Story Snapshot
The Background
From Local Sound Crew to Global Partner in Experience Design
Clearwing has been in the business of awe since 1976. The company delivers high-end audio, lighting, video, and staging systems that power some of the most memorable live and installed experiences across the coun
try—from local organizations to major touring acts, festivals, corporate gatherings, and multimillion-dollar venue installations.
“Anyone can sell gear,” said Jay Baumgardner, Marketing Manager. “What makes us different is our people—the way we approach growing our business and building trust.”
Today, Clearwing operates as both a live production partner and a systems integrator, serving venues, production teams, and institutions nationwide. Whether it’s helping a church choose the perfect sound system or supporting a venue preparing for its biggest event of the year, Clearwing shows up with the same care and expertise. With ambitious growth goals, they needed a faster, smarter, and more consistent way to tell that story to the market.
Many of Clearwing’s salespeople spent decades running sound and lights themselves, giving them deep technical credibility and making them trusted experts in their customers’ eyes.
The Challenge
Scaling Event-Driven Growth Without the Right Tools
Clearwing’s reputation is built on partnership and visibility. But when Jay joined the company, he quickly realized that the marketing systems behind the scenes didn’t match the company’s reputation onstage.
Campaigns were spread across multiple disconnected tools: Mailchimp for email campaigns, Asana for project management, Hootsuite for social scheduling, Eventbrite for event registrations and management, and even SurveyMonkey and Google Sheets, making every event feel like a heavy lift. This led to manual reporting and anecdotal attribution, making it impossible to accurately measure ROI and pinpoint customer drop-offs effectively.
“I was told, ‘someone saw an ad,’ but I had no way to verify it,” Jay said. “We were guessing when we needed to be exact.”
For a business where majority of revenue depends on live experiences, these disconnections weren't just inefficient—they risked impeding business growth.
That makes AVL Expo, their flagship showcase, the centerpiece of their marketing strategy. AVL Expo brings together 600+ customers and 100+ exhibitors for two days of product demos, networking, and training.
Customers don’t just read spec sheets—they stand in front of massive sound systems, hear the clarity of the mix, and feel the energy of professional lighting rigs. Because audiovisual decisions hinge on how systems sound and look in the space, in-person demos drive attendance, pipeline, and purchase confidence. Clearwing also runs smaller in-person trainings and breakout sessions throughout the year, inviting customers into their facilities to learn hands-on with the technology.
But with disconnected systems, Clearwing often missed critical opportunities:
- A venue manager downloaded the AVL Expo agenda but never registered
- A school rep RSVP’d but didn’t attend
- An exhibitor’s customer engaged online but fell off before showing up in person
Without visibility or automation, those prospects were lost. And for a business built on live experiences, every missed RSVP was a missed chance to create lasting impact and drive pipeline.
The Solution
Running Smarter, Connected Campaigns
To overcome these critical gaps and eliminate the ‘guessing game,’ Clearwing adopted Marketing Hub. This single, unified platform consolidated their disparate marketing data and streamlined campaign management, giving the team visibility into how prospects engaged and where they dropped off.
“By consolidating all our marketing tools into one. We can now see exactly which contacts who engaged, how they interacted, and where they dropped off,” Jay said. “That visibility changed everything. We’re no longer guessing—we’re acting with precision.”
With Marketing Hub, Clearwing can:
- Automatically follow up when a venue manager downloads an agenda but doesn’t register
- Deliver curated content to a school rep who attends a demo but hasn’t explored installation options
- Respond dynamically to behaviors across email, web, ads, and social
Instead of anecdotal feedback, the team now uses behavioral data to guide campaigns. Marketing Hub ensures no prospect falls through the cracks, so more of the right people show up at AVL Expo and other high-stakes events. Their event-driven marketing—once slowed by inefficiency—is now powered by actionable insights and consistent execution across channels.
Marketing studio: Creative Planning and Speed at Scale
Marketing Hub replaced Clearwing’s scattered tools. Then they activated marketing studio—a visual planning canvas within Marketing Hub—to accelerate campaign execution. What used to be hand-sketched campaign flows on Jay’s iPad is now mapped and orchestrated visually in one collaborative workspace.
“Now I can map an entire campaign visually in a single workspace,” Jay said. “Everyone sees how it connects—before we build a single asset, making it easy for anyone to hop in and see the campaign building in real time.”
Marketing studio gives Clearwing:
- A live storyboard for planning campaigns end-to-end
- The ability to add placeholders that mark when and where assets will be needed
- Calendar and board views to quickly track what’s in draft, what’s live, and what’s next
The visual canvas view in marketing studio transformed Jay’s planning process, allowing his team to map every touchpoint—from emails and ads, to forms, reminders, and nurtures—creating a clear, end-to-end campaign blueprint from the outset.
For AVL Expo, Clearwing managed 500+ campaign assets through Marketing Hub. Today, with marketing studio, Jay can map campaigns like AVL Expo visually from the start—using placeholders, timelines, and a live storyboard to plan before assets are created. This new way of working reduces rework and accelerates execution.
With built-in AI, content creation is no longer a bottleneck.
“Marketing studio is like an extension of my team,” Jay said. “It has the ability to take care of 90% of the work—from copy to images to metadata—when I need it to so I can spend my time fine-tuning and optimizing. It even helps refine our brand voice, filling in gaps I might not have thought of and sparking creative ideas for CTAs or graphics.”
The Transformation
Helping Clearwing Customers Create Their Defining Moments
The results speak for themselves: AVL Expo generated 250+ leads at the event which resulted in $8M+ in revenue, influenced over 100 sales, and delivered a 4,200% ROI. Faster campaign launches and stronger event attendance mean sales conversations now start with engaged, informed prospects. Clearwing has always delivered flawless productions. Now their marketing performs just as flawlessly.
- Church leaders choosing a new sound system receive timely, relevant content that builds confidence
- Venue operators get consistent follow-ups and personalized support from first click to final handshake
- Touring engineers trust that the same team that gets the lights and sound right on stage also gets the details right behind the scenes
Attendees frequently compliment the ease of Clearwing’s registration process, and the team uses HubSpot workflows and SMS to keep them informed throughout the event. Breakout session invites are personalized based on each attendee’s interests—audio, lighting, or video—so customers engage only with what matters most to them.
“We’ve always been known for getting the details right,” Jay said. “Now our marketing reflects that. We’re faster, more consistent, and more connected to what our customers actually need.”
Clearwing has always helped others take the stage. With HubSpot, they’ve brought that same clarity and consistency to their own story—ensuring more customers experience the power of their technology firsthand.
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