“Providing a home for manufacturers and the specialist trade”

Mr Funke, a good six months after the last BioFach and Vivaness you’re sure to have analysed the two events in detail. What are the most important conclusions you’ve come to?

We had two successful events in February. Both the exhibitors and the visitors expressed great satisfaction with them. That’s not just a subjective impression; it’s what our evaluation of surveys is also telling us. When we analysed the figures, we found various reasons for the fall in the exhibitor and visitor numbers, and they can, on the whole, be divided into categories – economic, structural and country-specific. Of course, these three categories are to a certain extent connected, and they influence each other. Whereas at the international level it is frequently the economy and, in this context, the withdrawal in some countries of funds for trade fairs that plays a major role, in the German market it is more a question of structural reasons. Without a doubt, we’re facing competition from the regional fairs BioNord and BioSüd, that have had a negative impact on us in terms of the number of exhibitors and visitors. Naturally, companies with a regional orientation, such as manufacturing businesses, decide on a regional fair, because that’s where they can come into contact with their specifically regional public. The same applies to retailers, who focus primarily on a local profile and, apart from that, rely on the service provided by their wholesaler. A tendency we’ve noticed for many years – not just this year – is for companies to take part in or visit BioFach/Vivaness in alternate years.

Despite that trend, nearly 26,000 German visitors and a total of over 40,000 people attended BioFach and Vivaness in 2012. Admittedly, three years before, there were almost 47,000 visitors. How do you counter the tendency for some exhibitors and visitors to withdraw from BioFach/Vivaness and to commit more strongly to regional trade fairs?

We’re not going to allow ourselves to be knocked off course or put under time pressure by other trade fairs. For two years we’ve been working continuously on the brand core and the brand principles of BioFach. As in the past, we want to provide a home for German manufacturers and the specialist trade with the formats BioFach and Vivaness. A proven component that we have available to achieve this aim and reach the target groups in the German-speaking countries will continue to be the specialist trade get-together. It will offer information tailored to the needs of the players, and it will deliver significant stimuli to the sector. In general terms, BioFach will in future concentrate more strongly on organic food. You’ll be aware of this development in 2013, because the Textile Area promoted by BioFach will no longer be there. In this context, we are in the process of focusing the portfolio of exhibitors more on food than in the past. Our strategic aim is to continue offering exhibitors the greatest possible benefit at various levels. The trade fair duo BioFach and Vivaness offers, together with the benefit of being the annual industry platform, space for positioning international brands and products and for networking. Moreover, together with the Congress, it’s a platform for communicating information and expertise and, by attracting a lot of media and political attention, it helps to promote the image and the development of the industry as a whole. On many levels you’ll notice the effect of creating a sharper profile and concentrating on food. In general, the work on the new positioning of the two events is giving them a new look. We’ll present this new image in February. The thing people always find to be lacking, but which we simply cannot provide, is creating a homely family atmosphere in eight halls – the kind of thing that is still possible at regional fairs that are on a smaller scale.

From 2013, we’re going to see another two regional fairs. What’s your assessment of the competitive situation that will be created by BioOst and BioWest when they are launched after BioFach and Vivaness in April 2013? 

We’re anxious to know what will happen when two more fairs appear on the scene. In the past,
BioFach and Vivaness always occupied a special place in the annual schedule of fairs that companies planned to attend. For many companies, BioFach is a firm commitment, and participation in regional and company fairs is organized around it, depending on budget and staff. At least, that was the feedback we got from many companies.  At the moment, I can’t yet see clearly the perception of the companies and what they are planning for the year ahead. By being in Berlin, BioOst is occupying one of the locations with the greatest potential for the organic industry, and the west is naturally important too. We are wondering what the manufacturers and professional visitors are going to prioritize and how they will allocate their marketing budget. Every entrepreneur takes the decision where to invest his money and how he will distribute it for fairs and other measures. He can allocate equal parts of a marketing budget to ten events or invest 50 % in one high-impact event. Several journeys and daily allowances and having to set up and take down stands could also generate higher costs than concentrating on one fair that lasts for several days and provides a spectrum of benefits such as those offered by BioFach.
 

How do you define the core competencies of the organic trade fair duo in Nuremberg, and what work is there still to do?

We continue to focus on one of our most important characteristics, namely 100 % credibility. We’re making a huge effort and investing a great deal of money to guarantee exhibitors and products are of the highest possible quality by means of acceptance criteria and monitoring adherence to them – and that applies to every single product – and by checking who enters the fair and also by inspecting the stands during the actual fair. Checking the status of visitors ensures the highest possible number of professional visitors. The media presence is also unique. For example, we welcome more than 1,000 representatives of the media during the fair as well as many people from the world of politics and public life. Time and again, people praise BioFach and Vivaness for their special flair. We can also safely say that the Congress, that contributes expertise and inspiration, operates at a very high level. We’re unaware of any other event where you’ll find such a concentration of different components with such a beneficial impact on the organic market. Although over 95 % of visitors have again expressed satisfaction with the fair, we don’t seem in the past to have been 100 % successful in communicating the uniqueness and advantages of the two platforms. We’re working on that.
 

How many exhibitors and visitors are you expecting from 13 -16 February 2013?

We’re assuming we’ll have a stable number of exhibitors of around 2,200 for BioFach and about 200 for Vivaness.  We would be very pleased if we could once again open our doors to 40,000 guests in Nuremberg. However, our main concern is not raising visitor numbers but bringing exhibitors together with a qualified public in the form of a high concentration of decision-makers. From our perspective, the industry needs every year the stimuli that BioFach and Vivaness have to offer – not least for the intensity of networking, exchanging information and public perception.