As the summer holidays in the northern hemisphere are coming to an end, I sit in Jo’burg in the middle of August and it snowed here today! Until there’s warmer weather, let me update you on the plans for 2012.
Corporate Sponsors’ News – Along with Krieghoff, Onjambo Safaris & Life Form Taxidermy, who were with us from the outset at the Atlanta Show, we are delighted to have concluded a relationship with The Hunting Report across all three events. Barbara Crown and her team run a very professional, niche publication, focused largely on the North American market. Being based in Florida this publication (print and electronic) has a long pedigree of alerting international hunters to all the news and issues pertinent to hunting, helping them when it comes to making their decisions – most of which are costly. It was a logical and ideal media partnership and as Barbara will be attending all our Shows and offering to print out any Hunt Reports for exhibitors that may want to use these for their marketing at the shows, we think there are tons of ways this can benefit us all. Be sure to look out and see our advert on her monthly publication www.thehuntingreport.com and if you haven’t signed up – it’s really worthwhile.
Craig Boddington – For those who have been in a coma for the past 20 years, he is undeniably Africa’s most visited, American hunter. I think it is well over 80 safaris, if I recall that he mentioned to me the last time we chatted and heaven knows how many trophies. To quote Craig, “you don’t need a reason to go to Africa.” Writing 40 000 words a month, hosting TV shows, authoring numerous books – he is America’s Number 1 hunting writer. Folks, Craig is our very special guest and speaker at Atlanta. We have had a long relationship with Craig who has written the bulk of and all the Country profiles for our African Hunting Directory and this year will be no different. We’re delighted!
Marketing – You will see that aside from the above, we have made some tweaks to our website and updated the exhibitor lists for all three venues. And talking about all three – please be sure to see the feedback from visitors to the Toronto show that have finally made their journey across to Africa and the bug has bitten! Breaking new territory takes time and we believe in the long term potential of African hunting. Calgary is booking up very well and there is much excitement at the prospect of a new venue for the Show. Aside from Sports Afield magazine with whom we advertised last year, and with whom we could not conclude a deal with this year, the list of national and regional titles, websites and TV shows grows. From Cabela’s Journal, Sporting Classics, Sportsman’s (Warehouse) News, Alberta Outdoors, Western Sportsman and Outdoor Edge. The list is on our site to show you how much we’re doing to ensure the word gets out there!
What can, you the exhibiter do? – Quite a bit really! We have printed cards that will be sent to you which we ask you to send /hand out to clients and guests. We will be supplying electronic cards that you can simply forward to friends – and we hope you can do this. The success of these events is as important for you as it is for us. So it is onward we move and with 140 days to go – let’s make the 2012 African Hunting Shows a cracker!
Best regards, Richard – Publisher, Tanya (Atlanta) and Birgit (Toronto & Calgary)
Toronto Newsletter for 2012
As quoted in the The Hunting Report, Feb 2011 – “ … all the exhibitors The Hunting Report visited said they were very pleased with the quality of the traffic. Derek Littleton of Luwire Safaris said he had more qualified leads on the first day than he has gotten in four days at other shows. Marina Lamprecht of Hunters Namibia reported that everyone who visited her booth was serious about booking a safari to Namibia, and Rainer Ling of Die Keiler said he expected to get most of his bookings from the show in Atlanta and the week following in Toronto. The difference between this show and others, the exhibiters said, was that attendees were focused on hunting in Africa and came to the show determined to find the right hunt. Even more revealing is that every exhibitor reported speaking with prospects who have never hunted Africa. This is exactly the market that Lendrum said he was trying to reach with a small, regional show. His goal was to attract qualified hunters who want to hunt Africa but do not have the time to travel across the country to attend an overwhelming show with hundreds of African operators scattered throughout a convention center. The venue in Atlanta limited exhibitors to African operators only and offered all participants a very casual and relaxed atmosphere in which to spend time discussing hunting opportunities. The Hunting Report overheard one exhibitor at the end of the first day tell Lendrum, “This is what a hunting show should be like!”
TORONTO
Starting a new hunting show in Canada was never going to be easy. We purposely started small, and have done our best to manage the expectations of all concerned. This was our 3rd event in Toronto and quite honestly, we can see how this has improved each year.
The Canadian hunters to Africa are growing in numbers to Africa and certainly the show visitors back this up. We saw attendees that I recognised from the first show and they were coming to finally book that safari. It’s such a relief when it all pays off – both for the hunter who has been corresponding with their prospective outfitter for 3 years and for the outfitter who has stuck at the marketing for all that time. It was the second year at the Delta Meadowvale and aside from having the comfiest beds in the world, the venue is a really great location for all.
We’ll be back there next year but the really good news is that following the success of Toronto, and following the advice of all concerned we will be opening a show on the following weekend in Calgary.
Yes, the ‘Texas’ of Canada, maybe that’s an insult, maybe not, but there is whole heap of oil in Alberta, there are gazillions of hunters out west and in our business we have learnt to go where the market is.
So watch this space as we give you the updates but as we start our planning for 2012 – remember - the best marketing (which hasn’t changed for decades,) is word-of-mouth and for that we’re relying on you – our clients and partners
We have a great thing going here folks and we have a very singular focus – to promote hunting in Africa. If you feel that this event (Atlanta or Toronto) was something you believe in and was worthwhile for your clients …tell them!
Get them to SAVE THE DATES - when we’ll be bringing Africa’s Pride to Atlanta and Canada. Atlanta - 13 & 14 January Toronto - 20 & 21 January Calgary - 27 & 28 January
Best wishes for the season ahead Richard Lendrum (Publisher), Tanya Hallowell (Atlanta) and Birgit Johnstone (Canada)
Thank-you to all who attended this year’s show. We are very pleased that you found it helpful in planning your dream African Safari and we hope to see you all back, with friends and family year after year.
