CH – This year’s Pandinavia Summit, which was staged under the motto “Climbing to Success”, was held at Hall 550 in Zurich-Oerlikon on May 21. The industrial hall, a robust lanyard with a sturdy snap hook for the accreditation and a rucksack as an exhibition bag underlined the motto, which was crowned by a lecture by the Swiss extreme mountaineer, helicopter pilot, adventurer, speaker and bestseller author, Evelyne Binsack. According to the organisers, 524 visitors attended the show and they could look forward to around 80 exhibitors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, who presented a wide range of promotional products. From textiles, to gingerbread, through to individualisable spectacles, there was something suitable for every taste and budget. “We are, of course, delight to also have Swiss exhibitors on board, which is also very important for the event,” emphasised Kaspar Benz, Managing Director of Pandinavia.
It wasn’t only worth visiting the new exhibitors, classic companies like Victorinox also presented novelties. “The show is a home game for us, which is why a lot of the visitors know us, of course. But we are demonstrating a new feature for our knives today, the parcel opener, and we are introducing a few new colours too,” explained, Simon Harder, Key Account Manager at Victorinox. The Pandinavia Summit is not a new show for Simone Schmidt from Fare either: “We have several regular customers here and are glad to have the opportunity to meet up with them. It really is a fantastic show and the weather has shown every from rain to sun, which has enabled us to demonstrate the advantages of our entire collection.”
In addition to familiar suppliers and manufacturers, there were also several companies among the exhibitors, who are new to the promotional products industry. “It is our first show in the promotional products section,” reported Sean Pfister from DillySocks, “we are already well-known in the B2C segment. Our socks above all attract attention with their designs, so the people often stop to look at them and you easily get talking.” mbw’s popular display cleaners in plant form that are marketed in Switzerland by L-Shop Team Switzerland, put smiles on people’s faces again. “The Evergreenies are totally popular and are going down well. Of course, we can only show a small selection of our line-up here, but it is going very well and we have already held many interesting discussions,” stated Juliana Rodriguez from L-Shop Team Switzerland.
Assessing the many exhibitors and products wasn’t the only thing on the to-do list of the cheerful audience, the supporting programme also offered plenty of inspiration. Lectures and talk rounds on the themes brand success through merchandising and the sustainable procurement of promotional products provided further inspiration and provoked thought. The lecture programme was brought to a close by the keynote speaker, Evelyne Binsack, who reported about her experiences on Mount Everest and at the North and South Pole and demonstrated how courage, stamina and passion can lead to exceptional achievements.
The “Best Merchandise Collection” Peak-Award exhibition paid tribute to the best merchandise collections of the year that excelled in terms of their innovation or creative products. The visitors were able to vote for their favourites from among the exhibited collections and these were in turn distinguished with the Peak-Award.
During the day food trucks, an ice-cream counter and a coffee bar invited the guests to spend time chatting and the event concluded with a sociable get-together. After a successful day with good-humoured visitors and exhibitors, the organiser, Benz, drew a positive balance: “We are really satisfied, the show was well-attended. I personally like it when you stage everything under an overall motto and it all fits in as well as it did this year. This enabled us to do a lot of nice things that the visitors really appreciated. We only organise the show every two years, primarily to position our company on the market and this was very successful again this year.”
Photos: Sophia Arnold, © WA Media
