Sabine Loos, managing director, Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe GmbH, organizers of InterTabac and InterSupply.
The pandemic wreaked havoc on the international trade show circuit but also presented opportunities. Tobacco Asia talked to Messe Dortmund’s Sabine Loos.
Sabine Loos is managing director of Germany’s Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe GmbH (Messe Dortmund), organizers of the world’s largest tobacco industry trade show: the combined InterTabac and InterSupply. The exhibition circuit has been in her blood since joining Cologne’s Kölnmesse GmbH in 1991, where she perfected her professional skills in project management, communications, and marketing. In 2004, Loos was promoted to department head at Kölnmesse before eventually moving on to Messe Dortmund in August 2011. Under her leadership, InterTabac and InterSupply quickly evolved into the most talked-about tobacco sector events on the globe. But, she also had to deal with the unforeseen complications and set-backs brought on by the Covid-19 crisis.
Tobacco Asia (TA): What were the main inconveniences the Covid-19 pandemic created for exhibitors?
Sabine Loos (SL): Simply speaking, as both InterTabac and InterSupply were forced to be re-scheduled twice, the tobacco sector missed out on the two leading platforms for interaction and exchange between sellers and buyers as well as the preparation and implementation of business transactions.
Networking between manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers became extremely problematic. In addition, information sources regarding new products, international trends, and also marketing topics such as new sales channels basically faded away.
TA: Is there finally light at the end of the tunnel and do exhibitors such as you expect things to return to a reasonable normal anytime soon?
SL: The wish for physically meeting after roughly two years into the pandemic is tremendous among manufacturers, suppliers, and traders. They all want to be part of InterTabac and InterSupply again.
They have come to value this dual trade show as an indispensable platform for dialogue, information, and product ordering. We have to realize that through the sheer current volume of space reservations, which is truly phenomenal across all product segments.
We are very glad about that and the strong signals we receive are encouraging us to get to work. We therefore are also very confident that we will be able to throw “the comeback of the year” for the trade show duo – and just as our present campaign slogan implies.
TA: At this point – and in the wake of two postponements - both InterTabac and InterSupply will be held September 15-17 this year. What are the chances that you might be forced to suspend the events again and what factors would play a role in that decision?
SL: The [SARS-CoV-2] omicron wave initially caused us a lot of concern. But by now it has become quite apparent that omicron is consider-ably more benign than previous coronavirus variants. Germany’s federal government has announced its intention to rescind almost all Covid measures by late March.
Together with the outstanding hygiene concept that we are going to implement through-out the exhibition halls, nothing should stay in the way of holding the trade shows as scheduled. Of course, we continue to carefully monitor all further developments regarding the coronavirus pandemic, but at this point we harbor a very positive future outlook and are absolutely convinced that the two exhibitions are going to go off without a hitch this September.
TA: A large proportion of exhibitors at both events traditionally are from Asia, particularly China. How did their inability to attend due to severe travel restrictions influence the decision to postpone the events at least twice?
SL: Travel restrictions – particularly those enforced in Asia – were co-factors in both postponements. Asia in general, but especially China, are enormously important manufacturing bases as well as sales markets for the tobacco industry. Exhibitors and visitors from these regions are of corresponding importance for InterTabac and InterSupply.
TA: The pandemic did not only tag along with disadvantages. It also presented opportunities. What were these as far as InterTabac and InterSupply are concerned?
SL: One future-oriented aspect is the supplementation of physical events with digital features to enable [exhibitor] presence and [visitor] participation at events. In many respects, digital supplements are offering us, visitors, and exhibitors alike, exciting, and new work areas, scopes, and experiences. At the same time, they provide an opportunity to move about in new formats.
TA: To keep manufacturers and buyers connected and informed during these hard times you devised quite a few new digital networking possibilities. Could you please detail some and how they helped mitigate the situation?
SL: We engaged in some intensive brain-storming how to “reinvent” exhibitions in the 21st century. One result of that thought process was “Business Insights”, a digital platform created for all tobacco industry players.
