Progress through technology

Published: 20-May-2014

This year, in-cosmetics, the world’s premier beauty ingredients trade show, took place in Hamburg and the verdict was positive, says Julia Wray

There is a well-known German phrase, ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, made famous as the ad slogan for car manufacturer Audi. Although there is no equivalent word in the English language for the terrific Vorsprung, which means ‘to leap ahead’, the phrase can be roughly translated as ‘progress through technology’ – a mantra which suited the Hamburg edition of in-cosmetics perfectly.

Commenting on the 2014 event, which ran from 1-3 April at Hamburg Messe, Reed Exhibitions’ Cathy Laporte, Exhibition Manager for in-cosmetics, told SPC: “We had about 7,260 unique visitors, which actually makes this the best attended show outside of Paris. The previous record was 2012 in Barcelona, but this year we were 2% up on Barcelona.

“One of the greatest achievements was the number of local visitors. Each time we’ve been in Germany in the past, we’ve struggled to get German visitors. But 30% of this year’s visitors were German, just over 2,100. This is double the number of Germans we’ve had at the show ever.”

Laporte attributes this to strong marketing in the run up to the event. “We did a lot of good pre-show promotion… of course the likes of Henkel and Beiersdorf were there, but we managed to get quite a lot of smaller German brands too, and brands focusing on organic and natural cosmetics.”

In addition, there was an uptick of attendees from northern countries including Finland and Denmark. “Having the show in northern Europe enables those people to travel while still keeping costs down,” said Laporte. “While they might not travel to southern Europe, they can drive to Hamburg. It reinforces the reason why in-cosmetics moves location year by year.”

Moreover, morale among exhibitors was good, despite there having been some trepidation prior to the show regarding the four-hall layout. “It’s been absolutely jammed solid for two days,” commented Stewart Long, European Area Marketing Leader at Dow Corning Beauty Care. “I’ve walked around the other halls and seen some of the smaller guys – and I think it’s great that they’re here. We’re seeing new competitors from China (which we don’t want!) but it is a good sign for the industry that they’re here.”

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