From April 7 to 10, the Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre was the setting for a newly overhauled Musikmesse, showcasing the MI sector in Europe.
1,103 exhibitors presented their latest products and innovations – down somewhat from last year’s figure of 1,329. With around 64,000 visitors (again, slightly down from 65,355 in 2015) convening in a smaller portion of the Exhibition Center, the gathering did seem, nonetheless, to be revitalized, in some respects.
More than 20,000 music fans attended over 50 concerts held within the framework of the Musikmesse Festival, which took place parallel to the fair for the first time at venues throughout Frankfurt. “In this digital age, direct contact to consumers is more important than ever before and we took account of this when realigning the fair. At the same time, however, we also expanded our facilities and services for the musical-instrument trade. The positive response from visitors and the support of numerous key players from the industry show that we are on the right track with the new concept. Together with the sector, we will continue in this direction and work together with the associations and exhibitors on the fine tuning,” said Detlef Braun, member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt.
In total, 52 exhibitor nations were represented at Musikmesse, and visitors made their way to Frankfurt from a total of 108 different countries.
Better for Business?
Within the framework of the new concept, Musikmesse opened a special hall expressly for retailers, distributors, and other professional market participants. Reserved exclusively for trade visitors, the “Business meets Business” Hall, (11.1) created room for business discussions in a more quiet atmosphere than that on the show floor. Exhibitors took advantage of the opportunity to make presentations to international retailers and distributors well away from the hustle and bustle of the fair. Additionally, there was a high-grade information program and new matchmaking and networking facilities catering specifically to the requirements of trade attendees, and which Musikmesse organizers say was met with a positive response. Also new for 2016, music aficionados (in other words, “the public”) could, for the first time, attend the fair on all four days, as well as choose from an even more extensive event program with concerts, workshops, and lectures. In agreement with the sector, this year’s Musikmesse was held from Thursday to Sunday, instead of from Wednesday to Saturday as in the past. The synergies to Prolight + Sound, which has also been restructured, were retained by two overlapping days, Thursday and Friday.
The next Musikmesse will be held at the beginning of April 2017.
Voices from the Show Floor
“Most of our dealer interactions took place early in the day on Thursday and Friday, and new dealer meetings were much more common than existing dealer visits. Foot traffic was relatively consistent over the four days with Saturday being the busiest. Media appointments and interaction were down significantly from previous years. Overly loud product demonstrations were a concern prior to the event, but the location of our booth (away from the drums) helped shield us from the ear-splitting noise that was clearly an issue for less fortunate exhibitors.
“Our objective for Musikmesse this year was to support our European dealers by raising brand awareness, generating engagement with live product demonstrations, and shortening the path to purchase – all at the consumer level. We felt that we achieved our objective and now we must weigh the cost of attending the event versus the benefit that Musikmesse provided Electro-Harmonix and our authorized dealer network.”
Mike Castellano, Electro-Harmonix
“For D’Angelico, the show was a huge success. The smaller format gave us a more intimate customer experience and a bit more one-on-one time with our dealers and distributors. It also gave us a larger footprint. For the dealers and distributors there, I believe they felt the same. It gave everyone some more time to spend with their business associates in a still-hectic show. I believe the smaller show size also gave the consumers at the show more time to concentrate on really reviewing our products, spending proper time with them.”
Brenden Cohen, D’Angelico Guitars
“Going into the show, we all decided not to prejudge the new design. We looked at it like we would any trade show and prepared accordingly by contacting our customers and potential prospects in order to assure the greater possibility of a positive result. Keep in mind, that we are also of the belief that this trade event is positioned on the calendar at a reasonably logical time of the year (following Winter NAMM) that allows for a three-month purchase and selling cycle that would infer a healthy business.
“Upon arriving, it was clear that the Messe organization spent a lot of time preparing and thinking through this design in order to provide maximum benefit to all who attended. This year, the attendee makeup varied, as you know, but this proved to be a great experience for us to share our message with all layers of the ‘chain of commerce.’ End-users did not interfere with any distributor or retail direct business discussion on our side, and everyone had a great time. In fact, being located in Hall 8 put us in a fantastic location with limited extraneous noise and put us directly in the path of all entry traffic. This made it easy for scheduled meetings and others to find us very easily.
“In short, nothing is ever perfect and there are some tweaks required still (adjustments to show hours as it gets to the final days, for example), but all in all the show was a great experience for us and we look forward to next year.”
David Gartland, Saga Musical Instruments
“This is a public entertainment show now, with any products being a side-show, at best. The public attendance was no better than normal years, but the hours were very over the top, because the public can get in before the show was open and did not leave for an age after, and security was non-existent.
“The show shot itself in the foot four to five years ago with no, or poor, noise control. The ambient level in our hall was 100 dB most of the time. For a small company, it is not cost effective to have an office and a public display and doing a show with a cheap display is not good for a brand, of course.
“The key overseas visitors were eastern block who do not travel to NAMM. The level of retail attendance from each country was appalling. An expensive show, and a small, spread-out festival to me – not a product show really at all today.”
Mark Gooday, Ashdown Engineering
“I really did not have any expectations going in, but the show went okay. It was definitely a smaller show. For me, it can best be described as a little ‘strange.’ With the public area downstairs and dealer area upstairs it didn’t have the feel of a normal trade show or Messe. Maybe with a little tweaking or adjustments it could work. I think a European show is important for the market so hopefully things can get worked out.”
Tim Pfouts, S.I.T. Strings
“From my perspective, we had more visits – approximately 60 per day – making it the best show ever. The main reason: the big guys like Fender, Gibson, and Yamaha were not at the show and we had more traffic. Also we made before 1,000 phone calls and sent 10,000 emails before the show.
“Also, moving our production back to Spain helped. Musicians and dealers are tired of China-made products, and we can now reach almost the same prices by making our instruments in Spain.”
Manuel Rodriguez III, Manuel Rodriguez Guitars
