Guest editor ’ s comment
Why Darwin didn ’ t mention trade shows in ‘ On the Origin of Species ’
EN guest editor Phil Soar says that the trade show sector is a game of evolution , and those who evolve essentially survive
In response the headline : he wouldn ’ t , would he , in the immortal words of
Miss Rice-Davies . We all know Darwin ’ s On the Origin of
Species . But it was Herbert Spencer who in 1864 coined the familiar ‘ Survival of the Fittest ’, which Darwin accepted as an adjunct to his theory , defining it as “ better designed for an immediate , local environment ”. ‘ Survival of the fittest ’ does not mean that spending hours on the Peloton will guarantee you immortality – the definition of fittest has altered since 1864 . A good example is mammals at the time of the Great Extinction some 65bn years ago . While all the dominant land animals such as dinosaurs disappeared in the sulphurous consequence of an asteroid strike , mammals survived despite being almost irrelevant , small rat like creatures – but well suited ( i . e . wellfitted ) to that disastrous upheaval . And hence , by pure chance , mammals came to dominate the planet . And we see Darwinian development everywhere we look . Species become fitter in a constant battle . Lions chase impala in Southern Africa , but they don ’ t eat all the impala . They catch the slowest ones . So , the quickest impala survive , pass down their genes and gradually the speed of herd increases . The same with the lions : the slowest lions capture fewest impala , so they reproduce less and die earlier . The quality of the lion pack slowly improves . Balance is maintained .
Charles Darwin ( Getty )
I ’ ll come on to Darwin and Trade Shows later ...
Why magazines were designed for Darwin and Spencer I was a magazine publisher for the first 18 years of my rather sad career . Magazines in the 20th Century were a wonderful example of the survival of the fittest . We could have been created specifically for Darwin and Spencer to study . Every week we went head-tohead with an array of other magazines , and they could all be seen next to each other on the shelves of WH Smiths , or Relay in France , or Kaufhof in Germany or Hudsons in the US or 7-11 in Japan . There was nowhere to hide . The consumer had a choice in a very blunt , transparent contest . Every week we were up against at least 10 competitors . So , the quality of the
Raw competition at WH Smith
cover picture was vital ( Lady Diana was always a winner ), the straplines about articles inside were vital (‘ 10 vital giveaways of whether he / she really likes you ’, ‘ How to ask for a raise ’, ‘ Can Spurs ever win anything ?’). Paper quality was vital . Pricing rarely mattered too much ; if the price for your segment of the market was £ 1.95 , that ’ s what you priced at . It was a constant battle , red and raw in tooth and claw . The survival effect is clear . You had to keep improving , innovating to at least stay level with the competition . Next week ’ s cover had to be a stunner . You couldn ’ t miss a beat , or the lion would get you . When someone introduced a clever innovation , you copied it straightaway . And every week you saw the real , damning : you got the circulation numbers for all the magazines . You
10 — Autumn