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January 2004
Cream of the Crop
How five new shows yielded success in 2003
By Martha Collins
Cygnus Expositions turned the Ziel family farm in Ames, IA into a field of dreams when it launched Iowa Farm & Field Fest, one of the largest new shows of 2003. An area that only weeks before had been alfalfa fields was transformed into 1.8 million net square feet of exhibit space with permanent and temporary buildings, pavilions, silos, tents and open areas for equipment demonstrations. For decades, Iowa farmers and ranchers and their neighbors from Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota and Minnesota, had been accustomed to attending a competing show held in Iowa only once every three years, yet 18,000 of them turned out for the new annual event, which made a profit in its first year.
“No state contributes more agricultural products to the country and to the world, yet Iowa did not have an annual outdoor farm show. Our research showed that the market was ready for an annual show,” says John Hendel, Group Show Director, Farm Division, Cygnus Expositions, a division of Cygnus Business Media, Burnsville, MN, which produces 50 events a year, including six other agriculture shows.
Large, independent show producers such as Cygnus dominated the field of 2003 launches. There weren’t many new association shows and only a few new consumer shows. The events covered a range of industries from food and health care to manufacturing and retail, but the most new shows by far were technology-related, focusing on telecom, IT, the Internet and other digital applications. A number of launches were co-locations, which makes for a less risky venture as the new show benefits from the success of the established show.
Like many new 2003 events, the five shows highlighted here were launched in industries already well-known to their producers. They looked to their existing markets for unmet needs, emerging segments, new niches and additional locations.
These same patterns seem likely to continue in 2004.
“I think the outlook for show launches in the coming year is optimistic. There’s clear evidence that the recession is behind us,” says Steven Hacker, CAE, President of the International Association for Exhibition Management. “In an economic rebound, the place to look for opportunity is in sectors that were most depressed in the downturn — that means IT and telecommunications. Also look for new vertical markets to be launched from strong horizontal shows.”
Cultivating opportunity
Timing was critical to the successful launch of the Iowa Farm & Field Fest. A competing media organization, Farm Progress Cos., produces the Farm Progress Show on a yearly rotation in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. After the 2002 Farm Progress Show in Iowa, Cygnus saw a two-year window of opportunity to establish an annual event before the competing show returned to the state.
“With news of our success, the competition changed their 2004 show site from Indiana to Iowa and moved their date from the end of September to early September, just five days after our show at the end of August and only 20 miles away,” says Hendel. Still Cygnus is confident that their new show will remain strong. Their other agriculture shows are thriving, they know the industry well and they have a pricing advantage.
“The competition has an ad-qualified exhibitor base — you have to buy a certain amount of advertising in their publication to qualify. We haven’t seen their 2004 prices, but based on comparisons with past shows, their space costs about five times more than ours,” says Hendel. While there’s considerable overlap in major exhibitors for the two shows, the Cygnus show also draws some smaller companies, thanks in part to lower rates. “Right now we’re working very closely with all of our exhibitors to offer them the best deal we can for 2004,” he says.
Location was also a factor in the show’s success. The Ziel family continues to work the farm and leases space to Cygnus for the show. “Having an annual farm show in a permanent location means exhibitors can afford to construct buildings, silos and grain bins because they’ll use them again the following year and can store equipment there,” says Hendel.
The show features working field demonstrations, livestock handling demonstrations and educational seminars. Like most shows that feature large equipment, they set aside areas for scheduled product demonstrations. In addition, they provided three major companies with their own demonstration areas adjacent to their exhibits, so attendees could see their equipment in action without having to go to another area. This proved so popular that all three companies signed up to do it again in 2004, and Cygnus will add two more. “We’re also creating a demo area for use by several smaller companies with similar products whose booths are all in the same area,” says Hendel.
The marketing and promotion plan was based on direct mail, industry publications, and local radio and television. Media partners included Iowa Farmer Today, a weekly newspaper, WHO radio and KCCI television. The Iowa State University Extension Service, which organized seminar programs, and the Farm Credit Services of America were title sponsors mentioned in all promotional materials.
One major change for 2004 will be to open the show an hour earlier. “In 2003, we opened at 9 a.m. and had attendees waiting outside the gate more than an hour beforehand,” says Hendel.
Taking it home
Two national trends are fueling the success of consumer home shows. Thanks to low interest rates, people are buying, building and spending money on their homes. And there are more TV shows devoted to home improvements than ever before. “This is a golden era for home shows. If you can’t be successful in producing home shows now, you’ll never be successful,” says Paul Schweitzer, Vice President of Business Development for the Home Interest Section of dmg world media, producer of about 300 trade and consumer shows and 70 related publications.
That’s why dmg launched the Orlando Home Show as soon as dates became available at the newly expanded Orange County Convention Center. It was the best attended consumer show in the convention center’s 20-year history, according to center officials. “We’ve never done a launch that was so successful so quickly as this show,” says Schweitzer.
The Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando was already producing a smaller show in the market. Their three-day Central Florida Home and Garden Show took place in April and had historically attracted10,000-12,000 attendees.
“My first meeting in Orlando was to tell the association that we had a large show planned for September and that I thought the two shows could coexist since they’re quite different. Ours is much larger, we do so many shows that our advertising budget is bigger and we bring in celebrities,” says Schweitzer. Later, the association contacted dmg to ask if they wanted to buy the show, which the company did, and now the association is an official show sponsor. Plans call for growing the spring show and continuing to hold the new show in September.
“What’s really critical to the success of our consumer shows is getting the local media involved — daily newspapers, radio and TV — through both paid adverising and promotions,” says Schweitzer. Dmg starts by meeting with a media buyer to learn what it will cost to reach the target number of consumers and attract them to the home show.
Then show management works to get the media involved in promoting the show. Radio stations, for example, often sponsor contests with prizes ranging from free show tickets to a home makeover.
While the Orlando Home Show drew a record number of attendees, it didn’t generate a profit the first year, although revenue was significantly higher than expected. The plan is for the show to be profitable by year three, says Schweitzer.
Tasting success
The original idea for Alimentaria Mexico, a food industry exhibition and conference, came from Fira de Barcelona, which produces a similar show in Spain and tried to take the name international with a show in Mexico City in 2001, but was not as successful as they’d hoped to be.
In 2003, Fira de Barcelona, which is owned by Reed Exhibition Cos., entered a joint partnership with Bethesda, MD-based E.J. Krause & Associates, which has an office in Mexico City and experience producing international food-and-beverage shows.
Together they successfully launched Alimentaria Mexico 2003 in a competitive market, and they report that the event produced a “30 to 35 percent profit,” according to Jim Forlenza, Senior Vice President of E.J. Krause.
The competition includes a food-and-beverage show in Mexico City for the hotel and restaurant industry, and one in Guadalajara for the supermarket industry, both of which include equipment and services.
“Positioning Alimentaria Mexico as a food-and-beverage-only show helps us to draw more manufacturers because some don’t want to be in shows with equipment and services,” says Forlenza. It also helps draw a broader audience. In addition to hotels, restaurants and supermarkets, buyers include resorts, clubs, hospitals, military installations, and manufacturing facilities with their own cafeterias. “Anyplace that has food service in quantity is in our target audience,” he says.
The joint venture has been successful because of the strengths each partner brings to the arrangement. “Fira de Barcelona has the brand name and the international contacts through its show in Spain,” says Forlenza. “E.J. Krause has an office in Mexico City with more than 45 employees. We also have contacts at the local chambers of commerce and at the hotel, restaurant and food service industry associations in Mexico, which had a presence at the show."
There were pavilions from Spain, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, Germany, the United States and Canada. While the show’s primary focus was on the Mexican market, organizers also included buyers from Central America, South America, the United States and Cuba. “Many countries are looking to sell their products to a growing Mexican market, as well as to buy products from Mexico,” says Forlenza.
Special show events included technical conferences, wine and tequila tastings, and new product pavilions, all will be expanded in 2004. Sections of the show such as the restaurant area, exhibitor lounge and press room were sponsored by Coca Cola, Corona and Bacardi.
At press time, 70 percent of the 2003 exhibitors had rebooked for 2004. “We’re looking for a 20 percent increase in attendance and exhibitors for 2004,” says Forlenza. That will include additional exhibitors and attendees from Europe and South America, thanks to marketing efforts by E.J. Krause’s network of offices, and contacts developed by Reed and Fira de Barcelona. “In the United States, we promote the show through direct mail and telemarketing. Elsewhere it’s very much face-to-face because that’s what’s expected,” says Forlenza.
Going to the source
Many GLM gift and consumer show exhibitors from outside the United States aren’t really interested in doing business with the small retail buyers who traditionally attend that kind of show. They’d prefer to do business with the shows’ major exhibitors, who buy in volume.
“We saw a lot of interest in developing a show that appeals to a narrower niche within the distribution channel — one that allows the manufacturers of goods from outside the U.S. to meet with U.S. importers, distributors and wholesalers, who would buy in volume and then take on the task of selling those goods to the smaller or medium-sized retailers,” says Alan Steel, Executive Vice President for GLM, White Plains, NY.
“The challenge was to put those exhibitors into an event where they’d meet the kind of customers they were looking for — not the 50,000 buyers who come to the New York International Gift Fair, but the 2,000 to 4,000 volume buyers who could distribute the products throughout the United States,” he says.
So GLM launched SOURCES in May 2003. The fact that they already produce so many gift shows was a significant factor in the success of the new show launch, which did turn a profit. “We obviously have a lot of credibility in the marketplace with our exhibitor customers. Through our databases, we had access to the vast majority of potential attendees for SOURCES,” says Steel.
