Matt Denton, president, dmg events, shares some insights for those considering entering the attractive Saudi market
Saudi Arabia is one of the most exciting exhibition markets in the world right now. Want proof? Well, since the success of last year’s International MICE Summit, international organisers have been queuing up to enter the Saudi market.
For many of these organisers their traditional markets see the economists and consultants forecasting limited or low growth. The Kingdom’s bustling economy and its busy exhibition sector makes operating here an alluring prospect for many. But there’s more to success than simply showing up.
We’ve all seen, more than once, that you can’t just pick up a successful event from one part of the world and replicate it in another. This is an old lesson many continue to learn the hard way. Communications are different. Drivers are different. And content and messaging needs to be tailored.
A big brand’s power and draw is important, but it needs to be relevant and in this proud market it needs to be distinctly Saudi.
This is why we’ve always believed the key to expansion into exciting markets isn’t geo-cloning events, it is geo-adapting. When local knowledge and expertise combines with the draw of international, or leading regional brands, our industry wins.
I firmly believe the future of the Saudi exhibition market lies in taking this adaptive approach. That belief is built on the last 14 years of dmg events being based in the Kingdom. We’ve been here long enough to consider ourselves ‘established’, but our longevity has provided a fantastic launchpad for recent gains. In the last three years we’ve experienced phenomenal growth, surging from five events to the more than 30 we now host here. Most pleasing of all is the fact much of this growth has been organic, with our international brands growing in reach and recognition. As a bonus we’ve also seen great new launches, and the emergence of important partnerships and joint ventures.
This is a blend new market entrants can learn from. We operate our own brand events, such as the Big 5 Construct Saudi, a two-week behemoth, which at over 140,000sqm was arguably the largest event in the Kingdom earlier this year. We have also utilised our experience and network to partner with international brands to help them gain a foothold in the Saudi market.
For example, with the DWTC’s KAOUN International we firmly established the Saudifood Show and Saudifood Manufacturing in the annual calendar. This June will see our first joint venture projects with Koelnmesse, combining our local events with their international brands, bringing FSB and Eisenwarenmesse to the region and adding ORGATEC later in the year. We are also finalising a series of events with Messe Muenchen, the first of which – IFAT KSA – is scheduled for January next year.
These relationships are possible because of the knowledge and insight of having years of experience and boots on the ground brings. Our new office in the north of Riyadh more than doubles our capacity (local staff numbers are currently around 50), and all of our corporate functions are represented in country. Our team tailor their output for the nuances of the market; they make our work distinctly Saudi.
Saudi Arabia represents a great opportunity for the global events industry. As everyone rushes toward this beacon of light, we’ll be watching to see who has learned the lessons of old.
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