Hey Y’all!
I’m in Atlanta enjoying some southern hospitality before heading to the hustle and bustle of New York City. I’ve been at the Atlanta Gift Show in the AmericasMart buildings for the past 2 days. MY FEET HURT!
If you’ve never been here, I’ll try my best to give you an idea of what it is like. But I have to tell you, you just don’t understand until you come. Can you imagine trying to describe Disneyland to someone who has never seen pictures of it or been to an amusement park, they wouldn’t really get it until they got there.
First, let me tell you, it can be just a tad intimidating! There are 3 buildings – aptly named “Building 1”, “Building 2” and “Building 3”. Oh.. now they’ve added a “West Wing” to Building 2 and it had everyone confused. I still don’t understand why sometimes I had to leave Building 2 and go through Building 3 to get to Building 2, West Wing. But as many of us discussed, we were not consulted when they were doing the design. It is a classic case of resistence to change and confusion created by change– hopefully I’ll be less confused next year. Here is a map:
Now mind you, this is a cross section of the floors of the buildings, it doesn’t even begin to give you an idea of the size of each floor. Thankfully I didn’t have to walk every one! One thing that is nice is that once you are inside the labyrinth, you don’t have to go outside. They have bridges between the buildings. Here are some pics of the bridges and looking out of the bridges:
I spent my days walking the floors, meeting with clients, checking out new products (I had 2 new lines with new licensees come out at this show!) and looking for trends. I saw some fashion trends I won’t be adopting as well as others.
The word on the floors was “cautious” — manufacturers are on the conservative side, bringing out tried and true product line themes and cutting back on skus to weather the economy. There weren’t as many buyers (this is a show where store owners of all levels come to buy products for their stores) but I was hearing that the size of the orders was up a little over last year. Good news I hope. Several people I talked to also thought some buyers might not be spending the money to come “to market” (or “the mart” — knowing the lingo is important) but instead saving it to buy product. The sales reps in the field will be more important than ever — they hope!
On Saturday I had the pleasure of doing an “Artist Signing” with Thirstystone. I LOVE doing them since I really enjoy talking with everyone and helping sell the product. My goal is always to find people who don’t know about them and get them in the showroom. (We got at least 5 new customers signed up, from our estimations.) I signed a coaster from a new “Fashion” line that just came out and most women were THRILLED when I told them the coaster came with a “no guilt guarantee” — they didn’t have to wear stilletos to enjoy the coaster. (I was wearing Naturalizers — pretty funny!) Here’s a pic from that event…
Not the best pictures but I decided to curb my vanity and post them!
That’s the lowdown from the show. There may be a video to come as I was playing with my FlipVideo… I’ll keep you posted!
~ Tara
P.S. Next Stop: Printsource New York… stay tuned!
Wow, thanks for the insight on the show. Being new to the licensing game, I’m hanging on every word.
I’ll wait patiently to hear about the NYC show, but I think I have my question now for the next call. 🙂
Hi Tara – thanks for the insight, I have exhibited at the Atlanta Show twice. I had a good friend walk the show and she said it was awful, real slow – only a few booths were doing good business. Also when she walked and talked with exhibitors they were very upset and depressed. The whole area where we had previously exhibited at (July ’07) was closed off – not enough exhibitors. I hope things are changing – but from what she said, it looked very bad. On a side note your coasters look super cute – good luck with them! And good luck in NYC.
Aren’t those bridges a little scary? There are to me anyway 🙂 And it seems like it is the only place you can get a decent, consistent cell signal in the whole place. I always feel a little precarious on them. It was great to catch lunch on Sunday at the show (we even found decent food!) ~ best of luck to you in NY at PrintSource!
Wow, having attended LA, NY gift, NY stationery show and a few other mid-sized shows, it soundss like Atlanta lives up to its reputation. However the post by Jamie above sounds like my experience in NY in May, much quieter than usual. Sending you good juju for PrintSource!
Hey pal.
Shoot, I wish I would have connected with you there! Boy, were my feet, pack and hips killin after 3 long days of walking. That 2nd floor WW, really threw me. I found it to be an awesome show. I had little expectations with the economy but was busy with meetings all three days and lots of interest. The evenings are always fun, dining and HH with buddies.
You look great in your pics! Keep warm in NY! Will you be at CHA?
B
I heard you were there when I was close to leaving! Bummer! Next year… 🙂
Hi Tara, It was great to finally meet you in person.
I exhibited in the Licensing and Design section (L&D) at Atlanta with five other artists in the Atlanta Art Licensing Group booth. This was my first show to exhibit so I have nothing to compare it to but for me it was a fantastic show!
This was the first time that Atlanta had a L&D section so there were only about a dozen booths exhibiting but all the artists and agents that I talked to thought it was a really successful show for them. The seasoned exhibitors were really happy with the traffic (sometimes VERY sparse) for a first time show and the contacts they made with manufacturers they’ve never seen at other shows or even considered for licensing.
The beauty of exhibiting with other artists is that I wasn’t tied to the booth so that I could tour the show,make appointments with manufactures, check out the showrooms and booths, and even attend a few signings. Sorry that I missed your signing Tara! There was so much “eye candy” that I was on sensory overload and was continually lost trying to find my way around the over 2000 permanent showrooms and over 5000 temporary booths. Between exhibiting and appointments with manufacturers, I made loads of contacts and am still doing followups a week after the show.
I am one happy camper!