Stuttgart, September 30, 2021. Sustainability. Diversity. Mobility. Future. Those were the buzzwords at this year’s IAA. For the first time in Munich, and for the first time not (just) at the trade show but right in the heart of the city: With “Open Spaces” scattered throughout the city center, this year’s IAA took on a whole new look. For us, that was one more reason to pay a visit and see the new trade show concept for ourselves. It was perfect that Alessio, our new Senior Concept Developer, calls the Bavarian capital home and was able to guide his colleagues from space to space as a “local guide.” Here, about three weeks after the fair, Alessio looks back and tells us what the team particularly liked and where they still see room for improvement.
BE PRESENT | Our Highlights
Even the trip to the IAA itself was unusual. Instead of taking the train to Frankfurt as he usually does to check out innovations in the automotive industry, this year Alessio was able to take a leisurely stroll from his front door toward downtown Munich to meet his colleagues from Stuttgart.
Alessio Zachariades joined follow red as a Senior Concept Developer on September 1, 2021. In addition to his experience in concept development, as a trained sound engineer, he contributes to the further expansion of our expertise in this area, particularly with his specialized knowledge of event technology and 3D communication. Creativity meets practical know-how in execution. For Alessio, teamwork is particularly important at work—after all, you spend more time with your colleagues than with almost anyone else during the week. So it was all the more wonderful that he was able to host his team for a joint visit to the IAA in Munich, away from the daily office routine. Together, they explored the numerous exhibitors in the city center and at the convention center, looking for trends and inspiration for our clients. This is a given for us and enormously important for the innovative force behind the follow red concepts—after all, the automotive industry, Germany’s key industry, is exploring new approaches to communication here. During the visit, it quickly became clear that the new downtown trade show concept was well-received by everyone. Looking back, Alessio says: “Placing the topic of new mobility—which, after all, particularly affects cities—right within that living space itself was as ingenious as it was obvious.” After all, he notes, this is the very place where innovations are most needed. And it’s also where the target audience of many exhibitors happens to be: “What was completely different, of course, was that there were also passersby on site—people who wouldn’t necessarily have bought a ticket for the IAA but were magically drawn to the eye-catching and colorful spaces in the city center. As a result, some exhibitors may have reached an entirely new target audience, and conversely, a Munich passerby might have come into contact with a brand they hadn’t even known existed before,” said Alessio. Thanks to the downtown location, some booths also had the opportunity to present themselves in a completely different light in the evening through art and light installations—complete with entertainment, music, and dance. The city as a stage and a trade show that doesn’t necessarily end at 6 p.m.
BE DIFFERENT | What We Hope for the Future
“Out of the convention center and into downtown” wasn’t quite accurate. That’s because a large portion of the exhibitors were still presenting their offerings in a more or less traditional manner right on the convention grounds themselves. So anyone who wanted to experience the entire IAA had to move back and forth between the Open Space in the city center and the Munich Trade Fair grounds. Alessio felt there was still room for improvement in how this was organized, particularly with the shuttle service: “Logistically, transportation from the city center to the trade fair grounds could have worked better. In the end, the ‘Blue Lane’ was a bit of a letdown. Instead of letting us experience innovative mobility concepts there, all that awaited us was a packed bus, and test drives along the route weren’t possible on the spot either.” Although the IAA app was installed, it offered little benefit to the fair visitor. It didn’t provide any particular added value, either for navigation or for content-related features. So, aside from taking photos, the smartphone stayed in my pocket after all. When switching from downtown to the fairgrounds, it was noticeable that only some exhibitors had dual representations, while others opted out entirely of the traditional booth setup in the exhibition hall. “For the exhibitors who were represented in two locations, I would have liked to see a better connection in terms of content between their downtown presence and their booth in the exhibition hall. Why should I visit both booths? That message didn’t quite come across yet.” Many of the exhibitors this year positioned themselves strongly around the major themes of diversity and sustainability. Alessio’s hope for the future is for more differentiation in this area: “Addressing socially relevant issues is just as important as it is right. Still, I’d like to see a bit more differentiation among the exhibitors, who all promoted themselves using the same buzzwords. There was clearly a lack of courage here—a lack of truly innovative concepts that stand out from the crowd.” In the end, however, Alessio remains optimistic: “This was a first attempt, an experiment not only for the trade show but also for the exhibitors themselves. I can well imagine that there’s still room for improvement at a future trade show in terms of content-based links between Open Space and the trade show, as well as the integration of the trade show infrastructure into the city center. In any case, the future development of the trade show concept as a product presentation and communication platform remains exciting.”
