The 29th edition of the international specialized motor vehicle trade fair brought together more than 1,300 exhibitors from 42 different countries from 25th to 28th May 2022. Renzo Servadei, a considerably satisfied trade fair boss, concluded that with more than 75,000 visitors and a trade fair period that was one day shorter, expectations were more than exceeded in a demanding trade fair environment. When considering corona-related limitations in many parts of the world, the The Tire Cologne happening at the same time, and political unrests in important target markets – the conditions were more than demanding. Already during the preparation period, the organizers took an enormous risk. “Two years ago, we had to take a final decision in spite of adverse conditions”, explains CEO Renzo Servadei. “Although trade fair business had presented itself in an extremely turbulent and unpredictable condition at that time, we decided in favour of planning the trade fair in May 2022. Taking that risk paid off.”
There was not a lot of enthusiasm everywhere when having to decide between Cologne and Bologna. “We are completely aware that we will have to find a solution in the future. We have been in close exchange with both the The Tire Cologne and the Automechanika in order to avoid overlapping events in the future. We are aiming at splitting the trade fairs in the years to come to let them take place independently from each other.” Servadei did not clarify which organizer will be willing to compromise to what extent. The question whether the next Autopromotec will already happen again in its regular rhythm next year or whether exhibitors and visitors will have to be patient until 2024/2025 has not been answered by the manager. “We are very optimistic that we will come to an agreement that all the involved parties will be satisfied with”.
Global movements
Although the future of the Italian aftermarket events has not been set in stone so far, exchange of experiences, networking, best practices, access to technical data as well as its analysis, sustainability, international cooperations, associations, a broad conference offer and specialized workshops will continue to be at the centre of the event. “The most important agenda item “sustainability” will have to be integrated in a more multidimensional way: from an environmentally friendly and an economically efficient perspective”, illustrates the manager.
Apart from well-known companies from the automotive aftermarket, the communication of the international B2B trade fair also directly aimed at mechatronics technicians. “Still very seldom, companies do focus their marketing on this extremely important target group. I do admit that it is not an easy undertaking to convince companies of this new form of having a dialogue with customers. Thus, it was more than pleasing to learn that many of the exhibitors we talked to before the event, showed a change in thinking concerning the topic of brand awareness and presented themselves with new approaches at the trade fair.”
Look in the crystal ball
Although many of the organizers focused more on hybrid formats in the past year, the Autopromotec remained – against the general trend – primarily a live event. The popular industry meeting point still favours a physical and personal get-together. Nonetheless, a number of interesting pieces of information are also online available via social media channels, podcasts, or an internal blog.
Nonetheless, the people responsible for the event cannot imagine a purely digital implementation. “Finally, we were able to provide the international specialist audience with a little normality. Human beings are social, group-oriented creatures looking for personal contact and immediate exchange at eye level. That is not only my personal opinion, but backed by science”, illustrates the trade fair manager.
Moreover, it will be essential to intensify cooperations at a European level in order to effectively compete in trade fair business, in a political, economical, and societal way. “This will not happen overnight, but step by step. Even in our small aftermarket world, we will be able to achieve more working together than everyone on their own.” (cw)
