The US Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) — America’s equivalent of the UK Motorcycle Industry Association — has bought that nation’s premier bike show American International Motorcycle Expo (AIMExpo) from Marketplace Events LLC for an undisclosed sum.
Taking place at Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, each October, AIMExpo bills itself as the only American powersports event that caters to trade, media and consumers all under one roof, timed to showcase the industry’s annual product unveilings. Similar to Europe’s Intermot Cologne and EICMA Milan fairs, AIMExpo opens with two exclusively trade-only days before letting punters through the door.
Launched three years ago and expanding rapidly, AIMExpo became a direct challenger to the long-established Powersports Dealer Expo trade show. The latter’s promoter, Advanstar Communications (which also publishes the US trade e-zine Powersports Dealernews), reacted to this competition by moving its location from a traditional venue at Indianapolis to Chicago and dates from February to early December. This has since been described as “a huge tactical error” by one veteran former Advanstar executive.
The two shows then went head-to-head in autumn last year. Dealer Expo’s exhibitor line-up was compromised to a certain extent by the appeal of Florida sunshine against more bracing prospects in the “Windy City”. And although it had far more dealers registered as potential visitors than AIMExpo — close to 5000 — fewer than 10% of them actually turned up. Following this catastrophe, Advanstar has yet to make any formal announcement that Dealer Expo been killed off but no promotional or organisational activity for a 2015 event is evident, so it’s safe to assume the event’s final demise.
AIMExpo’s show personnel, sales staff and management, including director Cinnamon Kernes and founders Mike Webster and Larry Little, will now become a new MIC department called MIC Events. To launch AIMExpo, Webster originally jumped ship from a 26-year career with Advanstar, where he had managed Dealer Expo and a consumer-facing regional International Motorcycle Shows portfolio.
Commenting on the takeover, AIMExpo’s Larry Little said: “The concept of MIC owning AIMExpo is actually quite common. Many trade shows are owned or operated by their industry associations. This strategic configuration makes it much easier to build on existing industry synergies, align the industry’s key stakeholders and connect manufacturers and distributors of products and services in a valued face-to-face environment with retailers and consumers who have the greatest interest in their offerings.”