6th Trade Only National Show hailed as the most successful UK promotional product show ever
January 27, 2012
Trade Only, the leading marketing and information solutions provider for the Promotional Product Industry has announced that the Trade Only National Show 2012 has been the most successful ever.
Trade Only reports that the show, held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on the 25th and 26th of January has broken previous records with over 3,000 visitors through the doors of the Ricoh Arena in over the two days – with a 16% increase in unique visitors on 2011.
This massive increase highlights the importance of the show and its unique position in the promotional products marketplace.
Initial analysis has the final number of visitors at 3,035, compared with 2,836 in 2011. The number of unique distributor visitors was also up (2,835 against 2,435).
Nigel Bailey, Event Director for Trade Only said: “It has been an incredible few days. This show has just kept growing and is now a world class event and the biggest and best promotional products show the UK has ever had. With nearly 75% of space rebooked by the end of the show we are already hard at work planning to makeTONS 2013 even better. Feedback from suppliers and visitors alike has been very, very positive.”
Gail Kilcoyne, Exhibition Manager for Trade Only added: “It has been an amazing few days and we have all been working non-stop. The reaction from everyone has been terrific and makes a year of hard work very satisfying”.
There were more suppliers exhibiting than ever before, with over 1,300 staff and 333 stands, and the show benefited from an international flavour with representatives from 47 countries. Visitors to the show thronged the bpma and PSI Pavilions, watched manufacturing demonstrations and fashion shows at Worx, while the Cliff Quicksell Power sessions sometimes had 150 people in attendance.
The bpma Annual Awards Dinner enjoyed record attendance too, with 800 suppliers and distributors enjoying the most glamorous evening in the industry calendar. the awards evening took on an exciting additional element in the form of a live vote for Campaign of the Year and Personality of the Year won by Godfrey O’Donnell from Keramikos.
The event featured an electrifying performance from chart topper Olly Murs.
At the dinner, highlighting the importance of quality education to the industry, Neal Beagles, Chairman of the bpma announced a bpma education at the Ricoh Arena on the 22nd of January 2013 as part of the build-up to the show.
QR Code Innovation Is Another First
January 21, 2012
All stands at the forward thinking 2012 Trade Only National Show will be QR coded this year in another innovation to help distributors connect with exhibitors reports Trade Only Ltd, the show organiser. Nigel Bailey Event Director for Trade Only said “we believe that this is the first exhibition in this country to feature a QR Code system on every stand that is interactive. If visitors have a smart phone they’ll be able to use it to find the stand number of their favourite supplier, and also scan suppliers stands as they are going around the exhibition. This will give then a list of stand numbers and contact information which they can use after the show and also has a great “Who I’ve Scanned ” feature. All credit to our brilliant in-house development team! ”
The Trade Only National Show is the only exhibition of the year for the promotional products industry and is held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. Now in its 6th year, this established event, held next week on the 25th and 26th of January offers 330 exhibitors as well as Power Sessions, fashion shows, stands featuring interactive manufacturing, product and catalogue launches, free samples and much more.
The show is renowned for it’s “customer is king” approach, innovations and continuous development. Liz Allen, marketing manager for Trade Only commented “Once you have scanned a QR code, you can click on the supplier to review their product offering and contact information, and this information will be stored on your smart phone for as long as your cookies are enabled. If you want a permanent copy of the information, just click on the ‘Email Me This List’ button and you’ll receive a copy of the information in your inbox. There will be banner stands and information points at the Show to remind you about this service and help you get started.”
For more information on the show: www.tradeonly.co.uk/shows/tons/2012
