It’s a good thing when organisers stop to compete with each other and start to cooperate instead. This trend will help a lot both exhibitors and visitors side, as well the stakeholders and investors.
ES. Could you share a bit about your professional background? What aspects of your career initially drew you to the exhibition industry, and how did your journey lead you to where you are today?
Nicolò Costanzo. During my university studies I was always fascinating about the international markets and our prestigious Made in Italy, which is the sign worldwide of quality and creativity unique in the world. Therefore, combining the two things, it came out my passion of export of Made in Italy and one of the most powerful marketing tools to achieve the best results for this target are exhibitions.
Actually after my Master degree in international economy I first had the opportunity to work as Export Manager in a multinational steel tubes company and aloud me to learn a lot about the sales aspects of big companies group. After this experience I started full time my journey into the exhibition industry and I’m still here after 17 years.
ES. With your extensive experience spanning the exhibition industry, cosmetics, and international markets, how have these diverse fields influenced your approach to managing and organizing exhibitions?
Nicolò Costanzo. When I first join the exhibition business I started to represent some beauty exhibitions. Beauty industry is really dynamic and resilient so I immediately grow fast my company working with many exhibitions worldwide in this sector. During the years I learned a lot and step-by-step I got new prestigious projects like to be the official Delegation in Italy of the biggest exhibition organise in Iberian Peninsula which is Ifema Madrid. Ifema Madrid is also one of the biggest player in Europe and owner of the Madrid venue fair ground, which won the prize for several years as the best venue in the world.
So nowadays I thanks the cosmetics industry for the experience and professionalism gave me during this years in the trade fairs business. I’m still working a lot in the beauty exhibitions btw: my company is the exclusive partners in Italy for more than 20 exhibitions in this sector in the world and every year we bring hundreds of Italian cosmetics
company all over the world. A great example is Beauty Istanbul exhibition where every year we have an Italian pavilion of more than 1.500 sqm with about 150 Italian exhibitors.
ES. Could you provide us with more insight into Italian Fair Service and its mission? What are some of the key services that your company offers to support companies in participating in international trade fairs, and how do these services facilitate their success in global markets?
Nicolò Costanzo. IFS mission is extremely important for both exhibition organisers and Italian exhibitors. Every day we make strong marketing activities with different tools to promote our exhibitions into the Italian market. We make sure that everybody in the industry know well about the show and get informations properly.
We do also constantly make PR and lobby jobs among Italian governmental institutions to get subsidies and organise a proper ITALY Pavilion in each of the exhibition we work for. In the meantime we help a lot the exhibitors and visitors to organise their participation to shows in the world. Every market is different. Every exhibition is different as well. Our job is to give a turnkey service to our customers, to make sure they get relaxed and just have to think to sell their products during their show participation.
ES. Italian Fair Service has a notable track record of organizing the participation of Italian companies in trade fairs across more than 55 countries. What are some of the primary challenges you face when managing such a diverse array of international events?
Nicolò Costanzo. As I said before, every market is different and every exhibition as well. Therefore we first study very well the show at 360 degree, even if IFS is an experienced company with 24 years old. It means: we visit one time the show to understand how it is organised, we study well the brochure, the floor plan, the post show report of last editions and so on.
We study possible competitor shows and why our is better and what can give more to our exhibitors. Then we start our promotion and to inform the market about the show. Of course every day we learn new aspects and we are weekely or sometimes in daily contact with the exhibition organisers in the world.
ES. Trade Events is known for organizing Go International exhibition in Milan. What sets Trade Events approach to organizing events in Milan apart from other organizers in the region?
Nicolò Costanzo. TE was born recently and it’s a company part of our group that organise their owns events. TE was born after long experience of IFS representing worldwide exhibitions and for us was naturally to move into 360
organisation job. At the moment we organise one exhibition in Milan called Go International 25-26 September, together with AICE the Italian Association for Foreign Trade. Actually our show in totally different from other traditional concept of exhibitions.
Usually during the exhibtion the exhibitors present products to potential customers which are the visitors. At Go Internatiomal exhibitors just show their services, which are related to export and internationallisation of enterprises to visitors which are all companies that produce something and want to sell all over the world. This is the strength and success of Go International and we are really proud of the results we are achieving.
ES. In your view, what are some of the common trends or demands you’ve observed in the global exhibition industry? How do these trends influence the exhibitions you represent?
Nicolò Costanzo. After covid time the world change and our exhibition industry as well. Nowadays who can get more results is who is offering more to their exhibitors and visitors. It means to give a real experience and to be the real reference point of the industry. It’s important to give a 365 days exhibition apart from the 2-3 days of the show, like building a proper online matchmaking platform or other constantly matchmaking tools. With Go International we do have the online matching services between exhibitors and visitors and weekly we publish exhibitors posts on our social networks. We are also present constantly with adv pages or banners on prestigious national and international b2b newspaper, magazine, online media.
During the physical exhibition days it’s important to take care to all aspects and details of the organisation. With Go International we have 6 conferences rooms and we organise more than 50 workshops and conferences during the 2 days of the show. This is also quite important, as I said exhibitions has to be the reference point of the industry and to make like training conferences it’s an important aspect.
ES. Given your extensive experience in the field, how do you foresee the exhibition industry evolving over the next few years? What major trends or changes do you anticipate in the upcoming years?
Nicolò Costanzo. Of course the first change, which is already acting, is the moving of the exhibition destinations. In the past, European exhibitions were the most important in the world. Nowadays, with the growing economies, also our industry is moving to new markets. It’s already several years for example that Dubai is one of the most important destination of exhibitions with leading shows worldwide, if we think for example at Gulfood or Gitex or Big5. In the near future I’m pretty sure also new countries will booming. I recently visit Mumbai, India, for the Cmpl Expo the private label show at Jio Convention Center.
I got impressed about the amazing venue is Jio and about the fast growing of India market. India in the next years will be a primary country for exhibition industry and also big groups will go there to organise new shows. Another trend we are facing in recent time and I believe will grow in next years are cooperation between exhibitions organisers. It’s a good thing when organisers stop to compete with each other and start to cooperate instead. This trend will help a lot both exhibitors and visitors side, as well the stakeholders and investors. But in the same time there should be a control on it to avoid monopolio situations that can create some problems. At the end, what I feel for next years, it’s the constant growing of exhibition industry and who will stay or join the game are who has the view and resiliency to change the market fast.
