If a show is only as strong as its exhibitors, then the loss of your biggest names can create something of an identity crisis. But what can be done to ensure the likelihood of this happening is reduced?
There are many reasons an exhibitor may choose to spend its marketing budget elsewhere. Some, such as events geographically or thematically closer to their own business, are very difficult to overcome. But what happens when the rot starts inside your own event, reverberating around the showfloor and destabilising the entire event from inside the exhibition hall, causing otherwise successful shows to slip away under the nose of its organiser?
At the beginning of September, Informa Exhibitions announced it was investing £1m (US$1.62m) in an international hosted buyer programme for its quadrennial printing industry event Ipex 2014. In August, Heidelberg, the event’s second-largest exhibitor, withdrew from the event, confirming it will attend Informa’s rival, Drupa, at Messe Dusseldorf in 2016.
As an isolated loss, Heidelberg’s withdrawal may have been simple if painful to overlook, but its decision followed the departure of HP, another of Ipex’s biggest exhibitors, also reiterating its commitment to Drupa. The news understandably shook Informa, prompting Ipex event director Trevor Crawford to make an announcement to the market that the split does not mean the firms have parted company. “Heidelberg has long been synonymous with printing and has a long association with Ipex,” Crawford said. “As organisers of a range of exhibitions around the world, we will continue to have an ongoing dialogue with them.”
Hosted buyers
But an ongoing dialogue does not fill the 2,500sqm of space left vacant by Heidelberg’s departure. That’s the amount of space taken by the firm at the 2010 edition, not counting HP’s stand.
Informa’s hosted buyer scheme can be seen as a tried-and-tested method to convince remaining exhibitors that attending the 2014 event will be rewarded by an audience with the right people.
Informa had already announced an international roadshow to win more exhibitors.
The perceived success of IMEX America over its rival AIBTM owes much to the fact that the IMEX Group holds hands with its exhibitors in a way that is not commonplace in our industry. The company claims 4,000 hosted buyers were invited to its 10th European event in Frankfurt this year, a number that will have done much to convince exhibitors they should be there. It’s an effect Informa will hope to replicate with its Ipex 2014 hosted buyer programme.
When UK-based organiser Clarion had the carpet pulled from beneath its International Caravan and Motorhome event in the UK by the National Caravan Council (NCC), an association that included the exhibition’s six largest exhibitors, some commentators suggested the turnover could have been avoided through improved dialogue with the NCC. In light of the association’s clout, and ability to destabilise the show, there were murmurs that Clarion should have considered cutting the association in on the exhibition’s profits. This would have directly addressed the NCC’s charge that its members were by then paying too much to attend.
Gauging the sentiment of your client base, via steering committees for example, may have enabled Clarion to take action based on good information. If it knew what exhibitors wanted from the event, then perhaps it would have been able to adapt its offering.
Exhibitors as guides
The 2012 edition of the Antwerp Diamond Trade Fair (ADTF) took place earlier than usual to avoid competing with other industry events, a decision actually raised by exhibitors keen to retain the event. And not only did they help the organiser to help them, they have since driven the show onward by encouraging the organiser to implement its own expanded hosted buyer programme.
ADTF committee member Avi Pinchasi claimed the growth of the exhibitor body resulted in it inviting a larger number of selected diamond buyers, as well as leading jewellery manufacturers, retailers and designers.
“Following successful participation of buyer groups from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries during the 2012 fair, we’re investing considerable time and effort in bringing additional exclusive buyer groups from North America and Asia to the 2013 event,” he said.
Talking to exhibitors is key to resolving these issues. The biggest crime of all is to lose an event because you’ve lost contact with your market.
This was first published in Issue 4, 2012 of EW. Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
