By Jason Pitt, CEO Made in Group
A few people have asked me why we are going hybrid and not just repeating the old expo model. I decided to write a blog and share some of our experiences from the pandemic and explain why the traditional expo made us rethink our business model. I hope this gives some insight into our philosophy and aspirations going forward.
In March 2020, the pandemic affected the events industry in a way that no one could predict; Even during world war 1 and 2; with sirens blaring, the pubs were open, perhaps only turning down the oil lamps until the threat passed.
The 2020 pandemic is unparalleled because it is the only time in history that the government shutdown the economic engine.
The lockdown and meeting restrictions placed unprecedented pressure on the Made in Group; we hosted many face-to-face events, including our hugely popular annual exhibition and morning breakfast meetings at member premises. The pandemic affected our business and the business model.
Whilst we have a robust digital component, we are a membership organisation that wholeheartedly values the face-to-face element. In 2019 we celebrated our tenth anniversary and whilst a maturing model, we were by no means the done thing.
Early in the pandemic, we suffered downgrades and cancellations, with no way of recruiting new members because we were unsure what our unique business model would look like in the early months.
We now have a new business model that is pandemic proof and allows communities to stay connected.
During 2020 we invested heavily in our digital platform, as members who attend our events regularly will have noticed, the ability to know fellow members is better than ever.
I say this respectfully to other groups. No trade association in the UK is close to developing what we deliver online; whilst some dismiss digital innovation, we are still in a global market, if anything the pandemic brought forward digital innovation by at least ten years. It doesn't matter if we talk about industry 4, the Made platform or anything else; the digital technologies developed in the pandemic are here to stay, the ones who are slow to adopt may never catch up.
Many members who’ve been with us since the start joined for different reasons from the digital platform, so I thought I’d share some little-known facts about our digital presence: we deliver more than half a million unique visits to british manufacturers per year and are now hosting events virtually and face-to-face every month.
In 2020 we held our first virtual exhibition; whilst not perfect, it generated many visits and enquiries to member stands. We have received praise and criticism. Thankfully one thing no one has criticised us for is innovation and our work ethic. As a firm advocate for British industry, I felt waiting for the pandemic to be over before hosting an exhibition was both lazy and not helpful to companies in a time of need. When we developed the Backing Britain book and virtual expo, the purpose was to show the world how good we are, restore civic pride, and champion the sector. We were willing to take a risk and invest when others shyed away. We are omnipresent for British industry, particularly those privately owned SMEs who add so much value to our society and economy. We demonstrated our beliefs and desire to support British industry in a way that only ‘true stress’ can unveil. We further expanded on this with a unique campaign to advertise UK manufacturing to young people. We organised and delivered a virtual expo that saw nearly 2000 young people attend with more than 300 employability certificates given out. We also contacted members to request they send us photos of some of their rising stars to create a poster montage with the faces of the future of Britain industry.
We are still in the pandemic, but it's clear we will return to some of the old normal, perhaps with some scarring in places. We as a nation have the highest debt since the sixties, our high streets have been decimated and our housing strategy is in tatters. Whilst some are enjoying a boom fueled by stimulus packages and reshoring, this is unlikely to continue at the same pace long term. From history, we should know that on the horizon are some tough choices, high inflation, and perhaps interest rate increases. We will be here for British industry regardless of the climate and we will adapt as we all must. For those that attend our events often, they understand the value, for those on the perimeter we are an insurance policy for your business and a way to back Britain.
As a trade association, I believe we have done the right things at the right time; we have now built up a track record of delivering not only in good times but also in bad times, we've been there for the community and British industry. During the pandemic we continued to support our charities, we commissioned and paid for the manufacture of PPE, and importantly recognised companies amid global uncertainty.
As an organisation, we tend to shine the spotlight on members rather than ourselves and rightly so, but we also did enough to earn some credit for Made in the Midlands and Made in Yorkshire and the work that our organisation does.
As we rebuild, we will need the help of members. We have several initiatives to grow the membership; one will be the creation of a national membership and growth committee involving members. Members can reach out to me directly to express an interest in being part of this new committee. [email protected]
I believe the events industry will change to become more inclusive; we can remove geographical barriers and find ways to keep connected virtually whilst continuing to meet in person.
We will all have seen the mileage expenses for reps decrease; we know intuitively it doesn't make sense for a representative to be on the road for a thousand miles per week; these are tired and dated ways of working. As we move forward, expect the future of customer engagement to be 70 per cent digital and only 30 per cent face to face. That doesn't mean we stop meeting; it just means that we value our time more. Other companies globally will now be making digital advancements; there is no way the UK can be left behind. We need to be digital innovators, not digital dinosaurs.
Our new model has already had measurable success, with more than 80 events organised in the last 12 months, we have had a record number of members doing business with each other, record attendance and a massive spike in the numbers of people coming to the platform and finding members from madeinthemidlands.com and madeinyorkshire.com.
Thank you for continuing to support the Made in Group, for manufacturers that want to know more about the work we do and how to join please email [email protected]