EXCLUSIVE: Ian Reynolds-Young picks the brains of Johnny Broderick on AVEX.
Before we begin, a word. I was introduced, at AVEX, to a charming woman from a major vending operator who scoffed when I told her I edited Planet Vending. ‘Oh’, she said, ‘do you mean ‘Planet Broderick’s?’
Successfully stifling a yawn, (having heard all that before), I calmly explained that, when Planet Vending opened its portal to the vending world, we told operators that we’d run their stories for free. That’s, FOC, for nothing, zilch, nowt. Broderick’s sends us stories, we upload them. If you’re an operator and you send us a story, we’ll upload that, too.
You don’t have to be a meerkat to see how simples that concept is…
I bring this to your attention a propos of the fact that this is the first time I ever got on the phone to Johnny Broderick and asked him for an interview.
I wanted to get an candid view on AVEX; its pros and cons, its strengths and weaknesses, from the perspective of an MD who’s both a local and an exhibitor, and in true Johnny style, he pulled no punches.
The purpose of Johnny’s comments, (having read and re-read them very carefully before hitting the ‘publish now’ button), is to stimulate debate. Johnny posed a lot more questions than he answered when we got together, as you’re about to find out; but all his questions could all be filed under the heading of ‘what’s best for the future direction of the vending industry?’
‘Personally, I’d like to see the whole subject of AVEX debated by members during the next round of AVA regional meetings.’ Johnny Broderick.
He started by acknowledging that AVEX lacked for nothing in terms of the effort of the organising team. ‘I’d firstly like to thank Gillian White, Rosie and Tracy for giving their all to make AVEX 2015 a success’, he said. Then, he took a deep breath…
‘Whilst AVEX was successful for Broderick’s and for many exhibitors, I believe the AVA needs to take on board comments that were made by those who were disgruntled with the exhibition.
‘In my view, some of the issues surrounding AVEX were deep-rooted even before Gillian’s appointment. Believe me, without her intervention and her legendary powers of persuasion it could have been much worse for all exhibitors…
‘Personally, I’d like to see the whole subject of AVEX debated by members during the next round of AVA regional meetings. I think that the time has come for us to re-evaluate the importance and relevance of the show whose raison d’être was to finance the work the AVA does on behalf of the vending industry.
‘Here’s how I’d like to see the debate pan out: what does AVEX mean to vending specifiers and end users? We could do with a title that ‘does what it says on the tin’. What’s ‘Venditalia’ all about; or ‘The Ideal Home Exhibition’? The clue is in their names…
‘Wouldn’t the vending industry be better served by calling our biennial showpiece ‘The Workplace Refreshment Show’, or maybe ‘The Workplace and Leisure Refreshment show? It’s not my job to come up with catchy titles, but you get my drift… In my opinion, AVEX needs to be renamed.
‘We need to think beyond the vending community when we advertise our most prestigious event. I can tell you from experience that whenever a show comes to Manchester it’s all over local commercial radio like a rash. You can’t escape the fact that some exhibition or other is coming to town. We all missed an opportunity in this respect.
‘I think that the timing of the event is crucial: it’s getting later and later! We shouldn’t clash with a major sporting event or a specifier’s show, such as the FM show or Café Culture, or indeed any FM or Catering event. In fact, wouldn’t it be better to collaborate with these sectors? A week to the day after Avex I was at the BIFM Summer Ball at The Hilton. There were 270 FM people in attendance, all suited and booted. I wish they’d been at AVEX…’
(I was there, too; and the potential cross-over was self-evident. Johnny is in his stride by now…)
‘We would have been better off had we liaised with them in advance’, he said. ‘Maybe we could have suggested that their summer ball and our show were on the same day. In return for ‘The BIFM 270’ attending our show, perhaps we, via the AVA, could have sponsored the drinks reception at their event?
‘Then again, TUCO, (the University Caterers Organisation, ed), had an exhibition at Manchester Metropolitan University. What if we’d accommodated that meeting within our exhibition, if only to get TUCO members more involved?’
There were a few more questions Johnny wanted answers to…
‘Why did the big vending groups have meetings in Manchester during the show? Wouldn’t their memberships have been better off exploring what’s new at a show aimed squarely at them?
‘Why didn’t the AVA initially ask where they were staying and pay for a meeting room the day before, or (again) contribute towards their meal the night before?
‘Why did the vending operator who unsubscribed from the AVA Mail Chimp e-mails complain because he hadn’t received any information relating to the show?
‘Why did the exhibitor who complained that not enough people visited his stand, when questioned, admitted he hadn’t sent invitations or flyers to attract potential targets to the show?’
Johnny suggested that all exhibitors ought to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves: ‘did I engage with the right people? Besides the directors and owners, what about those key influencers? The Operations Directors, the Sales Managers, sales teams, buyers, service managers…’
‘Why did we call it the ‘Business Doctor’s Clinic’ for Heaven’s sake?’ Johnny said. ‘Some people don’t like going to the doctor’s and they never admit there’s anything wrong with them. If we’d called it ‘The Entrepreneurs’ Zone’, it might have attracted greater patronage.’
Johnny also sees the potential to attract trades / professions that work within the vending industry that were unrepresented at AVEX 2015. ‘I would have liked to have seen specialists in website design, specialists in online shopping’, he said, ‘SEO wizards, algorithm alchemists; Google ranking gurus, video producers, social media experts and marketing companies. Where were they?’
He’s got a point or two…
It was time to finish on a positive note. ‘Personally, it was a fantastic couple of days’, Johnny admitted. ‘It was an adrenalin rush to exhibit shoulder-to-shoulder with the best in the industry and to work as a team with our suppliers to make sure our customers were well looked after’, he said. ‘Then there was Kriss Akabussi, Manchester House; Levi Roots, Danny Posthill; Aiden Byrne and Paul Sinnatt… It was a great experience. Finally, to witness Hugh Milson, John Hazelhurst and Stuart Coutts walking round with the heirs apparent to their businesses was genuinely heartwarming. It was a perfect couple of days for us, but now I think it’s time for the whole industry to focus on the bigger picture.’
And that was that. Johnny had another meeting to go to and after a brief chat with John Senior as I got my gear together, I was off.
And so, dear readers, to bed – but not before I throw down the gauntlet. Do you agree with Johnny Broderick? Is he spot on, or half right – or has he got it all wrong?
The debate has begun: now is the time for the UK’s vending operators to make their own positions clear…
Operators: send us your thoughts. We won’t charge you for publishing them.
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