficult to gauge, Ketchum has calculated that the media reach - the opportunities to hear and see information about Clotheshow Live through TV, radio and press - was just over 95 million in 2005.