The platform allows manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers to maintain contact with one another throughout the year and around the clock and further develop their business ties. The platform regularly also presents important industry news and comprehensive interviews with top executives; not only in print but in video or podcast format, too. Overall, Business Insights has been well received by its target audience and we are quite proud of the fact to have used the “out-time” during the pandemic for creating a new, year-round information and exchange platform for the tobacco sector.
TA: Out of sheer necessity, remote conferencing certainly took a major leap forward during the pandemic. How about other digital tools? Is there a future for them or will they gradually disappear as the world opens for travel again?
SA: As far as we are concerned, digital content will continue to enhance the “real-life” exhibition experience, delivering innovative, informative, added value. Through them, users can easily and quickly establish contact with exhibitors, but also comfortably brush up on internationally trending industry topics.
Exhibitors can utilize them to attract visitors to their exhibition booths. Granted, they are no replacement for actual face-to-face talks at physical exhibitions, yet well-designed and easy-to-access digital content certainly has its merits as a sensible supplementary tool.
TA: What are the main advantages of physical exhibition events versus “virtual” ones?
SL: Tobacco but also e-smoking and vaping products rely on the full sensory experience to be appreciated; they need to be tasted, smelled, and touched. In addition, close business relationships are typically forged in direct, real-life contact. People tend to want to meet a new business partner face to face and not through a digital conferencing app.
These are just some of the reasons why exhibitions such as InterTabac and InterSupply have established themselves for many years as prime meeting places for the international tobacco industry. Digital meetings just cannot provide that personal experience.
TA: So… there simply is no real alternative for physical exhibitions. However, has the pandemic perhaps “conditioned” exhibitors and buyers to become a little wary of the substantial travel and financial efforts required to attend physical events around the globe?
SL: The pandemic certainly has proven that some business meetings can take place online, saving travel cost and, foremost, time. However, we are talking about routine, everyday business matters here. The dual InterTabac and InterSupply trade shows always have been special highlights for the entire industry.
Physical event dates, therefore, will continue to be thickly marked in red in every executive’s planning calendar. There is no substitute for face-to-face exchange and discourse.
TA: Now that several digital networking and information possibilities have already been integrated into your service portfolio, are you planning to add still more in the short to medium term? What’s in the pipeline?
SL: Our digital platform, Business Insights, is in its early infancy, so we are not only still in the process of establishing and expanding its [existing] formats but also keep working on providing additional content. The increasing visitor traffic on Business Insights is very encouraging and proves that our various content formats are meeting with great interest. Some content favorites are already emerging and we intend to develop them further.
TA: What are the quintessential lessons learnt from the pandemic?
SL: That apart from one’s own performance there also are other factors that play a role in deciding an exhibition’s success or failure. Delivering sensational preparation work for 2020 and 2021, my team and I were supremely confident that the InterTabac and InterSupply shows in those years would turn out phenomenally … if they had taken place.
However, due to the pandemic we pretty much became pawns of global influences. We were forced to adapt to constantly changing rules, which made planning and implementing the exhibitions considerably more difficult – or rather, impossible.
On the other hand, we learned that we had to – and must! – be increasingly flexible and digitally adept. As a result, we no longer exclusively work toward that ONE dual trade show but constantly are keeping potential digital options in mind in case things go “bottoms up” again.
TA: Summing up, how has the pandemic transformed the traditional exhibition circuit in general and your two main events in particular?
SL: Moving into the digital world has changed both our way of working as well as the very concept of “exhibition”. Innovative communication channels and digital meetings have become a matter of course.
Accordingly, the digital expansions of our two events were received very positively. In that sense, our events no longer only are held once a year over a long weekend in September, but are indeed accessible 24/7 – and across all and any national borders.
TA: And how do you expect this “new face” to evolve in the years to come?
SL: Trade shows will turn progressively digital, so business contacts can be increasingly easier made and maintained. Yet for the dual InterTabac and InterSupply shows one thing is as clear as ever: they both will continue to take place on location in Dortmund as our “core events” so to speak, while our digital endeavors are important supplements that we shall further develop and expand.