‘Just business, no distractions’ says ProWein chief

When it comes to the positioning of ProWein in the competitive world of wine shows, it’s a case of focusing on trading, rather than entertaining, according to the exhibition chief, Marius Berlemann. Speaking to db at ProWine Hong Kong last week, Berlemann, who is COO at Messe Dusseldorf – the organisers of ProWein in Dusseldorf and six further wine and spirits fairs around the world – said that the brand message was: “Just business, no distractions”. Explaining the positioning, he said, “ProWein has succeeded because it offers a very good return on investment: exhibitors know that in three days they will do a lot of business, with no distractions.” Acknowledging the rising importance of Wine Paris – a rival fair in the French capital held around a month before ProWein in mid-March – he added, “Dusseldorf is a nice city, but we realise we cannot compete with Paris, but ProWein is about doing business.” He also commented that ProWein provides “a neutral ground for wine producers”, while offering German efficiency, and, “hotel prices that are more under control” – that is in relation to past fairs, where room rates had risen during the fair due to the high level of demand. As a result he said, “The cost of attending ProWein has come down.” He added that ProWein was “not focused on one specific wine growing region or country,” and had increased the proportion of visitors from outside Germany, which he said has changed markedly. “ProWein used to be 70% German visitors, but now it is 55%,” he recorded, before commenting that international visitor numbers will increase further as the fair introduces next year a “wholesaler buyer programme that will see us host 200 buyers from across the globe”. As for its fairs around the world, which are branded 'ProWine', he said that the present spread of six events – which take place in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai and, most recently, Sao Paolo – was sufficient. “We have no plan to add further exhibitions,” he told db, adding, “But we do plan to enrich our existing shows.” Finally, he noted that one area of growth for the fair organiser was spirits, with the number of exhibitors rising at its flagship show, ProWein – boosted due to the creation of a “show within a show”, called ProSpirits.