An Affinity for Consumer Events
Lisa Plummer -- Tradeshow Week, 10/3/2008 10:40:00 AM
Tom Gaither isn’t afraid to admit that times are tough for consumer shows right now. However, as senior vice president of Affinity Group’s show division, Affinity Events, Gaither maintains a positive outlook and a hopeful attitude about the future, along with a realistic strategy to keep his shows growing.
Brought on in 2005 to help start the division, Gaither went from a career in the RV manufacturing industry to overseeing Affinity’s portfolio of 45 national outdoor recreation-focused consumer shows. In 2006, Affinity bought Las Vegas-based Plus Events with its portfolio of five home and garden shows and one RV-outdoors show, a local office and a local staff.
TSW Contributing Editor Lisa Plummer sat down with Gaither to find out how, in a challenging economy, the consumer show segment is weathering the storm.
Question: How is the recreational consumer show segment doing right now?
Answer: Much like the current U.S. economy, it’s been a difficult market. We’re not any worse off, and we’re not any better. Our shows are down in attendance anywhere from 15 to 20 percent, depending on the type of show.
Q: Which shows are doing better than others?
A: Our RV show attendance is holding up better than our boat show attendance, and our boat show attendance is holding up better than our home and garden attendance. We just had a fall home and garden show (in Las Vegas) that was probably off 50 percent. I still think RV and boat shows will be strong next year, maybe not as vibrant as they were two or three years ago, but I think they’ll bounce back as soon as people get their consumer confidence back.
Q: What is your strategy to weather this economy and bump up attendance?
A: We’re trying to add more features to shows, give (people) more of a reason to come. For example, right now we’re gearing up for our spring Las Vegas Home & Garden Show. Obviously, Vegas is one of the biggest (housing) repo markets in the country … so we’re going to gear our home and garden show toward someone who just bought a repo home in Vegas and maybe needs to meet a contractor or two at the show (to help fix it up). We'll probably keep the spring theme with flowers and garden, but also a little emphasis on repo (home) repair.
Q: How are you marketing to your attendee base?
A: We have a lot of media assets … a huge database of outdoor enthusiasts 5 million strong. In addition to our media ads, we blast them with a direct mail piece, an e-mail piece or both. It's an additional layer of media that we pour on over the top of these shows. Before the economy slid, we were increasing attendance pretty drastically. With some of these RV shows, I think it’s saved attendance by having this extra media that we have to help market the shows.
Q: Has Affinity Events had any recent show launches or moved into any new segments lately?
A: We're launching a new Syracuse (N.Y.) ice fishing show this year, and we also started a new fall Des Moines (Iowa) RV show. We recently purchased three shows – an RV show in the spring, a boat show in the spring and a fall combined RV and boat sale. We’ve done most of our show growth by acquisition.
Q: Since so many consumer shows depend on drive-in business, do you think gas prices are the main barrier to increasing your attendance?
A: Certainly gas prices play a part in it, but also the consumer confidence level. A lot of people are holding on to their homes and not worrying about buying disposable items right now. I think it's about getting consumer confidence back.
Q: Given the current economy, what is the consumer show sector going to look like over the next five to 10 years?
A: I think this crunch we’re in now will weed out a few shows. Once we bounce back, typically we’ll bounce back stronger with fewer players, and the ones that are still here are going to try to proliferate the type of shows they have. We’ve probably slowed our acquisitions down somewhat over the last 18 months or so, but I’m sure we’ll be back on it as soon as things look brighter.
