ProWein innovates in a bid to maintain its position as a ‘must attend’ wine trade fair
Website: https://www.prowein.com/
For a while, ProWein was the undisputed superstar of wine trade fairs. It was more-or-less compulsory to head to Dusseldorf in March to meet just about everyone who mattered in the wine biz. I’ve been many times.
Coming a long second was VinExpo in Bordeaux. It had a reputation for not looking after new world producers all that well, and Bordeaux simply didn’t have the transport and accommodation logistics to cope with all the visitors. I remember one year being billeted with a French family who moved one of their teenagers out of their room so they could let it out to visitors to the trade fair. And getting to the fair from the city was far from simple.
ProWein has had some issues too. Dusseldorf isn’t a big enough city to cope with 50 000 visitors without the demand for accommodation causing prices to soar to sometimes eye-watering levels. The first time I went I was doing some work for a client who was providing me with a couple of nights accommodation. I got another gig, and I had to extend my stay for another night at my own expense. I tried booking a night at the hotel I was already staying at, a modest airport place, and the cost would have been €400. I ended up staying in a hostel for €180, and the next day, after the fair had ended, the price for the same place dropped to €30.
But a few years back, Vinexpo moved to Paris, and to February rather than June. The first year it was distinctly French-accented, but over the last two years it has become more global, and now it has overtaken ProWein in terms of attendees. The advantage of Paris is that it’s one of the world’s great cities, and it can deal with 50 000 visitors without hotel rooms budging in price. And you can stay pretty much anywhere in Paris and get to the fair easily by metro.
ProWein have responded with some innovations that they hope will keep their fair relevant in the face of competition from Vinexpo Wine Paris. I heard about these during a presentation at the Cool Climate Wine Summit in Copenhagen, which ProWein are partnering in.
The first is that they are putting together a VIP hosting package for buyers from key countries. If you have genuine buying power, Prowein will pay your flights and accommodation. This is a very smart move.
Second, they have a matchmaking service for guests and exhibitors, which is very useful, and represents a clever use of data. This is a big fair, and so the ability to do this sort of planning in advance of the event is handy.
Third, they’ve planned the layout of the fair to save the shoe leather of the attendees. Hopefully this will ease one of the struggles of a big trade fair like this which is having to hurry between appointments that can be a kilometre apart.
Fourth, they are trying to make Dusseldorf more fun, with a series of evening events around the town. I’ve been lucky that I’ve usually had friends to hang out with in the evenings, but if you aren’t with friends, or you are with colleagues you don’t really want to party with, then you can hit these organized events and make new friends!
I’ll be going back again this year.
