£1.2 mill sponsorship for Earls Court

It will be interesting to see which slice of the market they aim at, and just who will be there!

Suppose I have never been a window shopper, so well down market of many shows, but still capable of spending a few bob on boaty gear.
 
Excell seems like a classic case of forgetting that it's the punters view that matters, not the what the exhibitors want. Earls Court always seemed like a show for the punters. Bring it back!
 
Entirely agree. If the 'new' EC show deals with the humbler side of boating I shall be back there in a flash. Have only been to Excell once but never again - just not my thing though I'm sure it's fine for many.

Whatever the downsides of EC, we really looked forward to going, and the thought of if being before Christmas is yummy!
 
It would seem that many people have forgotten that it was the industry that decided on the move to Excel and not the organisers.

What ever way you look at it I cannot see how in gods name this show is going to happen on the scale they say it will. It costs in the region of 3.5 m to put on a semi decent show at Earls Court and they only have 1.2? that hardly pays for the marketing budget.

I can see this being a small event in one hall and one hall only that will be EC1 as they will take revenue from Kylie or Coldpaly in Dec for EC2.

Watch this space.
 
Did you see the bit where they said

[ QUOTE ]
we polled 200 people about their views on a boat show returning to Earls Court and 196 said they would prefer it

[/ QUOTE ]

Now I really don't believe that that represents the true view of the boating public - it certainly isn't of those participating on this forum.

If that is an example of the sort of Market Research on which they are basing their business plan then they won't last long!
 
10,000 exhibitors (approx over the show)
120,000 visitors (approx but will be on ABC site soon)
600 ish exhibitor companies

they asked 200 people.........

And the sponsor? I think you will find that one guy works for them and the other has an interest in them.
 
I would agree with you, if it weren't for the fact that every single person I know who owns a boat, left Excel this year with a view that it had gone so far 'upmarket' that it really bore little or no resemblance to the kind of boating that they do.....

LIBS seems to have forgotten that we aren't all getting huge city bonuses..... and can't afford the big luxury boats...... certainly in my part of the sailing world, the marinas and berths are filled with 30 foot - ish sailing boats of perhaps 10 years of age.... and a £450k motor boat has zero interest factor....

As for your numbers..... are you suggesting that LIBS has all the funding (£3.5m?) in place before the show, regardless of whether anyone exhibits or visits?..... if so, then that ain't very good business sense..... Yes, EC may only have £1.2M so far, but I bet with a headline sponsor like that, with that kind of money in the pot, they'll get funding from an investor or lender, and exhibitors and visitors should cover the gap I would have thought.... thats a £2.3M gap.... not unrealistic....

So I say, bring on Earls Court.... hope they are successfull
 
Further to my last e-mail.....

50k visitors at £10 per head.... that £0.5M

if there are 400 exhibitors (including food outlets etc etc), then that means they need to raise £4.5 k per exhibitor to break even.....

with 100k visitors at £15 per head, thats only £2k per exhibitor....

Sounds eminently achievable to me....
 
[ QUOTE ]
they asked 200 people.........


[/ QUOTE ]

Well I guess the British way would have been to form a Committee /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif........rather than for someone to rely on his own judgement based on experiance and back it with his time and money.

If these folk have dug up £1.2m from a major name sponsor then I think this does give them a great deal of credibility, albeit that I would not be surprised if this figure is not at present conditional.

Be interesting to see what happens. Only time will tell.
 
