In a surprise move, Messe Friedrichshafen and Messe Frankfurt have agreed on a joint venture called fairnamic GmbH. This new company will focus on organizing and marketing of the Eurobike events and Aero trade shows. As a part of this cooperation, the Eurobike will be held in Frankfurt from 2022 onwards, moving to a mid-July date.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, large organizers of trade shows in Germany were operating in a highly competitive market: Messe Friedrichshafen lost its Outdoor trade show to Messe Munich and Messe Frankfurt lost the IAA automotive trade show to Munich as well. With the change of name to IAA Mobility, its scope expanding beyond cars and to bicycle and micro mobility and its date in September, this trade show has become a competitor of Eurobike as well. Needless to say the pandemic has strained the resources of all trade show organizers as many events had to be cancelled since the spring of 2020.
Under these challenging circumstances, Messe Friedrichshafen and Messe Frankfurt have decided to look and leap forward and agreed on a joint venture called fairnamic GmbH. Holding a majority stake of 51%, Messe Friedrichshafen brings its competence in the sports and mobility segment and strong brands such as the Eurobike and Aero trade shows into this partnership while Messe Frankfurt adds a centrally located venue close to one of the largest airports in the world, plenty of accommodation close to the show and additional financial power. Tasked with the organization and the marketing of the Eurobike and Aero trade shows and side-events, Fairnamic GmbH will operate from Friedrichshafen.
According to Messe Friedrichshafen’s CEO Klaus Wellmann, moving the Eurobike show from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt answers the long-standing complaints about traffic jams in and out of town, complicated travel itineraries both for overseas and domestic visitors and unnecessarily long distances between the show and many of the accommodations. “The new venue in the center of a large and bustling city rather than in a holiday region also reflects a shift in focus of the Eurobike show, away from sports and towards utility bicycles and other forms of (micro-)mobility. We are confident that this will help consolidate the status of Eurobike as the world’s leading trade show for the global bicycle business,” Wellmann added.
With the new location comes a new date as well, as the Eurobike will move to an earlier mid-July date – from July 13th to 17th, with three days for trade visitors only and two action-filled days for consumers. While this date has been tried with little success in 2018, Eurobike boss Stefan Reisinger is confident that it will not be too much of a challenge for the industry: “More and more brands are pushing the dates of their product presentations forwards into July anyway, so that should not be an issue.” As for the apparel, softgoods and bikewear segment, the earlier date matches their pre-ordering season nicely.