Largest ever UK Pavilion reports positive ISPO 2010

This year’s ISPO 2010, (which attracted a record 2,045 exhibitors and 64,000 international industry visitors from 177 countries) saw the Federation of Sports and Play Associations (FSPA) support its largest group yet, with a total of fourteen UK companies making up the FSPA’s impressive UK Sports Pavilion and enjoying a very positive show. 

After the success of ISPO 09, the FSPA, once again working as a dedicated Accredited Trade Organiser (ATO), facilitated a total of 30 UK companies in gaining UKTI export grants to assist with their exhibition costs. 

This year, to ensure the notably larger UK presence was well publicised to increase footfall to the UK exhibitor stands, the FSPA undertook significantly more marketing and promotional activity; placing wall and floor graphics within the adjacent halls, an advert in the official ISPO show planner, and featured various pre show articles in leading sports trade magazine Sports Insight.

One company Primo Play, who are members of the FSPA’s Sports and Fitness Equipment Association (SAFEA), are well established at the show, having exhibited for over ten years within the UK area. Primo Director Neil Jennings noted, “after seeing the show develop over a ten year period, it was great to see such a big UK presence this year, with the UK flags visible from all areas of the B4 Hall, really making us stand out.” 
Primo reported 2010 as being a useful show for them, with ISPO one of the best platforms in Europe at which to show their XLR8, PLAYM8 and FIRST-PLAY ranges of sports and games equipment.  However Neil stated, “Although we’ve made valuable use of the time at the show to meet with a number of our existing distributors, its apparent not as many of our customers have travelled over this year”

Another company who attended ISPO for the first time were leisure equipment suppliers Eveque Ltd.   Again members of SAFEA, Eveque’s Managing Director Tom Bunner reported their experiences of a very successful show

“This was our first year exhibiting at ISPO and we have made some really promising new contacts from all corners of the globe. The show also provided us with a timely opportunity to catch up with some of our existing suppliers and distributors which is always welcome. We attended in the UK pavilion, fronted by the FSPA and are very grateful to the FSPA team for all their help and assistance both in the run up to and during the show itself.   We would certainly recommend this option to others."

Of the 4 companies new to ISPO who exhibited within the UK pavilion this year, Swimovate were one of the success stories, with Managing Director Lisa Irlam delighted with their first show. "We launched the Pool-Mate swimming computer late last year so it was our first visit to ISPO. 80% of our sales are exports, so it was invaluable for us to meet our European distributors and retailers face to face and meet new contacts. We were also delighted to be chosen as one of the four finalists in the Bluetooth Low Energy World Cup. The competition had over 250 entries from all over the world seeking new applications for this new technology standard which will be in millions of mobile phones and computing devices later this year.

The Pool-Mate wrist watch is the only automatic speed and distance computer for swimmers and our competition entry explained how we will enhance the functionality of the Pool-Mate so a swimmer is able to download his/her speed and distance data from the pool via his/her mobile phone to the internet. Data can be shared there with others, analysed and bespoke training programmes developed that can be downloaded back to the watch.

The award ceremony was held on Monday night at the Wearable Technology party. Our prize included space in the Bluetooth dome, presenting at the 2010 Wearable Technologies conference and to the sporting press. We had our own Swimovate stand on the UK pavilion too so it was a very busy show - many thanks to the FSPA team’s help for making it a smooth and successful ISPO for us.”

With 6 companies already registering strong interest to not only attend ISPO next year but to exhibit within the UK area, the FSPA are predicting ISPO 2011 will have an even bigger UK presence than 2010.  If you are interested in UKTI grants, and/or joining the UK area for ISPO 2011 please contact jane@sportsandplay.com or call 02476 414 999 x210 as places are sure to be booked up fast