Re: Ah yes but

Post Christmas
has always been good because funds are not earmarked for christmas and swmbo can be persuaded to allow me to say
book charter
buy some new kit or fleeces cos ''look its in sale, this is really good price. its jan it must be in sale and the new season stuff will be out soon and that will be much more pricey.''
so normally the promise of looking at some exotic trip keeps her at LIBs and out of the shops and even if she does escape, by that last weekend iof LIBS all the good stuff has gone in oxford street and she does not buy owt.
But PRE christmas she'll be off round the shops buying useless tat for christmas. Return with smoking cards and all i'll have is a leaflet for a new outboard. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
So you would pay £15 to get in? is that on top of the £15 parking in Seagrave road as well? and how about the £4.50 for soup or the £15 rubbish meal you will find in some of the outlets in EC.

and as for all city bonus folk with big bonuses forget them I think it may be an industry problem as you rightly said your marina is full of boats 10 years old and 30 ish foot there are not many folk building these types of boats in the UK any more and therefore do not exhibit.

Earls court was 4 years ago now and I would be very interested to know what type of boat you looked at when it was there and what you cannot find at excel that you did find at EC.

Times change, I agree the show is not what it used to be but what do you go to a show for?

Just interested.
 
"The intention of the organisers is to make the show accessible to all and most importantly to reach out to the next generation. Vincent explained: "Our sponsors Whyte and Mackay really want to be involved and are keen to promote watersports through all their brands which include Vladivar vodka, Glayva, Isle of Jura and Dalmore whiskies. We also hope to attract the likes of the Volvo Ocean Race organisers and really get them involved in creating interactive features to encourage children to take an active role."

Booze company sponsoring an event to encourage children to take up watersports? Booze and boating? A bit of a leap from Guiness. Ooh, roll on compulsory breath testing and alcohol limits....

If they can pull off an exhibition at such short notice, good luck to them I suppose but I think I'd like to have seen some statement about how they plan to respond to years of complaints about dreadful Earls Court facilities.
 
I go to look at and get advice from small specialists, selling all sorts of widgets.... from wiring and plumbing renewal gear to chandleries selling all sorts of minor stainless steel fixtures and fittings....they were absent (well in fairness, there were 2 or 3 very large chandleries there..... but staffed with people who didn't know what the front of a boat was called, and their primary stock was clothing... lots and lots of clothing). I go to look at the small boats, the shrimpers, crabbers etc, they were largely absent. But I mainly go for the atmosphere.... this year, I seriously felt that I would have fitted in better, had I been wearing an expensive suit, been waving a platinum credit card about, and been in the market for a half million pound motor boat..... it was the LIMBS show... the London International Motor Boat show.... with a few sailing boats squashed in the corner behind the numerous stalls selling nothing but oilies.... there are still plenty of UK boats being produced, but Excel just doesn't work for them... the format, prices and atmosphere are all wrong...
 
Agree with your comments but there are more motor boat builders than sailboat builders FACT thats why it gives that impression however not many motor boats in the north hall and not many sail boats either but thats is an industry problem not a london boat show problem.

Crabbers etc were not there as they feel SBS works better for them as do most sailboat builders, this will not be solved by moving to EC and anyone that believes it will is seriously mistaken the prices will not differ at EC and will still restrict smaller sailboat builders / dealers from exhibiting there.
 
>the prices will not differ at EC and will still restrict smaller sailboat builders / dealers from exhibiting there. <

Leaping to a conclusion, there, maybe.

If I were promoting an EC show, I'd do everything I could to avoid going head 2 head with XL. One obvious thing would be to pitch for a different class of exhibitor, by keeping stand prices down.
 
It cannot be commercially viable unless they charge the same or similar as Excel.

So unless EC wants to take a significant hit over the next few years prices will be very similar, the stand space, the construction and more importantly the electric's and other associated bolt on's you can only get through the exhibition hall.

Believe it or not the BNF / National Boat shows actually subsidize parts of the show (inland feature / sea schools etc) exhibitors will not receive this treatment in EC.

Sorry but the boat show is run by NBS who are put in place by its members ie the industry so as I said before it is an industry problem.

There is no room for two shows in London within weeks of each other, one will have to give and I know which one it will be.

I can honestly see it being a small event eventually combined with a caravan or car or leisure show (like the NEC) but not a stand alone show taking up the whole venue.
 
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