Media 10 has turned over £ 4m during the pandemic thanks to their digital strategy , founder and CEO Lee Newton says . Sat on the balcony overlooking the packed Ideal Home Christmas Show at Olympia London , Media 10 directors Newton and Rob Nathan disagree with a lot of the sentiment heard in the exhibitions industry in the past three months . They may have had the most successful indoor show of 2021 with 50,000 visitors |
from 24 to 28 November , and a record rebook , but they are not scared to “ buck the trend ”. They are chasing the digital dream but they have no time for virtual events . “ We ’ re not your traditional exhibition organiser . We like the entrepreneurial spirit ,” says Nathan . “ There are a lot of people saying ‘ we are back , live is best and virtual doesn ’ t work ’. “ We never went down the road of doing virtual events . We didn ’ t do Grand Designs and as a virtual event . We |
never did virtual because we don ’ t believe virtual events work . But there is money to be made by looking at your brands and what digital assets you build around those brands . “ I think we have made 20 times more than any other organiser from digital , but we are not doing those events digitally .” Media 10 is instead harnessing the power of its exhibition communities with other digital products . Bolstered by the sale of |
Design Shanghai to Clarion shortly before the pandemic hit , Newton says they had the confidence and financial security to take a different approach .
Newton explains : “ Over lockdown we launched a newsletter business – completely digital using all our data and brands and we have turned over quite a few million from that in just the last few months . We now have a parallel business running of digital publishing . “ What we have done is
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Winter — 23 |