New York, NY – Advanstar Licensing followed up its cross-promotion partnership with the International Home + Housewares Show by signing a similar deal with the American International Toy Fair in late September.
The agreements with the International Housewares Association (IHA) and the Toy Industry Association (TIA) will connect show exhibitors and attendees with Advanstar’s Licensing Expo at a time when trademark and licensed characters and images are becoming more common in homes and toy boxes.
“Advanstar Licensing is thrilled to be collaborating with the leading event for the housewares market,” Jessica Blue, vice president of Licensing Expo, said in announcing the collaboration with the IHA. “When we realized that all of our exhibitors would benefit from attending their show and vice versa, we decided to build this cooperation.”
The TIA pact calls for Advanstar Licensing to contribute marketing and content to the TIA’s American International Toy Fair and for the TIA to do the same for Licensing Expo. The arrangement is basically identical to the deal struck with the IHA.
“This allows both groups to elevate awareness of the inextricable link between toys and playthings for all ages, and brand and entertainment properties,” said Marian Bossard, TIA vice president, meetings and events.
The strategy for the partnership includes direct marketing to attendees plus hosted seminars on licensing issues and trends to be held at the shows.
The agreement also links Licensing Expo with a pair of sizable and established trade shows. The Toy Fair, which is in its 110th year, drew 25,145 attendees this year and covered 375,917 net square feet. The exhibit space was 2.0% over the 2012 show, which ranked 45th on the Trade Show Executive Gold 100 roster of largest U.S. trade shows. The International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago was 13th on the Gold 100 and this year grew 2.0% to 775,000 nsf.
Licensing Expo grew an impressive 9.5% to 218,089 nsf this year and attracted 15,013 attendees. Licensing is becoming a more integral consideration for toymakers and is drawing the audiences of the two shows closer together. Blue said 30% of the 3 billion toys and games sold annually in the U.S. include some sort of licensing arrangement. “This is going to bring many benefits to both sets of exhibitors,” Blue said. “Licensing Expo’s exhibitors can attend Toy Fair to seek out the latest trends in the market, and every Toy Fair exhibitor can find a potential licensing partner by attending Licensing Expo.”
Reach Marian Bossard at (646) 520-4853 or mbossard@toyassociation.org; Jessica Blue at (310) 903-1796 or jblue@advanstar.com; IHA Vice President, Trade Show Mia Rampersad at (847) 292-4200 or mrampersad@housewares.org
