Farming.plus: "We process customer needs - digitally".

On Thursday, the beta version of Farming.plus, a digital joint project of three competitors, was launched. Behind Farming.plus is the concept of "digital meeting points", which was developed by the ETH spin-off Industry+ by Addictively in close cooperation with Messe Luzern. In order to make the concept more broadly successful, Industry+ was this year integrated into Conteo because content is always at the center (pictured right: Conteo CEO Matthias Baldinger).

Messe Luzern is a relatively small company. It has managed to implement the digital meeting place, although the largest organizers in Europe have failed to do so so far.

It has developed its vision together with a partner, based on the conviction not to claim the solution only for itself and exclusively - on the contrary. A concept was realized that is designed for cooperation with other trade fair organizers. Even with direct competitors. The concept is based on the conviction that the time when people meet can no longer be dictated by "one's own" trade fair date.

Markus Lauber, CEO of Messe Luzern: "In the digital space, something can only be gained with cooperations. That's why Messe Luzern didn't try to develop a proprietary digital solution, but relied on collaboration with Conteo from the start and later entered into cooperations with competitors." 

Conteo operates the digital meeting points independently of a specific event, so that several events in the same industry can join a meeting point. The latest project is the cooperation of the Suisse-Tier-Messe of Messe Luzern with the animal and technology fair of Olma-Messen St. Gallen, and the agricultural fair Fruchtwelt Bodensee of Messe Friedrichshafen. This creates a customer-oriented marketplace beyond isolated individual interests of trade fair organizers. Sellers and buyers stay in contact, supported by algorithms, even after the trade fair.

Content Live Marketing: The digital trade fair stand

The digital meeting places form a marketplace for their respective industries from what is staged at their trade shows by the exhibitors, not as conventionally from content-less PR messages from the exhibitors. This is a new dimension in trade show communication for exhibitors, a quantum leap. They enable more targeted trade show preparation.

Conteo calls this a "digital trade show booth". Farmers can deposit their interests in forward-looking topics on Farming.plus and receive information tailored to them.

Algorithms ensure that, over time, users receive their own personal database with their specific interests in one or various industry trade shows. From there, it's not far to contacting the exhibitors. Markus Lauber, CEO of Messe Luzern: "Visitors to trade fairs are looking for inspiration, something they don't yet know. We work on that systematically before the trade show."

Content: The royal road to the digital meeting place

Together with Conteo, Messe Luzern (pictured above) has developed the digital meeting place that turns trade fairs into modern, digital and analog marketplaces. The key to this is an understanding of how trade fairs work, technology and (trade fair-related) content. Live marketing - new German for trade fair appearances - becomes content live marketing.

René Ziswiler, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Luzern: "Even trade fairs as marketplaces are content-driven today. Our idea of the digital meeting place takes that on board: Content-driven marketplaces also gives companies without large trade fair budgets a market opportunity." Markus Lauber "We will strengthen the trade fair via the digital meeting points. Our business model remains the m2, but digital is part of the trade fair."

Beyond m2: 365 days fair

What's next? Probably a match-making function between buyers and sellers. The digital meeting points are a work in progress. As the Swiss playwright once described "thinking": "You can't think a thing through to the end, because thinking isn't a dead end into which you once comfortably drive."