An Inside Look At IMMAE
August 6, 2008
Editor’s Note: Garry Ibarra of Graffight Apparel recently attended the International Mixed Martial Arts Expo and gave MMAPayout.com a first hand report from the venue. Graffight Should be going live with their sales soon so keep an eye out for their gear.
Long Beach Ca – The International Mixed Martial Arts Expo (IMMAE) was held this past weekend in Long Beach California, an event that boasted a collection of some of the biggest names in mixed martial arts, the hottest MMA related products, and an opportunity for exhibitors big and small to create their own version of MMA glory. The nearly 100,000 square foot show floor was riddled with exhibition booths from the brands you would expect to see such as WarriorWear, Punishment, ThrowDown, Toe 2 Toe, and of course TapouT.
Also present was the elephant in the room or in this case a Rhino. Marc Ecko who recently decided to throw his hat in the cage in an attempt to try and grab a foothold the multi million dollar MMA apparel market. While those companies dominate the world of MMA and mainstream urban apparel they represented only a fraction of the exhibitors present at this years event, start up companies hoping to one day achieve the same status as these staples of the MMA world displayed their products and services to thousands of consumers and colleagues during the 3 day event.
The wide array of exhibited products and services on display covered nearly every aspect of the MMA landscape as well as a few you may not have thought of before. Fight promotion companies, Fighter Management companies, various retailers offering products from training mats, high altitude training equipment, nutritional supplements, even products like tattoo ointment and health insurance? While not something a fighter wants to think about, in the world of mixed martial arts health care is absolutely a must have item to be considered.
Whether it be the IMMAE, Magic, or ASR, industry trade shows are a vital part of any retail driven industry. The opportunity to not only connect with your customers first hand, but to network with other people in your chosen field of endeavor are extremely important in ensuring your business can maintain the continuous growth required to be successful. Identifying who is buying your product in person is much more valuable than any marketing research or demographics you will receive on paper and can provide you the feedback you’ll need in the upcoming days of appropriating your income and knowing where to budget your expenses. Knowing and identifying what drives people to pick up your apparel or training gear as opposed to the next persons is what can make a good idea into a great one, a new product into the industry standard, or a small start up company into an industry Icon.
While knowing what drives the public to purchase your products and bypass others is vital, being realistic as to weather or not your prepared to exhibit at a trade show is just as crucial. Securing a booth is a big expense within itself, usually ranging in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the size of the booth and popularity of the show. Add to that the logistics of getting your products as well as yourself to and from the show, the laundry list of other expenses, food, lodging and your starting off in the red before the event even opens. Then you have minimal time to recoup that cost in sales all while being surrounded by your competition. These facts are not meant to deter anyone from considering a booth at the next industry trade show, these are the simply the realities of the process. If MMA Payout can advise you of the pros and cons beforehand, you may be able to use this information to make sure you get the most for your investment and ensure the success of your booth.
Observing the show floor is like looking at a microcosm of the industry itself, the haves and have nots. Where some sections would be completely packed with people clamoring for autographs and waiting in huge lines, others were complete ghost towns. The bigger booths with fighters like Urijah Faber, Sean Sherk, Tim Sylvia and the TapouT crew signing autographs on their wide array of products for sale become like huge black wholes, sucking in consumers and their wallets within seconds of walking by. As long as you know that there is a very real possibility of not recouping your initial investment you should be able to make your booth at the next trade show net you at least a modicum of result with very little effort. A few companies I spoke to had different ideas as to what they hoped to accomplish with their booths, while their goals were very different, each group concentrated their efforts on bringing their goals to fruition and were able to all find success.
Chess Game Fight Gear, a small Jiu Jitsu Training Gear company based in Maine I spoke with, they had only been in business for 4 months before committing to a booth in this years show. During my conversation with the creators of the brand I asked what they had hoped to garner from this experience, “We’re a small company that wants to spread the word to a broader audience about who we are and what we’re about and that can’t be achieved by staying in Maine†they went on to say “If we can accomplish that goal and recoup expenses, great, if not then a vacation to California with a business purpose isn’t so bad, is it?†The guys were willing to take their dream and run with it while being realistic as to what to expect, there is nothing wrong with planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
Another company I spoke with Jiu Jitsu enthusiasts will surely recognize, Gameness, famous for their Jiu Jitsu gi’s, rash guards and other training related products. Though already established in the training gear part of the business, after speaking with Shane Messer, owner of the brand, it was clear to me he had a different reason for exhibiting this year as he announced that Gameness will be expanding their product catalog to include lifestyle apparel while continuing to offer their popular, high quality training products.
Nathan May and Ben Young are two guys with several years of experience in the business, they’re partners in an up and coming lifestyle apparel brand called MMA ADX. There idea is to create high quality and stylish apparel but still maintain the more popular design themes seen in MMA today. The guys had some really great shirt designs but, their purpose at the show was to unveil what they believe will become the future of a very prominent product in MMA, fight shorts. The product was developed in conjunction with MMA veteran Cung Le, who’s input and experience were used in the creation of the product to ensure its functionality, an idea that should have more companies following suit in the near future.
While the show was a success for these burgeoning companies, your idea of trade show success may be different. The point is if you want to have a successful trade show experience the formula is simple, be realistic in what you hope to accomplish, network as much as possible and do everything you can to accomplish the goals that you set out for yourself. Consider your time there as a learning experience, gather as much information you can about the field you’ve chosen to enter from people who have been there before you, if you do that then consider your trade show experience a success and more importantly, you can consider your expenses money well spent.