GLM promoted the show through inserts in the directories for all of their other shows for 12 months prior to the launch and ran ads in industry publications. They also targeted potential buyers through direct mail and telemarketing.
The launch proved to be well timed as U.S. companies have increased overseas sourcing and off-shore production to unprecedented levels. At the same time, fears regarding terrorism and SARS have led some U.S. companies to reduce overseas travel. “Many U.S. retailers and importers did not travel to the Far East in the spring of 2003 because of SARS. So our show enabled them to meet both new and existing customers here,” says Steel.
SOURCES, held at New York City’s Pier 94, coincides with four other GLM trade shows held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. “The cross-over attendees were important for a first-time event. We knew a certain percentage of our potential audience could be persuaded to attend because they were already in New York,” says Steel.
“There weren’t as many crossover attendees on Saturday and Sunday because that’s when they were doing their strongest business at the Javits Center.” So for 2004, the show will increase from three to four days.
The show included programs aimed at helping exhibitors and buyers understand import and export procedures.
Attracting the best
PCIA once represented a broad segment of its industry and produced a show that was among the top 100 shows in the country. That was back when the association’s official title was still its full name (Personal Communications Industry Association). That show reached its peak size in 1998 before economic factors led to declines from 1999 to 2001, when it was scheduled to open on Sept. 11. PCIA cancelled that and all future shows.
The association then went through an extensive organizational downsizing and a mission change. The official name was changed to the acronym PCIA, with the tagline “The Wireless Infrastructure Association.” It now represents a niche market sector — the companies that develop, own, manage and operate towers, commercial rooftops and other facilities for the provision of all types of wireless, broadcasting and telecommunications services.
When it came time to develop a show for its new niche market segment, PCIA’s seven-member board of directors led the way in researching the industry, identifying the buyers and sellers, and arranging for the association staff to meet one-on-one or in groups with key players. The staff also did competitive analysis on a for-profit trade show and other industry events that cover the same market in whole or in part.
“No other show that touched our industry had a regulatory or advocacy focus. The board and our members wanted us to develop a show that’s ‘for the industry, by the industry,’” says Julie Coons, Executive Vice President of PCIA, based in Alexandria, VA.
In essence, they wanted a first-time show that from the start would be a must-attend event for the industry. So the challenge was to sign the heavy hitters as soon as possible and use their commitment to help promote the event to everyone else.
“We’re based in the Washington, DC, area, and we have a solid reputation as the principal advocacy organization for this industry, so we built on our relationship with the FCC to draw them to the show to speak on regulatory topics,” says Coons. At the same time, PCIA worked through their board to draw the top industry leaders, offering them a significant presence at the show as speakers and sponsors.
As a result, the program for the first PCIA Wireless Infrastructure Conference & Expo read like a who’s who list for the industry. It included the FCC Commissioner as a keynote speaker and seven other senior FCC officials as session presenters; nine of the top 10 tower companies as exhibitors, speakers or sponsors; and a group of Wall Street heavy hitters to speak at a forum to discuss new investment opportunities in wireless infrastructure.
“The financial community attendance was strong because PCIA provided a business show with the type of executives they wanted access to,” says Coons. A lot of business was done on site. Six major carrier companies snapped up private conference rooms two hours after they were offered.
The plan calls for the new show to be profitable within three years, and it came close to doing so for the 2003 show.
Martha Collins is a freelance writer/editor based in Austin, TX. E-mailmccwriter@aol.com.
One key strategy for deciding whether and how to develop an idea into a show is to talk one-on-one with as many industry experts, association members, and potential exhibitors and attendees as possible. Here’s some advice from the five show managers interviewed for this story:
“If you think you have a good idea for a new show, explore the market by asking potential buyers and exhibitors what they think is missing in their marketplace and their answers will tell you whether or not you’re on the right track.”
— Jim Forlenza, Senior Vice President, E.J. Krause & Associates
“Our research includes calling consumers and asking questions about how they purchase home improvements and whether they’d consider attending a home show at a particular location and time. The results give us a good indication as to whether we’re on to something or not.”
— Paul Schweitzer, Vice President of Business Development for the Home Interest Section, dmg world media
“We started by meeting individually with people from government agencies representing foreign governments here in New York. We did the same thing in other parts of the world. What we discovered was that there was a real wish for a show that appeals to a narrower niche within the distribution channel.”
— Alan Steel, Executive Vice President, George Little Management
“Me or someone on my staff visited or called exhibitors from our other shows, potential exhibitors at state and regional companies, and national contacts at major manufacturers. The feedback we got convinced us the launch would be successful. There’s nothing more important than doing this kind of research.”
— John Hendell, Group Show Director, Farm Division, Cygnus Expositions
“We have a very active board that knows the industry well. They provided us with tremendous input on the kind of show that was needed and also helped arrange for us to speak in with people in their organizations, as well as other industry leaders. We also held on-site meetings with our member companies. The show developed from what we learned.”
— Julie Coons, Executive Vice President, PCIA
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