Kid Shows Merge

ABC and JPMA band together, meaning one show for kids' stuff

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 2/26/2007

The Juvenile Products Manufacturers' Assn. has joined forces with All Baby and Child, throwing all the weight of two former Tradeshow Week 200-ranked competitors behind one show, ABC Kids Expo.

The manufacturers' group has been producing its Intl. JPMA Show for 37 years, first in New York, then in Dallas for nearly two decades, and finally in Orlando since 2005. It was No. 132 on the most recent TSW 200 with 447 exhibiting companies and 1,720 professional attendees filling 205,534 net square feet of exhibit space.

The Intl. JPMA Show scheduled this April 23–25 at the Orange County Convention Center will be the last. Instead of producing its own show, JPMA will now sponsor ABC Kids Expo, No. 143 on the most recent TSW 200 with 736 exhibitors and 4,193 professional attendees filling 193,600 net sq. ft. ABC Kids Expo is also a two-time TSW Fastest 50 winner.

As such, ABC is a much younger show. Although it began in the 1990s as a series of regional events around the country for the buyers' group, it evolved in 2001 to one national show exclusively for independent specialty retailers.

Last December, ABC decided that, starting with this year's Sept. 7–10 show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, it would for the first time admit buyers from mass market retailers like Babies"R"Us and Wal-Mart — buyers who'd been clamoring to get into the quickly growing show — for two out of its four days.

That move, said JPMA Executive Mike Dwyer, clinched JPMA's decision to shift its support to ABC's show, but momentum in that direction had already been building for other reasons.

Dwyer said the JPMA board of directors is strategically focused, recognizing its role as "directing staff and letting that staff do the tactical work." However, in recent years, he said, "the board had been spending a lot of time dealing with the show and show-related issues. When the opportunity arose to partner with ABC, the board realized it would give them the chance to focus on our core mission," which includes industry research, safety advocacy and member services.

Because the agreement with ABC allows JPMA to share in the revenue from the ABC Kids Show, the JPMA will be able to continue funding its key initiatives, Dwyer said.

In addition, feedback from manufacturers suggested they would welcome the cost savings that would come from having one industry show instead of two. To underline this benefit, ABC will encourage all its manufacturer participants to join or maintain their membership in JPMA.

"JPMA members will get discounts off booth pricing, ads in the show directory, product placement in the new product showcase and other benefits," said Larry Schur, president and COO of ABC Kids Expo. "In return, JPMA will promote our show to both manufacturers and buyers."

The nonprofit All Baby and Child will continue to own ABC Kids Expo, with profits going back into the show and to charitable work for children's organizations.

Schur and Dwyer believe the new arrangement will benefit everyone concerned, and both said the working relationship and communication between ABC and JPMA has been very positive.

Schur expects ABC Kids Expo to grow significantly as a result of the consolidation: "We expect between 12,000 and 15,000 (total attendees) for this September, where it was about 9,000 last year," he said. "We actually sold out our exhibit space by October 2006 for the September 2007 show." He tacked 250,000 gross sq. ft. onto the 456,000 he was already holding for '07, and that too is almost completely sold out, he said.

ABC Kids Expo has contracts in Las Vegas through 2009, Schur added. JPMA won't lose any money by leaving Orlando: Its contract with the city was set to expire this year anyway.

Dwyer doesn't expect the shift to a fall timeframe to upset the JPMA show's former participants, because mass market retailers are more flexible in their buying cycles than the specialty buyers that ABC caters to.

"The manufacturers didn't have any preference for who managed the show," he added. "They saw both shows as viable and had an interest in seeing ABC open to the mass market as well. When ABC became willing to do that, we had some focus groups and found that was what the industry wanted."

Schur noted, "JPMA will be the industry association... ABC will be the tradeshow. We're separating and each focusing on what we do best."