Why Trade Shows Matter

In the summer of 2013 the Music Industries Association of Canada (MIAC) canceled its scheduled September trade show and closed its doors. A forty-one year old fraternity of musical instrument manufacturers, distributors and dealers was no more. The recession of 2009 had taken its toll. Exhibitors could not justify the expense. MIAC was gone – and it was a sad day because twenty-nine years ago the 1986 MIAC show had set Levy’s on the path to international success.

There is a sense of community that comes from being a part of a trade association, which is amplified at a trade show. When industry partners gather, business opportunities appear. Fresh from Nova Scotia, with hand-cut plywood guitar silhouettes fixed to pipe and drape, and cloth-covered plywood wedges sitting atop rented tables, Levy’s joined the Canadian music instrument community and made its first guitar strap statement. For three days, with a modest 10’ x 20’ display in Toronto, Ontario, Levy’s met fellow exhibitors and retail music customers from British Columbia all the way to Newfoundland. How cost effective is that?

The very next year, Levy’s was exhibiting at NAMM and the following year at Frankfurt Musikmesse. In three short years, 1986 to 1988, we were able to put Levy’s in the presence of the entire global musical instrument community.

For any manufacturing company looking to create a global brand, trade shows are the most economical way to do it. NAMM invites retailers, manufacturers, and distributors from around the world to join them, under one roof, every January. Frankfurt Musikmesse does the same in Germany in April. Set up your booth or stand and, for four days in January and four in April, watch the world walk by and, perhaps, stop in for a while to see what you’re selling: the mall experience on a global scale.

While not an essential, I would include Music China as an additional opportunity for brand exposure.  Many North American and European distributors and manufacturers source product in China and will coordinate their trip to China around the Music China trade show to spend a day or two at the show: a third opportunity for the exhibitor to meet face to face with their international partners.

It is now commonplace to say that the world is becoming smaller, but this is specifically in the sense that modern communication technology and jet-age travel has shortened the time it takes to conduct business. But in terms of the cost of doing business, it is still a very large world and the cost of engaging with the world, on a personal level, quite an expensive proposition. That is what makes NAMM, Musikmesse, and Music China so important: it would be a very large world indeed if exhibitors had to visit each country every year. NAMM and Messe Frankfurt are to be congratulated for creating two shows that create an excitement and buzz that draws buyers from around the world. The emergence of China as the country of choice for offshore manufacturing provides a third opportunity for exhibitors to meet face to face with their international partners. The timing of these shows in the first, second, and fourth quarters is a bonus in terms of strengthening these relationships.   

The productive exhibitor’s trade show day typically starts at breakfast and continues long after the show closes. The number of industry people contact is made with is limited only by the willingness to engage in the many industry activities, both planned and serendipitous, on any given day. Oftentimes as much business can be cultivated in the bar as on the show floor.

You have to be there to benefit. There is no substitute for face to face. Your own eyes and ears process the visual clues you receive from facial expressions to body language. Both your eyes and ears are more panoramic than any device someone else might use to give you a picture of what is happening. It is a two-way street – you are both observer and observed. How a person walks, talks, looks, laughs, and who they associate with are all important clues to the person you are getting to know and who is getting to know you. This experience cannot be duplicated with the telephone, teleconference, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, or any other mode of remote communication. There is no substitute for being there.

Levy’s is now a brand sold in more than 82 countries thanks to three annual shows: NAMM, Musikmesse, and Music China. Exhibiting at these three shows brings the world to our door in a cost-effective, exciting, personal, social, and business atmosphere that could not have been realized any other way. A unique opportunity to meet with our business partners, and share business experiences both good and bad, and to exploit or avoid the opportunities and pitfalls we might face.