IWA & OutdoorClassics and Enforce Tac 2012: Industry gathering continues successful development
- New records for exhibitors and visitors
- Meeting in Nürnberg: international, colourful and varied
- Enforce Tac: premiere for official security experts
IWA & OutdoorClassics 2012 from 9–12 March was thoroughly convincing again with a record number of exhibitors that topped 1,200 for the first time and 36,000 trade visitors from more than 100 countries. So the 39th edition of the world-leading international exhibition for hunting and sporting guns, classic outdoor activities and security equipment in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg welcomed more guests than ever before from all over the world. Enforce Tac, the new special exhibition for the needs of security experts from official agencies, also experienced a promising premiere on 8–9 March 2012.
The result for 2012 in figures* is 1,204 exhibitors and 36,004 trade visitors from 109 countries. This corresponds to growth in all segments over the previous event in 2011, when 1,166 exhibitors and 35,220 visitors came to Nürnberg. Not just the number of exhibitors increased in 2012, but the display area also grew to more than 74,000 m². The extra exhibition hall over previous years meant the structure of the exhibition segments could be optimized again. The additional hall not only offered space for new exhibitors to present their products, but also enabled many regular exhibitors at IWA & OutdoorClassics to extend their space with extremely high-quality stands.
* The figures for exhibitors and visitors are checked and certified by the Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics (FKM), Berlin.
International gathering in Nürnberg
IWA & OutdoorClassics is one of the most international exhibitions in Nürnberg. Every year, three-quarters of the exhibitors and almost two-thirds of the visitors come to Nürnberg for this event from countries other than Germany. Mayor Horst Förther representing the City of Nürnberg cordially welcomed the guests from all over the world at the official opening on the first day of the exhibition: “The Franconian metropolis Nürnberg is always pleased to welcome you to your industry’s summit meeting!” Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian State Minister of the Interior, stressed the importance of the international exhibition in his speech: “I am delighted to join you again here in the Nürnberg exhibition centre and fire the starting shot for four innovative and exciting days. All the world’s big names in hunting and sporting guns, outdoor gear and security equipment meet here.”
The list of participating nations is long. The list of exhibitors is headed by Germany, the USA, Italy, Great Britain, France, Turkey, Spain and Austria. Besides Germany, the top countries for visitors were the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France and Russia.
“We are pleased to bring together guests from all continents here in the exhibition centre every year,” says Thomas Preutenborbeck, Exhibition Manager of IWA & OutdoorClassics at NürnbergMesse. “The passion for hunting and the enjoyment of shooting sports and outdoor activities are just as universal as the need for security,” Preutenborbeck adds. “It’s nice to see people with totally different cultural backgrounds meeting here to establish contact with each other. This not only leads to business relationships across all frontiers, but to friendships too.”
Focus on quality
Besides its constantly increased key figures and high degree of internationality, IWA & OutdoorClassics mainly stands out for its comprehensive spectrum of products and the high quality of the contacts. 94 per cent of the exhibitors said they had reached their major target groups at IWA & OutdoorClassics 2012. Nine out of ten companies were satisfied with the competence of the visitors on their stand, made new business connections and expect follow-up business based on these contacts. So it’s no wonder that they similarly rate the exhibition as an “important to outstanding” part of their marketing activities – and already said at the end of the exhibition in 2012: “We’ll certainly be back again in 2013!”
As a purely B2B medium, IWA & OutdoorClassics scores on contact quality: Nine out of ten visitors are involved in procurement decisions in their company or official agency, half of them decisively. The number 1 reason for visiting for most visitors was to discover new products, and there was indeed a new or improved product to discover on 85 per cent of the stands. The next reason for coming to Nürnberg was to cultivate existing business relationships and prepare the ground for new ones. IWA & OutdoorClassics is also very popular as a place for exchanging views and training: around one-third of the visitors stated this as motivation.
Klaus Gotzen, General Manager of JSM – Verband der Hersteller von Jagd-, Sportwaffen und Munition, the German firearms and ammunition manufacturers association and one of the honorary sponsors of IWA & OutdoorClassics, reports positively on the exhibition: “The 39th edition of IWA & OutdoorClassics was well attended again, and our member firms have expressed their satisfaction with the overall result.”
Demand for information
“The new position of our stand in hall 7 was very well accepted,” says Wolfgang Fuchs, General Manager of VDB – Verband Deutscher Büchsenmacher und Waffenfachhändler e.V., the German gunsmiths and traders association and the other honorary sponsor of the exhibition. “The stand was also ideally located close to the stand of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which provided information about setting up a national firearms register in Germany. We were also very pleased with the interest shown in our forum.” The audience gave the forum top marks as well:
96 per cent liked the presentations on various topics such as export regulations, impact behaviour of hunting bullets, proof testing law and the national firearms register.
Mobile services: smart is in!
For the second year in succession, visitors to IWA & OutdoorClassics could obtain important information for an efficient visit over their smartphone. The iPhone app and mobile sites for other mobile phones made it easy to get the key details of the exhibition and access information on exhibitors, products, stand positions and the supporting programme at any time. Following the launch of the mobile services at last year’s IWA & OutdoorClassics, word had already got round this year about their usefulness. The iPhone app was downloaded over 1,000 times and was rated extremely positively in the iTunes Store with 4.5 out of a possible five stars, and the mobile sites were visited as many as 41,000 times in February and March 2012 alone.
Enforce Tac: special exhibition for special forces
Enforce Tac as a logical development of the highly specialized Law Enforcement segment and the Official Agencies Day at IWA & OutdoorClassics formed a separate segment for the first time. Some 1,400 experts from official agencies enjoyed an extensive programme of presentations at the European Policetrainer Conference and the Police Management Academy Conference on 8 March 2012, plus a presentation of service products from the 62 exhibitors in Sydney hall in the NCC Ost congress centre. “The first Enforce Tac has met our expectations in terms of the number of exhibitors and visitors and represents a noticeable intensification of the products in the Law Enforcement segment,” says Preutenborbeck. “We will use the experience gained from the premiere to continue to optimize this special event in the future.”
Nine out of ten exhibitors were satisfied with their company’s overall success at Enforce Tac 2012 and said they had reached their main target groups from the police, judiciary, frontier protection authorities, customs, military police, armed forces and security policy bodies. 94 per cent were satisfied with the professional qualifications of the visitors, and 85 per cent reported new business connections. 96 per cent of the visitors were satisfied with the products on display, but top of the list of wishes for the future was the desire for more companies to be present at the exhibition.
For a good third of the visitors, Enforce Tac is the only exhibition they visit for these themes. With visitors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Norway, Spain, Italy, other European countries, the USA and Israel, there are good prospects of Enforce Tac establishing itself as international meeting place for special forces.
Make a note: 40th anniversary in 2013
IWA & OutdoorClassics celebrates its 40th anniversary next year – once again with many new products and innovations for hunting, shooting sports, outdoor activities and security, even after four decades. The date and venue for its fortieth birthday are 8–11 March 2013, in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg. The 2nd Enforce Tac takes place on 7–8 March 2013.
Contact for press and media
Guido Welk, Jeanette Harbeit
Tel +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-83 23
Fax +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-12 83 23
jeanette.harbeit(at)nuernbergmesse.de
All press articles, more detailed information and photos are available at:
www.iwa.info/press
www.enforcetac.com/press
All exhibitors and their current product information can be found at:
www.ask-iwa.info
www.enforcetac.com/en/exhibitorsearch
