Journey to Germany?
By Cliff Annicelli -- Playthings, 12/1/2007
Nuremburg's International Toy Fair has long been one of the global toy business' key selling opportunities, yet the perception that it's a must-attend event by Americans has been shaky at best, and that's something Spielwarenmesse eG, the fair's organizer, says it is looking to change as its February 2008 show nears.
Talk that U.S. participation in Nuremberg is in decline is wrong, says Christian Ulrich, the show's director of marketing and communications. “We've been satisfied with American participation in the fair,” he tells Playthings, pointing out that, “in fact, it's been increasing.”
American visitors to the show represented only a tiny fraction of the 2007 fair's 80,300 attendees, but Ulrich says U.S. attendance grew to 1,416 in 2007, up from 1,258 in 2005. Over the same period, the number of American firms exhibiting at the event expanded to 106 in 2007, up from 95 companies two years prior.
“Of course we're trying to increase these figures further,” Ulrich says. “We're intensifying our communications with the American market,” primarily through two redesigned e-mail newsletters.
Show management is actively looking to highlight U.S. companies as part of a show-wide theme area that this year focuses on overtly educational toys, according to Ulrich. It's an area of the market where “there are many very interesting U.S. companies that could be presented” to Nuremberg's mix of international buyers eager to increase their selection of learning-based playthings. “We're marketing directly to these companies [to participate],” Ulrich says.
