Messe Essen and Messe Frankfurt have announced a “far-reaching strategic partnership,” aimed at strengthening the Reifen and Automechanika trade fairs. The partners expressed a joint desire to exploit “synergetic effects in sales and marketing across borders,” the most obvious of which will be package solutions for exhibitors. Messe Essen and Messe Frankfurt will interlink their two premier global fairs closely after the 2016 show. This will coincide with the BRV’s (German tire trade and vulcanizes association) plan to support a new tire trade show at Koelnmesse from 2018, called ‘The Tire Cologne,’ thus representing the first indication of how Messe Essen intends to support Reifen after the BRV’s exit.
Automechanika Frankfurt is a leading aftermarket fair for the automobile industry, targeting groups from garages, service and trading. In addition to the obvious synergies, both Automechanika and Reifen are strongly international (more than 80% of the exhibitors at Automechanika come from outside Germany). Both also attract a high level of interest from industry decision-makers, according to Messe Essen. Automechanika Frankfurt attracted 4,597 exhibitors from 74 countries in September 2012, achieving a new peak value.
“In the series of our 14 Automechanika fairs, there are a few which are already strongly set up in the field of tires, e.g. Automechanika Dubai or Johannesburg, Moscow and Istanbul. With Reifen Essen, we have found an appropriate partner to expand this part of the portfolio even further for the whole brand,” said Detlef Braun, managing director of Messe Frankfurt.
Oliver P. Kuhrt, chairman and CEO of Messe Essen, sees similar advantages for Reifen: “Due to the cooperation, we are improving the Garages and Car Service sections in Essen and are extending the value added chain at Reifen in this way. Thus, we are creating an outstanding surplus value for our joint customers which they cannot find anywhere else.”
Messe Essen also intends to support its exhibitors at Automechanika events outside Germany, which include the locations Chicago, Dubai, Istanbul, Moscow and New Delhi. Each organizer’s sales teams in Essen and Frankfurt will cooperate closely for this purpose. “Our exhibitors will profit from the fact that we will open up new markets for them; at the same time, we will raise the customer loyalty in this way. And we will increase the internationality in Essen once again because we are making Reifen even better-known abroad,” according to Kuhrt.
Messe Essen describes the partnership’s effect on Reifen as “national and international refinement.” (Tyres & Accessories)
