Companies that want to score top marks with their target group should rely on haptic advertising – this year’s edition of the HAPTICA® live on March 15, at the WCCB in Bonn impressively demonstrated this once again. 109 exhibitors presented novelties and highlights from their line-ups. 1,116 visitors (+29 % compared to the previous year) were able to experience close-up how haptic advertising emotionalises and moves people.
The extensive advertising measures of the organisers, WA Media, included a mailing in the run-up to the event that invited attendees to the “touchpoint for haptic advertising” with a red adhesive dot. The HAPTICA® live provides suppliers from the entire spectrum of promotional products and visitors from end user companies, advertising agencies and the promotional products trade with an abundance of contacts – in marketing jargon: touchpoints. And in general it aims to bring visitors from marketing and purchasing departments into contact with one of the most fascinating advertising forms at all: haptic advertising.
To this end, the marketing discipline haptic advertising is examined from different angles in a concise and compact manner condensed into one day. The same applied this March, when the HAPTICA® live ’23 opened its doors again after just six months of preparation time – due to COVID the last three events had namely been postponed until September. The 109 exhibitors represented the entire spectrum of the promotional products market. Renowned brand names, specialists and full-range suppliers attracted visitors to the event. In addition to this, many young companies with fresh ideas were among the exhibitors. WA Media introduced a Newcomer Area for the first time, where companies with rucksacks made out of motor vehicle scrap, woollen socks or aprons in a jar aroused excitement. Generally speaking, one must say the promotional products industry made a highly impressive appearance with its inventiveness, wide-ranging assortment and last, but not least the quality and sustainability of its products.
Diversified programme
It is not purely the exhibitors, who turn the “Experience of Haptic Advertising” into a point of interest for all those who are looking for creative boosters for their campaigns or those of their customers. In the scope of the Best Practice Show, examples of exceptional realisations of haptic marketing measures from all over the globe can be regularly admired. Featured this year among others: Bracelets made from Mariupol steel as a fundraising project in support of the Ukraine as well as woollen hats in signal colours that were distributed to Dutch New Year swimmers by Unox – which have long since become cult items.
The winners of the Promotional Gift Award 2023 had collected lots of points during the judging session at the beginning of December. The 35 award-winning products and campaigns – 32 jury award winners and three public prize winners – were also showcased. The high number of outstanding custom-made designs and products that tell their own story was noteworthy – from the Deutsche Bahn pencil made from discarded conductor uniforms through to a marketing collection for the robotic company, Kuka, produced by the firm’s own robots.
The speakers of the star-studded lecture programme also had stories to tell. Based on the outcome of a survey commissioned by the German Promotional Products Association, GWW, Oliver Spitzer from the market research institute, september, also proved that promotional products have an emotional effect on people. His lecture went down very well with the audience of more than one hundred listeners.
Eric Vlieg from the Special Olympics made it clear that promotional products are not only moving, but that they can also achieve a huge impact. The World Games for athletes with intellectual disabilities is being staged in Berlin in June and merchandising items contribute greatly towards making people, who are often invisible within society, visible and also promote inclusion and participation. Both Martin Schittko from Eintracht Frankfurt and Michael Witzorrek from Fendt can count on a large community of fans, whose bond can be selectively secured, not least by using merchandising items, as they underlined in their lectures.
The extensive offer of information and inspiration went down very well with the visitors. After the three years of COVID, the effect was visibly positive, not only because the occupation with the subject matter haptic advertising arouses many positive emotions, but also because there is obviously a concrete need for promotional products, which the numerous enquiries that were received via the trade show software dMAS alone demonstrate. The digital counterpart of the HAPTICA® live, the HAPTICA®//ONLINE platform, allows further enquiries to be sent to the exhibitors henceforth and the monitoring of all of the trade show activities.
The interest shown by the HAPTICA® live’s core target group – the promoting industry – was particularly high. Around two thirds of the visitors are responsible for the marketing and purchasing activities of companies, associations or public institutions. This included huge companies such as local DAX companies, football and sports clubs from VfL Wolfsburg to FC St. Pauli, through to the Telekom Baskets Bonn, insurance companies and banks or authorities like the German Army or the Federal Network Agency, NGOs and unions, but also many often technically-oriented medium-sized companies, who are market leaders in their segments that range from parking space management through to therapy systems. Many agencies and distributors also took advantage of the opportunity to scout for ideas for their customers or actually guided their clients around the trade show themselves.
The latter were also able to take part in many campaigns that underlined the “experiential world character” of the event: From the statement box, to the electronic wheel of fortune at the HAPTICA®//ONLINE stand, through to having one’s name engraved in notebooks of the Leuchtturm brand, Semikolon. And of course, the red adhesive dots mentioned at the beginning also came into play: They were all attached to a live mosaic, the motif of which revealed the venue date of the next HAPTICA® live. Exhibitors and visitors will once again have the opportunity to collect a wealth of haptic advertising touchpoints on March 13, 2024, at the WCCB in Bonn.
// Dr. Mischa Delbrouck
Photos: Thomas Gebhard, Sabine Klüser, Beke Milas, © WA Media; Bernadett Yehdou
Exhibitor statements
Visitor statements
