AMERICAS – The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has released an update to its 2009 report: The Spend Decision: Analysing How Exhibits Fit into the Overall Marketing Budget.
 
CEIR claims the new edition provides an analysis of the changes and trends in the exhibition industry over the past several years, looking at how the economy has impacted the global industry and giving an outlook for the near future.
 
Results were based on a survey completed in September 2011 by nearly 300 marketing executives who exhibited in at least one business-to-business (B2B) exhibition in the past two years, with a minimum of US$10m in annual revenues.
 
The findings demonstrate how marketing funds are allocated to B2B exhibitions, their objectives for participating and how they plan to measure success.
 
"Results point to the resiliency of the business-to-business exhibition industry,” said CEIR research director Nancy Drapeau (pictured). “The marketing channel spend allocation has held and increased during these challenging economic times. It has not lost allocation to competitor channels.”
 
According to Drapeau, from 2010 the percentage allocation increased to 40.2 per cent compared to 33.9 per cent in 2009. The results for 2011 maintained this higher level with a 39.2 per cent allocation. “It is a testament to the high value marketers place on participating in these events," she said.
 
The findings do however uncover negative effects from the economic collapse. “Marketing budgets have contracted, therefore despite increases in the percentage allocation to B2B exhibitions; this percentage of a smaller marketing budget translates into overall spending that is flat, or a little less,” said Drapeau.
 
“The median spending per exhibition is $17,708 in 2011 compared to $18,500 in 2009."
 
There is evidence of a modest recovery with increases in participation in the number of events. The lowest point was in 2009, with a median of eight events per year, down from a high of 14 in 2008 and 2007. The median number of exhibitions increased to nine in 2010, a level projected to hold through 2012.
 
CEIR released a report on the Changing Environment of Exhibitions at Expo! Expo! in Las Vegas last year.
 
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