Messe Ownership: The Power of Politics

Since the German messes are mainly government-owned, the death in May of 58-year-old Joachim Erwin, lord mayor of Duesseldorf and a staunch supporter of Messe Duesseldorf, could have implications. And, it raised a question: Does a change of regime in a German governmental entity create uncertainty in the messe the entity controls?

“To some degree, yes,” said Joachim Schafer, Messe Duesseldorf managing director, but that's not the case in Duesseldorf, despite the fact that Erwin was more involved in the messe than the typical German mayor.

Schafer said Erwin – while not always popular – was recognized by nearly everyone as doing well for the city. For example, said Schafer, Duesseldorf is one of only a handful of German cities to be debt-free, an accomplishment attributed to Erwin, and one largely fueled by Messe Duesseldorf's success.

Erwin had an influence on the success of Messe Duesseldorf, which also was good for his political party, the Conservative Christian Democrats. That is one reason why the party's candidate in a mayoral election scheduled for late August, Dirk Elbers, another long-time Messe Duesseldorf board member, is expected to win.

“Hence, we don't expect too much change,” Schafer said, “but rather a productive continuation of the pro-Messe Duesseldorf, pro-business environment. We consider ourselves lucky and on a solid path.”

Although German politicians can make a big difference in the success or failure of local messes – an important factor since messes provide large amounts of revenue to the cities and states – a change in regime doesn't raise many fears among the venues. That's because, even if the various governmental entities own, and to varying degrees consult with, their respective messes, they don't actually run them. That's left to the exhibition industry people, like Schafer.

Elected officials in other cities typically are not as active as Erwin was, but that doesn't mean they don't understand the messes' importance.

The city of Frankfurt owns 60 percent of Messe Frankfurt; the state of Hesse owns the other 40 percent. The Messe Frankfurt board of management is responsible for all business operations. Strategic decisions are made in close cooperation with the shareholders, but a change of city or state administration has no effect on Messe Frankfurt's business operations, said Detlev Braun, a member of the Messe Frankfurt board of management.

He noted the Messe Frankfurt supervisory board – whose chair is the mayor of the city of Frankfurt, Petra Roth – is the important decision-making body.

The Hamburg Messe and Congress is wholly owned by the city of Hamburg. President and CEO Bernd Aufderheide said its mandate is clearly defined: attract industry and consumer events as well as conference organizers with their congress programs to Hamburg.

Every year, tradeshow- and conference-related activities bring more than 1.3 million visitors to the city, providing a substantial economic impact to local businesses such as hotels, restaurants and stores.

“However, changes in local government or politics do nothing to influence our day-to-day business as we operate as an independent business unit,” Aufderheide said. “We feel quite fortunate to have the full support of our activities by the local government in pursuing independent business objectives and strategies. This relationship is what has made our organization thrive over the years and is the foundation of our success.”

Erwin was particularly hands-on with the management of Messe Duesseldorf.

“Even though I met Mr. Erwin in his earlier professional life as the executive director of one of the associations supporting CeBIT, I only got to know him since my arrival here in Duesseldorf slightly more than two years ago,” Schafer said.

As chairman of the board, Erwin hired Schafer.

“He was a man possessed by the vision of Duesseldorf as an international city; a city that despite its size (population 580,000) should, and could, play in a league of much larger international municipalities and destinations,” Schafer said. “He pursued and built international connections, traveled the world and promoted Duesseldorf as a city of centuries-old traditions yet with international flair, world-class companies, world-class tradeshows, a world-class airport and the best beer.”

And while Erwin recognized the immense power of the airport for the city, he was quite partial to Messe Duesseldorf, calling it his “favorite daughter company.” It was through Messe Duesseldorf, with its 66 subsidiaries and representative offices around the globe, and Erwin's chairmanship that he expanded the reputation of the city and its fairground facility worldwide, Schafer said. As messe chairman, he was able to travel the world, promoting both the facility and the city while circumventing the public media scrutiny so often associated with travel of elected officials. At the same time, his international trips were notorious for their efficiency, said Schafer.

Erwin nurtured the Japanese connections for which Duesseldorf is known, and he built a Russian connection over many years by seeking the collaboration of the city of Moscow and its administration.

Most recently, Erwin developed Chinese connections through numerous visits to cities in which Messe Duesseldorf China maintains offices and stations.