As usual the fair looked wonderful, it really is an excellent venue for this sort of show. The quality of the stock is always magnificent with a good cross section from many genres to keep the public interested.
The one thing that I have noticed for several years is that every time Olympia approaches I call my friends from London and they never know that the fair is on.
I realise that there are advertisements taken out with specialist press and so on, but the general public simply do not seem to know that the show is on. It seems an impossible situation that my friends who live on Brook Green (two streets away) and travel past Olympia on foot and by bus every day did not know the show was on.
This year I drove past just four days before the fair opened and could see no banners or advertising on the outside of the building.
I understand that the council has been reluctant to put up banners from the lamp posts like they used to. If they could be persuaded that any show at Olympia draws people to the area then they may be more receptive. People come to shows, then eat or drink or shop nearby afterwards.
Failing that, there are two very large posters adverting ECO itself at the front of the building which could be used to advertise whichever fair is on.
At the fair we do in Chicago there are flags for the antique show hanging from all the lamp posts for blocks around, and a great big banner out the front, for each of the three shows that operate from the same building while our fair is on.
As a result when we are outside the fair it is immediately apparent that everyone in central Chicago knows that the fair is on.
Attendance figures for Olympia may well be up on last year, but the figures are not enough on their own because so many of those who attend have been coming round for years and already have full houses. The organisers must address this issue in order to get fresh customers through the door.
elliot
June 21, 2011
The first few days and the last friday to sunday were quite busy in terms of attendance and we sold to many new customers. I had a great day on Friday which started 10 minutes after the starting bell. One of the difficulties with the fair this year was the period between Monday and Thursday. One wonders if all fairs suffer this problem or if a cost effective sollution can be found? It certainly seemed as if there were many new visitors to the fair this year as well as the regular visitors to the show.
John Jaffa
June 22, 2011
Dear All
I to have the same experiance having lived in Kensington for many years nobody Knows about the fair and considering this is the richest Area in London Its such a shame to miss out Spoke to the PR who told me it was on local Web sites but nothing I saw
On another point Yes the fair was resonable well attended, the second week was a let down and Please dont forget that whilst Clarion seemed to have swung it around this year and were patting them on the back This is what we are paying for
Lets have morelocal Advertising