When you open a major trade show in Frankfurt on the German Reunification Holiday, should you expect a strong opening?
Yesterday, 3 OCT, was the holiday that celebrates the reunification of East and West Germany (some say it is similar to the US 4th of July holiday).
Sunday, 2 OCT was the start of Light+Building and it was quite slow, but by yesterday the pace was surprisingly busy and most exhibitors that your humble editor spoke with were happy.
Today, Tuesday, dare I say, reminds me of 2018—attendance-wise. For one of the few times in my life I am thrilled to see lines of people. We have lines. Lines to scan badges, lines at booths (lines of people to talk to me at my booth!), lines at restaurants, lines at restrooms.
But make no mistake: there is still a huge lack of support from large European manufacturers: Signify, Zumtobel, Tridonic, amsOSRAM, ERCO, iGuzzini, Targetti, Flos and countless others.
Artemide, a big-name European manufacturer, is one of the stars in Hall 3. We do see other familiar brands: LEDVANCE and Bega have a major presence in Hall 3.0. We plan on visiting Luminous Devices, Casambi, Feelux, Klus, Nichia, and Acclaim today.
Steve Paolini of TeleLumen says he is pleasantly surprised by the number of attendees as he thought it would be desolate. While he has not seen a lot of revolutionary new products, he maintains that Europeans are still better at lack of glare than American manufacturers. Steve is also sees less flicker than in 2018. And, aesthetically, that Europeans are still ahead of the US in luminaire design.
One large European non-exhibiting manufacturer told me confidentially that they underestimated the attendance for this year and are considering a return in 2024: “We would typically spend €2 million in Frankfurt and we have re-allocated that money to other marketing opportunities, but the quality of leads we normally receive at L+B is much better than what we get from things such as Search Engine Optimization.”