From the Pub
By Matthew Barnes
Test Drive
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Jan 20, 2010A few weeks ago, I had dinner with Executive Apparel's president and its director of product development in Orlando, Florida....
Too Many Trade Shows?
Does the trade-show competition within our industry have you wondering who really wins? You’re not alone. Many distributors and suppliers are questioning the motivation and benefit of a few show additions expected to launch next year.
Amid a fragmented and controversial landscape of events, two of the leading trade-show producers, The ASI Show and PPAI, announced major changes to their 2010 lineups. The ASI Show is adding another trade show on the West Coast, ASI San Diego, and PPAI is introducing Decorate, “a textile-decorating equipment show primarily focused on introducing and educating decorator resellers to the promotional products industry.”
Meanwhile, industry suppliers who are in the midst of their 2010 marketing plans have to consider added stress to their already depleted trade-show budgets. Gone are the days when most suppliers would commit the lion’s share of their trade-show expenses to the PPAI Expo in Dallas, with a complement of key regional shows like SAAC and PROMOTIONS EAST. Today, suppliers are forced to choose from multiple ASI Shows, some of which compete with member-supported regional events throughout the country, plus PPAI’s under-defined position in the event business, which has initiated multiple partnerships before quickly dissolving those same relationships in recent years.
It is important to acknowledge that we have a direct interest in the trade-show business as the show sponsor to PROMOTIONS EAST, but our relationship with the show is not influencing my position on the debate.
From my perspective, The ASI Show has every right to launch in San Diego. With member support, PPAI has the right to expand Expo. And like all suppliers, we have the choice to exhibit or not exhibit. I don’t believe that we “have to be there,” despite The ASI Show’s seemingly effective marketing posture that “the industry is underserving the California marketplace.” It seems to me that the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, which occurs a few weeks earlier, plus the SAAC show offer sufficient options for California-based distributors, including Southern California distributors. As a member of PPAI, I am in support of their decisions to expand Expo, especially when a primary motivation is to improve attendee traffic, but the Decorate initiative appears to be less about traffic and more about booth revenue.
I’m confident that industry suppliers will continue to make responsible choices for their businesses based on value and return on investment—this is not a year for arbitrary cost. And I’m confident that the market will dictate which shows succeed, but I’m not sure who really wins.
I welcome your thoughts on this dialogue.
If you have a moment, please drop us a line or share your thoughts on our Facebook page, www.promomarketing.com/facebook.
In the meantime, happy selling!
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I agree.
There are way too many tradeshows for our industry.
We need to spend more time working tradeshows and less time going to industry tradeshows.
Gallant