Andy Tompkins, Doug Palladini on ASR/SIMA Partnership

ADMIN

• August 13 2009
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ASR and SIMA recently announced a partnership to help strengthen ASR September this year. TransWorld Business had a chance to discuss some key points of the new plan with Andy Tompkins, the VP of Nielsen Sports Group. Here’s a clip from our interview with him on the set of Down to Business:

We also had a chance to talk with Doug Palladini, SIMA President and Vans VP of Marketing, not too long ago about SIMA’s role in the partnership.

“One  thing we can do as the trade group representing our membership, which is mostly made up of the brands in the surf industry, is to kind of  cull everybody’s ideas together into the most powerful way to make change, and to ensure the longevity of a strong show here in Southern California,” Palladini says. “ASR is our partner, we’ve worked with them closely for a really, really long time now and they’ve been very open to our input.”

Palladini says that securing attendance from some of the  industry’s most influential buyers was at the top of SIMA’s priority list, along with several other initiatives that Tompkins outlines including creating a new lounge workspace on the show floor, holding an official press conference during day one of the show, and posting a blog with up-to-date and live show coverage. Palladini pointed out that the biggest concern he heard from SIMA members was ASR’s fall off in attendance. “Because of the difficult economic times or some other reasons, some brands have decided that being a part of this trade show is something they can possibly do without. And our message is ‘No.’ These trade shows are a vital part of business and we have to make sure that we shore up and make sure that our members understand why being a part of ASR - why being there - is just good business sense.”

The two groups are continuing to expand upon these initial steps to develop a more in-depth plan for ASR 2010, says Palladini, adding that he believes there will always be a place for traditional trade shows simply because of the necessity for face-to-face business interaction, especially in challenging economic times.

“Right now, it is even more important to be in front of your key accounts,” he says. “I could send a thousand emails to Bobby at Jacks and D at Coastal Edge, but it’s when I actually go into the store and talk with them for an hour and show my face and take a sincere interest in their business, those are the things they are going to remember. The same thing is true at a trade show and ASR is a good example of that. I think it goes beyond the nuts and bolts of writing orders.”