Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

An article in the recent edition of Exhibition News caught my attention. It was a story of three B – to – C trade fairs in the UK that allowed non-core exhibitors into their fair mix.

Dive 2010 in Birmingham claimed that the number of traditional dive-related exhibitors dropped by five percent. To make up the shortfall they accepted exhibitors who sold products such as gadgets, and time-share services.

The Evesham Festival in Hampton Ferry included in their exhibitor mix such non-core organizations as those who sold aquariums, holiday park resellers and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.

The third example, The Birmingham Bridal Exhibition moved beyond the traditional bridal services to mother-of -the bride and formal and casual wear.

From the onset it looks like a smart solution to the problem of the shrinking exhibitors. But from my perspective this type of practice can eat away at the foundations of what an exhibition is.

Years ago I remember a plethora of general purpose trade fairs.  Business fairs is the one example that comes to mind. At these events visitors could find everything from soup to nuts. But during the years these unfocused fairs fell out of favor in light of the more specialized targeted solution exhibitions.

The world had become specialized and exhibitions need to reflect this change. Now, the concern I have is if we are attempting to fill the gap of fewer exhibitors with exhibitors who do not at least complement the theme of the fair we are taking a dangerous step backward.

I am not sure the approaches in these three UK fairs are a symptom of “Survival Marketing” or a first step on to a very slippery slope.

Read the whole article; http://www.exhibitionnews.co.uk/featuredetail.php?id=55