IFA: From consumption to B-to-B-to-C
IFA Berlin is becoming increasingly important for business-to-business trade. And it has a partnership with the Geneva Motor Show.
In 1930, Albert Einstein opened the IFA. An unforgettable moment of glory was when Willy Brandt's push of a button at the IFA in 1967 heralded the start of the color television age in Germany. But the first IFA already took place in December 1924. In the 1970s, we watched IFA on German television.
Health and Shift Automotive at IFA
IFA is not a trade show. But it is also aimed at trade visitors and thus the business:to:business business. It brings 150,000 trade visitors to the show, more than 50 percent of them from abroad, and another 100,000 end customers, for a total of 250,000 guests.
Philips will not only present TVs at IFA 2019, but also smart health products. These are the Philips AI-controlled shaver, a smart band against insomnia, a pregnancy app, an app for dental assessment or an air purifier against allergic reactions. This range shows why world-leading trade shows are so successful in Germany: Because people make discoveries of product innovations that they might pass by in everyday life, despite the Internet. Finding what you weren't looking for.
In January 2019, the organizer of the Geneva Motor Show GIMS and IFA Berlin announced that they will now jointly organize the Shift Automotive events. Shift Automotive is dedicated to the mobility of the future. Shift Automotive is IFA's response to the fact that consumer electronics and mobility are growing together. And because the big German car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen are already exhibiting at the rival trade show CES Las Vegas. Jens Heithecker, IFA Executive Director, when will the biggest car manufacturers also exhibit at IFA?
Jens Heithecker: "You should never say never. But we don't want automotive topics to overshadow consumer electronics topics. Smart mobility is closely related to digital solutions. That's why we've developed Shift Automotive with the Geneva Motor Show, but in such a way that it retains the character of a consumer electronics show."
IFA is global
"IFA is more than IFA Berlin," says Messe Berlin CEO Dr. Christian Göke. IFA Global Markets has established itself as a significant part of IFA. IFA Global Markets is now the largest buying platform in Europe. And if American journalists rank IFA ahead of well-known American shows, the reason is that Berlin is home to the global exhibitor and visitor world. And IFA Berlin has also become the leading trade show not only for consumer electronics, but also for household appliances.
