LOBO turns their back on Prolight+Sound

For those who still remember the Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt in its infancy, this news sounds hardly believable: LOBO, not just any, but the pioneering exhibitor, who significantly pushed the fair with gigantic shows and spectacular events from the very beginning and put generations of visitors under its spell over the following 18 years with elaborate shows, suddenly is no longer there – a decision that has certainly surprised exhibitors and visitors alike.

LOBO’s CEO Lothar Bopp on the reasons for this decision: “For us, the step to leave unprofitable exhibitions behind is always a difficult one. For example, we once faced similar decisions at the SIB in Rimini or the Photokina in Cologne. For instance, our booths in Rimini often exceeded 1,000 m², and our last booth at the Photokina even exceeded 1,500 m². In response to a drop in relevant key figures, we had already somewhat reduced the size of our booth in Frankfurt last year.

More than most other exhibitors, LOBO is focused on international markets. At times, we generate more than 80% of our turnover abroad, 75% thereof even in non-European markets. For many years, Frankfurt was an ideal stepping stone into these markets. We once had a considerable influx of visitors from Asia, the countries of the former Eastern bloc and even from South America.

In Asia, Messe Frankfurt dug its own grave by holding events abroad; in other regions, alternatives to the Prolight + Sound were able to establish themselves. Additionally, we noticed that the fair wasn’t even able to fully cover the German-speaking market in recent years and had been showing strong tendencies towards becoming an exhibition with a more regional touch, in particular since 2011. For example, we couldn’t even record the usual number of visitors from Austria or Switzerland or from the previously strongly represented neighboring countries, such as the Netherlands. Merely visitors from the Rhine-Main region increased substantially.

While it had always been a weakness of the organizers to consistently apply access restrictions for the general public on trade visitor days, this trend gained even more traction in recent years. A fair open to the general public might make sense for a volume provider with a strong focus on the German market. However, this is certainly not the case for an internationally established premium provider such as LOBO."