Home Of Consumer Goods is Messe Frankfurt’s new motto as German trade fairs run consecutively
German greeting card and stationery show Paperworld is moving under the umbrella of its sister event Ambiente for 2023 and being rebranded as organiser Messe Frankfurt rethinks its offer with the Home Of Consumer Goods motto.
Due to take place at the Frankfurt exhibition grounds, the trade fair trio of Ambiente, Creativeworld, and Christmasworld are to run consecutively for the first time over the first weekend in February – running from Friday to Tuesday, 3-7 February, with Creativeworld starting a day later on 4 February.
This means Paperworld will clash with Spring Fair 2023 (something that happens every seven years) as the Birmingham show is slated for Sunday to Wednesday, 5-8 February 2023.
Messe Frankfurt has traditionally run Paperworld, Christmasworld and Creativeworld on the last weekend in January, with the international consumer goods trade fair Ambiente a fortnight later, but they were all cancelled in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then, despite all the arrangements having been made for 2022, all shows were called off in early January this year following fears over the omicron variant.
Paperworld is being split between Ambiente Working for its business stationery offer, and Ambiente Giving where there will be a newly-designed range of products including stationery and school supplies, while the Paperworld product groups with matching themes are to move into Christmasworld and Creativeworld.
“Frankfurt is thus the one-stop shop for the global consumer goods industry. Here the lifestyle of generations is decided and shaped,” explains Philipp Ferger, Messe Frankfurt’s vice-president consumer goods fairs. “We are thus offering the industry reliability and growth in challenging times. This is where business will be done from February 2023, where people will finally exchange ideas again and define the trends that consumers around the globe will be able to experience and purchase on site and online over the next 12 to 18 months.”
Some British companies, including Pigment, UK Greetings, Eurowrap and EastWest, have exhibited independently at Paperworld previously, while UK publishers are historically also well represented on their respective German distributors’ stands.
Above: Stefan Hermann, md of Taurus Kunstkarten, which distributes Louise Mulgrew, Belly Button Designs and Laura Darrington in Germany, at the 2020 Paperworld show
In addition, the Global Sourcing sections of the three trade fairs are to be merged into a joint offering and marketed internationally – this strategic development step will be supplemented by a new, regionally based Design & Lifestyle offering in Frankfurt in the second half of the year, while the international Paperworld brand events will continue at their traditional trade fair venues in China, India and the Middle East.
“With our strategy, we are creating the new guiding stars of an industry that is at home in Frankfurt and active and successful throughout the world,” says Detlef Braun, Messe Frankfurt executive board member. “In addition to the newly-created offering under the motto Home Of Consumer Goods here in Frankfurt, our existing consumer goods fairs in the Middle East and Asia, the targeted expansion of global sourcing and an innovative regional offering, are the future guarantors of success.”
Top: Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds host its trade fairs
