The world’s largest toy trade show has unveiled detail of its online platform, following cancellation of the live Spielwarenmesse event.
The world’s largest toy fair was cancelled last week, due to increasing cancellations related to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
“The rapid growth of the Omicron variant in recent days … and the resultant increasing number of cancellations to stands, has left the organizer, Spielwarenmesse eG, with no alternative,” the organizers said in a press release. “With a heavy heart it has to cancel Spielwarenmesse 2022 in Nuremberg. As an alternative, exhibitors, specialist retailers and media representatives can meet up on the Spielwarenmesse Digital platform.”
Spielwarenmesse is now releasing more detail on its plans of the online event, using its new Spielwarenmesse Digital platform.
“In Spielwarenmesse Digital, we are setting new standards,” explains Christian Ulrich, spokesperson for the Executive Board at Spielwarenmesse eG. “With this platform, we are providing the international toy community with an extensive industry network that will enable them to exchange ideas and develop new business relationships.”
For the originally planned period of the trade fair, from from Feb. 2 to 6, the new platform is offering a comprehensive live program for all participants, the organizers say. Alongside a wide range of communication tools, it also offers the trade a compact overview of trends and innovations. The registration phase of Spielwarenmesse Digital for trade visitors started Jan. 19.
Buyers can register on the new platform at digital.spielwarenmesse.de/en and set up their personal profile. Tickets can be obtained via the website www.spielwarenmesse.de/en/tickets. Previously purchased tickets to the on-site industry event will remain valid for Spielwarenmesse Digital.
The platform will also support a fully live program of events and presentations over the five-day span of the Spielwarenmesse digital conference.
The conference will kick off on Feb. 2 with the announcement of the winner of the annual Toy Award, and presentations from the Toy Business Forum will be streamed via the platform on all five days. Topics will cover a spectrum ranging from current trends in retailing and toys, through marketing, to sustainability and digitalisation.
Spielwarenmesse Digital will also be showing the LicenseTalks product presentations from exhibitors. Attendees will be able to easily add presentations in which they are interested to their own calendar on the platform. After Feb. 6, the presentations can be viewed on demand as videos. The presentations on the Toy Business Forum are available in both German and English.
But a trade show isn’t a trade show if you can’t meet your colleagues, so Spielwarenmesse is offering a beefed up system to research exhibitors and attending companies, and to arrange online meetings. Spielwarenmesse Digital will provide a compact overview of all participating businesses and their product ranges, and under the menu item ‘Exhibitors & Products’, all of the companies are represented with their own entries.
In addition to information about the company and contacts, the profiles offer an overview of their product range and selected product entries, with text and images. Retailers can make direct contact with exhibitors using various communication tools including private chats, group chats, audio calls and video meetings. Virtual meetings will also be simple to arrange as the platform also includes a number of search and filter options. These allow users to quickly find relevant suppliers, innovations, brands and licences and save them to their own favorites list, the organizers say.
As well, the popular Special Areas at the leading industry fair will also be reproduced on Spielwarenmesse Digital.
Another highlight is the ‘Networking’ area. Based on the interests saved in the attendee’s personal profile, the platform will recommend appropriate contacts to each participant. Using the search function, buyers can also easily find trading partners and network with them.
While the system is designed for ease of use, the organizers are aware there’s always a learning curve in using new software, so the website www.spielwarenmesse.de/en/digital has a number of tutorials available to help participants prepare for the fair. These short videos explain clearly the various areas and functions of Spielwarenmesse Digital.
While the trade show organizers regret having to cancel the live event, Ulrich says Spielwarenmesse fortunately was able to develop a powerful tool to help attendees achieve their business goals through the new platform.
“We regret having to make this decision and are grateful to everyone who remained committed to a physical trade fair to the very end,” Ulrich said. “Thanks to Spielwarenmesse Digital, they still have networking opportunities and the facility to discover the latest trends, within the original timetable of the trade fair.”
Omicron Takes Fun Out of Licensing As Spielwarenmesse Toy Fair Cancelled