Following its successful beta trial at Autumn Fair in September, an expanded Curated Meetings will form part of Spring Fair (February 7-8 2022, NEC Birmingham). The programme will include buyers and publishers from the greeting card sector.
These Curated Meetings will be short, pre-scheduled 1:1 appointments between vetted buyers and relevant companies. Alll the appointments will take place in a dedicated Curated Meetings Lounge with complimentary food and drink also available.
The Autumn Fair trial of the concept saw over 300 face-to-face, time-efficient meetings, each lasting 15 minutes.
The Curated Meetings team has now been doubled for Spring Fair, and the programme will include suppliers across all sectors, including greeting cards. The idea is that buyers will be able to ‘supercharge’ their sourcing by pre-scheduling the new brands they want to meet with and benefit from a £250 travel expense subsidy.
“Mutual matching sets Curated Meetings apart – it’s not networking, it’s not speed-dating; meetings only happen when buyers and brands mutually express interest to explore new business together,” emphasises Monica Todd, product manager, Curated Meetings. “Our bespoke platform is made for turning product interest into meaningful face-to-face new business conversations. The buyers are high quality, decision makers vetted for purchase responsibility and budget spend – averaging £330k in buying power – across a range of retail types, including online, multi-store independents and large retail chains.”
As Monica sums up: “Curated Meetings is an exciting and innovative way of doing new business which very much complements the rest of the Spring Fair.”
Suppliers are not required to exhibit at Spring Fair to take part in Curated Meetings. Greeting card publishers can arrange a minimum of 10 focused 15-minute conversations with active buyers, pre-screened for meaningful budget, purchase responsibility and interest in their products.
Some 72% of brands taking part in Curated Meetings at Autumn Fair had orders placed on the spot or within three weeks, and 100% of buyers surveyed expressed satisfaction with the programme.
Publishers and buyers are invited to sign-up for Curated Meetings before December 7 to facilitate the mutual matching process.
Interested brands and buyers can arrange a Calendly call with a member of the Curated Meetings team at www.calendly.com/victoria-linstone/chat
Top: The dedicated Curated Meetings Lounge at the Autumn Fair trial.
