The GWW Chairman, Frank Jansen.
D – Financial reports, the planning of the GWW shows in 2025 and the presentation of the results of the promotional products monitor were on the agenda of the General Annual Meeting of the GWW (German Promotional Product Association) in Bad Nauheim on June 4 and 5.
The first day of the meeting at the Park Hotel Dolce by Wyndham passed pretty much without excitement. After the section sessions in the morning, the Chairman of the GWW, Frank Jansen, welcomed the present representatives of 81 members eligible to vote – the GWW currently has 450 members in total. The Managing Director of the GWW, Ralf Samuel, presented the report on the association’s work. This was followed by the financial report by the accountant Bernd Frings and the report of the cash auditor, Wolfgang Schmidt. Subsequently, the board and the management were ratified. There were no votes against them with three and one abstentions, respectively. Jansen reported about the political work of the association and the network that the GWW is building together with other associations. After consultation with tax experts, the board still do not consider the letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance on the differentiation of promotional products and gifts to be conducive. The option to take legal action against the unfair treatment regarding the tax regulations compared to other advertising media was discussed once again.
Ralf Samuel, Managing Director of the GWW, presenting the annual report.
The Supervisory Board, represented by Eva Hassenbach (Hassenbach Werbemittel) and Christiane Nemetz (e!xact), presented its work, Linus Böll (Troika) from the Young Professionals – a group within the GWW for U36 managers – reported among others about the success of the first Young Professionals Academy. Ralf Uwe Schneider is representing the GWW in the Europe umbrella association, EAC (European Association Cooperation), which is currently being founded (EAC inaugural meeting in Stockholm – eppi Magazine (eppi-online.com)) and underlined the necessity of the European network to the members, before Silvan Dolezalek (CosmoShop) presented the most important features of the digital working tool, HumHub, which is to be used for internal GWW communications in future. The first day was brought to a close with a generalised lecture by the business consultant, Bettina Schlüter, on the theme “Sustainable Management”. The meeting participants got together in the evening for a BBQ.
Cooperation with Expo 4.0
The second day of the meeting initially addressed the trade show events of the GWW, the Trend and the Newsweek. Samuel made reference to the results of a survey on the GWW Trend. Around 100 “exhibitors” and 100 “visitors” had taken part in the survey, and based on the results the association considers itself legitimised in addition to the autumn edition of the Trend that is scheduled to take place in Cologne on September 24, to hold a spring edition of the Trend on February 12 that will be staged in cooperation with the Stuttgart Exhibition Centre on the eve of the Expo 4.0.
Representatives from 81 members eligible to vote were present. The GWW currently has 450 members.
The board member, Elke Bobek (promodoro), who was largely responsible for the planning, explained the new concept: The spring edition of the Trend is to be staged in an own hall, but in direct proximity to the Expo 4.0., which comprises of the two shows, TecStyle Visions and Wetec. Then, on the next day the first leg of the Newsweek is to be held at the same location, replacing the Giveadays, which hitherto represented the haptic advertising segment in conjunction with the Expo 4.0. According to Bobek, thanks to separate admission controls, it will be guaranteed that only qualified visitors for the respective visitor groups will be granted access. Textile companies with a stand at the TecStyle that is of great importance for this product group, are at liberty not to exhibit at the Newsweek in Stuttgart, but to take part in the remaining legs of the roadshow.
The association is bringing the Newsweek 2025 considerably forward: In addition to the Stuttgart date on February 12, legs have already been scheduled in Hamburg (February 19) and Frankfurt (March 23), additional “potential weeks” for further Newsweek dates are the calendar weeks 8, 11, 14, 19, 20 and 21. The fact that these planned dates will clash with many established events in the months February and March – when a high number of shows are already traditionally scheduled, putting additional pressure on the event calendar of the exhibitors as well as the new concept in Stuttgart – was noted with astonishment by many of the attendees and will no doubt subsequently lead to new discussions.
Turnover growth
Dr. Markus Preißner, Scientific Director of the Institute for Trade Research (IfH), subsequently presented the results of the Promotional Products Monitor 2023, which the institute carried out on behalf of the GWW. With an annual turnover of 3.36 billion Euros, at 7% the marketing volume increased in comparison to 2022. However, it is difficult to compare the figures, since for the first time only 230 promoting companies from the industry were interviewed for the current survey instead of the former 500 companies.
Before the GAM came to a close with a lecture on the EU Product Safety Regulation by the lawyer Kai Koschorreck followed by a discussion round, the Supervisory Board Member, Mirco Häßlich (WER), proposed a suggestion for the disputed expenses of the board members: From now on the yearly budget of 48,000 Euros would be at the disposal of the entire board, which the board members could pay their expenses out of. Whereas the announced decision to charge a fee of 40 or 70 Euros per hour for ten hours/month for association activities had caused some controversy last autumn, the new proposal seemed to be accepted by the attendees. However, putting it into practice requires an alteration to the articles of association and the formal approval of the members. // Till Barth/Dr. Mischa Delbrouck
Photos: Mischa Delbrouck, © WA Media GmbH
