Last week’s BLE event saw an 8% increase in gross square meterage, making it the largest show to date.
With attendees from 81 countries and over 250 exhibitors, of which 63 were new, overall visitor attendance was more than 7,000 – a 5% increase from 2015. The event also reported a 13% increase in attendance from retailers.
2016’s event also saw the largest Retail Mentoring Programme to date, with 50 retailers participating in the scheme.
Over 1,700 meetings took place as part of BLE’s new Matchmaking Service, which resulted in 200,000 online user profile views and £1m of business generated from one user alone.
In total, over 2,500 properties were on display and available to license during the three days. Other highlights of the event included a new Product Showcase walk-through installation, new format educational sessions, including roundtables hosted by LIMA, the launch of the Retail Licensing Club, the launch of Licensing Expo China and the announcement of an exclusive strategic partnership between UBM, LIMA and Alifish to harness the potential of the Chinese licensing market.
Anna Knight, BLE’s brand director, commented: “We couldn’t be happier with the success of this year’s show. The show remained busy and buzzing throughout with a record number of European licensing professionals in attendance. We specifically set out to increase the number of retailers attending, and have seen a significant jump this year with the help of our Retail Mentoring Programme, new and improved Retail Lounge and Retail Licensing Club launch. We are also very excited by the results of the new Matchmaking Service and the increased footfall to our Brands & Lifestyle Zone, both of which have generated a significant amount of new business for visitors and exhibitors alike. The whole team is now looking forward to building on this success and planning next year’s event.”