One hundred and seventy five companies from fifty countries in The American’s, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East/Africa, participated in the survey. Although there were regional differences, the companies agreed that the “bottom-out effect” of the recession was felt in the first half of 2010.
Old Spice pitchman, Isaiah Mustafa, bare-chested and wearing nothing but a towel, answered questions posed by celebrities and laypeople via various social media sites in real time. The result, in the first twenty-four hours they had 5.9 million viewers.
Veteran attendees will act as mentors to junior buyers (protégés). The goal is to make these younger attendees better buyers, to help them use the fair better and give assistance to move their careers along.
In a word where social media is breaking down barriers between buyer and seller and creating communities of like minded individuals, it would seem to me that the exhibition industry is on the verge of reinventing itself and its role in the marketing/sales/communication programs of corporations worldwide
The baton of UFI leadership has been passed to Paul Woodward.
Ford Motor Company is breaking with a long standing marketing tradition and is introducing its new Ford Explorer on Facebook rather than at an Auto Show.
Some events lose their perspective and forget, or become complacent, in their relations with the individual companies who keep coming back year after year.
Exhibitions which once were the place for manufacturers to show off new products and services are now challenged by the internet.
One of the most anticipated events in UFI’s calendar is the annual “Congress.”
Recently the government implemented an increase in the monthly wage to 960 Yuan. In real dollars not a lot, but significant in a country where the cost of a latte from Starbucks is 25 Yuan or half a day wages. When you multiply this increase by 1.2 billion the number is staggering.