Trade Only National Show 2012 a Big Success

Trade Only, the leading marketing and information solutions provider for the promotional product industry has announced that the Trade Only National Show 2012 has been the most successful ever.

Trade Only reports that the show, held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, UK on the 25^th and 26^th of January has broken previous records with over 3,000 visitors through the doors over the two days -  a 16% increase in unique visitors from 2011.

This massive increase highlights the importance of the show and its unique position in the promotional products marketplace in the UK.

Initial analysis has the final number of visitors at 3,035, compared with 2,836 in 2011. The number of unique distributor visitors was also up (2,835 against 2,435).

Nigel Bailey, Event Director for Trade Only said: "It has been an incredible few days. This show has just kept growing and is now a world class event and the biggest and best promotional products show the UK has ever had.  With nearly 75% of space rebooked by the end of the show we are already hard at work planning to make TONS 2013 even better. Feedback from suppliers and visitors alike has been very, very positive."

Gail Kilcoyne, Exhibition Manager for Trade Only added: "It has been an amazing show and we have all been working non-stop. The reaction from everyone has been terrific and makes a year of hard work very satisfying".

There were more suppliers exhibiting than ever before, with over 1,300 staff and 333 stands, and the show benefited from an international flavour with representatives from 47 countries. Visitors to the show thronged the bpma and PSI Pavilions, watched manufacturing demonstrations and fashion shows at Worx!, while the Cliff Quicksell Power Sessions sometimes had 200 people in attendance.

The British Promotional Merchandise Association Annual Awards Dinner held on the middle night of the show enjoyed record attendance too, with 800 suppliers and distributors enjoying the most glamorous evening in the industry calendar. The awards evening took on an exciting additional element in the form of a live vote for Campaign of the Year won by 2BSourced and Personality of the Year won by Godfrey O’Donnell from Keramikos.

The event featured an electrifying performance from chart topper and television star Olly Murs.

At the dinner, highlighting the importance of quality education to the industry, Neal Beagles, Chairman of the bpma announced a bpma education day at the Ricoh Arena on the 22nd of January 2013 as part of the build-up to the show.

The Trade Only National Show 2013 will again be held at the Ricoh Arena on the 23rd and 24th of January 2013.

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