Roll Up Your Sleeves For LovePets

Johnston Press has announced the launch of a new pet owners' exhibition for this Autumn. Billing it as the ultimate show for animal lovers, the newspaper group says it intends to promote the LovePets Show through dozens of its local daily and weekly newspapers and on associated websites.

The venue for the new show (November 27-28, 2010), is the Exec Centre at the East of England Showground in Peterborough. Johnston Press plans a co-ordinated publicity campaign centred on the group's 43 leading local papers and 35 websites covering areas within local to the Showground. Marketing is to begin 8 weeks prior to the event, meaning it will overlap with the pet industry trade expo GLEE Petindex (September 19-21, 2010), at the NEC.

Roll your sleeves up Johnston Press - this is going to take some marketing.

The LovePets Show will span pet industry consumer sectors, covering dogs, cats, equine, small pets, fish, birds and reptiles/exotics. At the B2C level, such a range has not previously proved successful. Last May (2009), The Ultimate Pet Show (now a defunct website), saw its first and only outing at the NEC. Organised by Blue Inc Events it was billed as: "the UK's first dedicated consumer, pet exhibition.."

The problem Blue Inc. discovered was that pet owners tend to specialise. A retailer selling hutches and fish tanks and cat collars side by side has a wide compelling interest in attending a B2B expo, whereas pet owners are classified, often by the industry itself. They are dog owners or rabbit owners, cat owners (and - 'oh yes, we have a hamster), aviarists or aquaticists, and so on. It seems that so much of an industry-wide B2C expo could be largely irrelevant to most punters.

Despite its easy access, central location, East of England will need more than the widest ever choice of dog leads to drag your average dog owner off the A1.

Expos hold events - competitions and seminars to bring in the crowds. But in an all-things-to-all-people show it is difficult to get the balance right. Johnston Press says of LovePets that:

"The show arena will feature fun and entertainment for visitors, including dog agility, duck herding and dog whispering!"
Well none of that is going to help me shift these rabbit hutches. Maybe I should leave them behind and start stocking up on duck houses instead. And surely, if I want to see dogs herding ducks or whispering or jumping through hoops - I can get that a week earlier at Discover Dogs, (November 13-14, 2010, Earls Court One, London).

Johnston Press will need all of its power of the press to promote and publicise LovePets and capture the the many imaginations that make up this highly sectoral market.

Will they pull it off? Johnston Press' Exhibition Manager Susanna Hornby thinks so:

"There have been promotion campaigns before, but nothing that has brought together the publicity power of our papers and websites in quite such a co-ordinated way."

For more information on exhibiting at the show visit: www.lovepets.me.uk or contact Susanna Hornby on 01284 757810, susanna.hornby@jpress.co.uk






- major, established titles such as the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Northampton Chronicle, Northants Evening Telegraph, Bury Free Press, Milton Keynes Citizen and the Bedford Times. THE billed as "the ultimate show for animal lovers". Local papers in the Johnston Press group will be reaching more than 2.5 million readers and over 1 million website visitors in the run-up to the LovePets Show at the Exec Centre at the East of England Showground in Peterborough on November 27-28. A co-ordinated publicity campaign involving many of the group's daily and weekly titles in the Midlands, East Anglia and beyond will promote the show, which is being organised by the company's Events and Exhibitions team. The marketing campaign will centre on the group's 43 leading local papers and 35 websites covering areas within easy reach of the East of England Showground - major, established titles such as the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Northampton Chronicle, Northants Evening Telegraph, Bury Free Press, Milton Keynes Citizen and the Bedford Times. A powerful blend of editorial and advertising will be used over an eight-week promotional period, supported by radio advertising, an event brochure, in-paper competitions, website "skyscraper" advertising and a dedicated website www.lovepets.me.uk. Heart of the show will be the Exec centre, a modern, purpose-built venue with over 4,000 square metres of exhibition space. There will be six colour-coded zones for the main pet sectors - dogs, cats, equine, small pets and fish, birds and reptiles/exotics and the show arena will feature fun and entertainment for the visitors, including dog agility, duck herding and dog whispering! Exhibition Manager Susanna Hornby said: "There have been promotion campaigns before, but nothing that has brought together the publicity power of our papers and websites in quite such a co-ordinated way." * LovePets space is only £80 + VAT per square metre. Rates for full shell scheme are £95+VAT per square metre. Charitable animal organisations may have a table top presence at a cost of £250. Details and further information from Susanna Hornby on 01284 757810 susanna.hornby@jpress.co.uk =============== A new pet consumer show is to be launched in November and will include all pets, including horses and fish. However, let me quickly say that this latest is in no way related in any shape or form to last year’s Ultimate Pet Show at the NEC, Birmingham, which a number of exhibitors thought was disappointing and which, as far as I am aware, appears to have been the first and last. One of the failings of that attempt was insufficient publicity. This new endeavor, LovePets show, is the brainchild of one of the country’s largest media owners, Johnston Press, and its events team, JP Events & Exhibitions, which has been organising large-scale shows for 15 years. The company has 18 daily newspapers, 300 weekly newspapers and 319 websites in its stable. The LovePets Show will be held at the indoor Exec Centre at the East of England Showground in Peterborough, and the company is throwing the publicity might of 43 regional newspapers and 35 websites in an eight-week publicity blitz prior to the event on November 27 and 28. Mars Petcare has already been lined up as main sponsor and the show will be structured into six colour-coded zones: dogs, cats, equine, small pets and fish, birds and reptiles/exotics, along with demonstration and presentation areas. It’s often been said that the country needs an all-encompassing consumer pet show. After all, many pet-owning families tend to own several pets, whether it’s dog/cat plus small animal and/or fish. Yet consumer shows, as far as I am aware, tend to focus on specific animals, in the main dogs, cats or small animals. There is a show for fish enthusiasts, the Festival of Fishkeeping at the Mill Rythe Holiday Village in Hampshire, though this tends to attract the more serious hobbyist. Will LovePets become the Crufts of the pet world? There are four factors in its favour. The first, as mentioned, is strong publicity, which should bring in the visitors. The second is its location. The showground is easily reached via the A1, and the East Midlands is said to have the most pet lovers in the UK. The purpose-built venue is also home to a number of big-ticket shows and exhibitions including the Shire Horse Society Spring Show, the East of England show, Truckfest, Just Dogs Live and a Christmas Festival, so can handle large numbers comfortably. Free parking and reasonable entry charges will go down well with visitors – at the NEC for example, parking alone can be £8 on top of admission prices. At LovePets, a family ticket costs £10 if bought in advance. Finally is the organisation and content of the show. The organisers are seasoned event planners. And although content is still being finalised, apart from trade and charity stands, plans are to include police dog displays, dog fly ball, Ask the Vet, grooming demonstrations, a children’s pets corner, dog and animal behaviourists, duck herding display, display of birds of prey, talks on getting started with pets and caring for sick pets as well as guide and hearing dogs display and search and rescue dogs. So a decent mix, with potentially something for everyone. But will the trade bite and take up stand space? Rates for a full shell scheme seem reasonable at £95 plus VAT per square metre, which includes area-themed colour carpets, stand lighting, one power socket and complimentary tickets for guests. My guess is that with the way the pet industry is performing at the moment, stands will go quickish. But the organisers will have to deliver on visitor numbers. They estimate 10,000 will arrive, and want to grow this to be an annual event. I f, however, the visitor figure does not materialise, chances are the trade will be very wary indeed to throw its support behind any future all-pet consumer venture.