RX’s Alison Powell: An opportunity to “connect the excellence” worldwide
The Media Leader Interview
Global trade show organiser RX has recruited its first CMO. As she tells The Media Leader, it’s an ideal time to bring sharper data, stronger digital experiences and clearer global marketing standards to the business of exhibitions.
When Alison Powell talks about marketing, she does not start with campaigns, slogans or digital trends. She starts with the customer.
That may sound obvious, but it is also the point. In a business as broad, global and fast-moving as RX, where trade shows and events span industries, geographies and audiences, the discipline of marketing can easily become fragmented. One show does something brilliantly in one region; another creates a standout customer journey elsewhere. The opportunity now, for Powell and her team of global marketeers, is to connect that excellence.
As RX’s first global chief marketing officer, Powell has arrived at an important moment. The event organiser has built powerful brands across the world, from World Travel Market and PGA to London Book Fair, Comic Con, and many others (RX produces over 400 events in 42 sectors across 22 countries, both in-person and virtual). However, she sees the next stage of growth coming from a more consistent, global approach to go-to-market strategy, digital experience, data and brand.
“Marketing done right helps customers understand where the value is,” she says. “It’s a massive point of differentiation.”
The potential of AI
It is a notable shift in emphasis for an industry that has historically prioritised operational delivery and event execution over global brand building and marketing consistency. It also comes at a time when AI is transforming marketing, and Powell is clear about its potential.
AI can improve targeting, dashboards, personalisation, data and digital tools for exhibitors and visitors. But she is equally clear that technology should enhance human connection, not replace it.
“If you overly rely on digital and AI, you’re going to lose touch with your customers,” she says.
Listening to Powell talk, it becomes clear that she does not see AI and face-to-face events as competing forces. “The more digital a business becomes, the more valuable face-to-face moments are: a handshake, a conversation, a reaction to a product, the energy of a show floor, these are powerful signals.”
That belief has been shaped by a career that has spanned cereal, pharmaceuticals, oil, healthcare information, and now events. From Kellogg’s to AstraZeneca, Castrol, Elsevier and RX, Powell has worked to market very different products, but the core question has always stayed the same: what does the customer need and where is the value?
Powell’s refreshingly practical view of marketing is shaped by working across these very different industries. “At Castrol, I discovered customers did not want an elaborate digital experience; they wanted to know, quickly and simply, which oil they needed for their car, bike or lawnmower,” she explains. At Elsevier, during Covid, she helped create a Health Hub that made critical research freely available to all health professionals, globally.
Value propositions
Those experiences have clearly followed Powell into RX. Having spent years as an exhibitor herself, she understands what customers are weighing up when they invest in an event. They want the right visitors, clear return on investment, useful data and a sense that their time and budget have been well spent.
That is why she is so focused on value propositions. “We need to ask ourselves, why does a show exist? Why should an exhibitor invest? Why should a visitor spend precious time attending? These are not theoretical questions. They are the foundation of growth.”
For smaller exhibitors in particular, Powell believes events offer something no other channel can replicate. They provide community, visibility, live feedback, competitive insight and the chance to stand alongside the biggest players in an industry.
“You are literally right there, face-to-face, with all the big players,” she says. “There’s no other channel where you can be with your industry, your competitors and your potential customers all at the same time.”
In her first weeks at RX, Powell has already visited shows across Mexico, the UK, France, Germany and Japan. “I have seen the pride and energy of RX teams firsthand, including the “magic” of a show floor transforming overnight from plywood to a polished experience – it’s quite the process.”
She has also seen an openness to change. That matters. “The challenge now is connecting brilliant ideas that already exist across the RX network, without losing the entrepreneurial spirit that makes individual events successful.”
Empathy and trust
At a time when people are overwhelmed with information and choice, trust has become one of the most valuable assets an event organiser can hold. Powell believes that is where RX’s role becomes even more important, not simply bringing people together, but curating quality, relevance and credibility at scale.
Powell’s leadership philosophy is grounded in focus and respect. One of the best pieces of advice she ever received was “choose your battles.” For her, that means concentrating on what will make the biggest difference to customers and to the organisation. It also means remembering the work that happens behind the scenes.
As a senior leader, she is conscious not to walk into a show and focus only on the 5% that could be better, while ignoring the 95% that is excellent. That empathy comes from having worked her way through different roles and industries, taking sideways and even downward moves when they opened the door to learning. It’s crucial to always also acknowledge what is good; that’s how teams build confidence and feel empowered to keep improving.
Her career is also a reminder that the events industry is not only for people with events experience. RX needs marketers, salespeople, digital experts, finance teams, legal minds, sustainability specialists, operations professionals and more. Transferable skills matter.
“If you are a good marketing person, you understand the discipline of marketing, you can go to any industry,” she says.
Perhaps that is why Powell’s arrival feels timely. RX is a business built on industries, communities and connections. Its next phase will require sharper data, stronger digital experiences and clearer global marketing standards. But it will also require leaders who understand that growth begins with listening.
For Powell, the future of events is not about choosing between AI and face-to-face interaction, global consistency and local expertise, or brand and commercial impact. Instead, it all comes back to something surprisingly simple: understanding what customers genuinely value, and making sure RX delivers on it.