Pictured: Jenny Thompson, Vendex North’s persona non grata
Planet Vending Editorial
Is it just us, or does the vending industry sometimes make you, too, want to tear out your hair in frustration?
The past year in particular has exemplified the kind of ‘three steps forward, two steps back’ progress that nobody in vending wants.
The first crack in the thin ice of industry co-operation came when the AVA, together with Datateam Business Media, the publishers of Vending International, launched the Vending Industry Awards (VIAs), in what was seen in some quarters as direct competition to the Auto Vending Awards. We weren’t a party to the ins-and-outs of why or how the changes were made, but the fallout has been little short of tragic: old friendships have floundered on the rocks of progress and the resultant hostility between the protagonists can only impair the prospects of the vending industry.
It seems to us that the AVA ought to own the rights to the industry’s system of recognising excellence, but we can understand why the owners of Auto Vending E would have been angry that their prize possession was usurped.*
‘That’s life’, you might say, ‘that’s business’. As supporters and advocates of the AVA and it’s CEO Jonathan Hilder, we feel that Auto Vending’s contribution to improving the image of vending should be recognised. ‘Thanks, Phil, but we’re moving on’ doesn’t quite do it. Yes, there were many snipers who had AV in their sights; people who thought the awards ceremonies of old were rather ham-fisted and under played affairs. But without AV’s efforts, there would have been scant opportunity for the industry to come together en bloc to celebrate success and recognise excellence.
The VIA ceremony wasn’t without its faults, but it was a very good event and a huge improvement on what had gone before.
We think that with the introduction of the VIAs, the AVA has, in fact, raised the bar. After all. the VIA awards dinner, held during AVEX, brought together the largest gathering of vending people seen for many, many years and the comparative professionalism of the black-tie event, complete with its more inclusive range of award categories, fully vindicated the AVA’s decision to take the reins.
The VIA ceremony wasn’t without its faults, but it was a very good event and a huge improvement on what had gone before. The chances are that the next VIA ceremony, arranged with the benefit of 2013’s experience, will be even better; The celebration, in fact, that the vending industry deserves.
As if that schism wasn’t bad enough, things were about to get even messier. The AVA and the Facilities Management Association (FMA) announced in May 2013 that they had become members of each other’s Associations ‘in a carefully planned effort to bridge the gap between vending and facilities management.’ (More on this here). The auguries were good for future co-operation. But then, the unthinkable happened. Datateam Business Media, the publisher of Vending International, announced in September 2013 that it had had, and we quote, ‘joined forces with vending industry stalwart Paul Howard to launch fmVend, ‘the only dedicated vending exhibition for facility managers’. (More on this here).
This is a decision that has caused a whole world of hurt to the AVA. The poor old FMA must be wondering if they’ve hitched their horse to the wrong wagon and the AVA must be pulling out the stops to convince them that is hasn’t. The fact that ‘vending industry stalwart Paul Howard’ had acted as Chairman of AVEX, working hand in glove with the AVA and yet, despite that, decided to take this unilateral course of action, has opened a wound. However, Vending International has declared itself ‘a firm supporter’ of the AVA. The publisher hopes that the good relationship it has with the AVA will lead to the organisation working with the fmVend team ‘to the benefit of the Industry’.
Quite what the outside world thinks of all of this is anybody’s guess: but the AVA’s standing with those it seeks to influence can’t have been helped by a perceived erosion of its authority as the industry’s representative body. But that doesn’t explain why Paul Howard’s company, Nebrak, has been banned from Vendex North…
Even more baffling, and from our point of view, the saddest story in all of this, the single action that illustrates the state of intransigence that exists these days in the business, is the decision to deny Jenny Thompson access to Vendex North. Jenny is a popular and hitherto ubiquitous figure in the vending world. As most people’s contact at Vending International and as a roving reporter of the publication at trade shows all over Europe for many years, we think it’s outrageous – not to mention, petty – that she’s been declared ‘persona non grata’ at next month’s Old Trafford event. Her absence means that exhibitors at Vendex North will not get the coverage – in the industry’s only printed magazine – that they deserve.
Quite who gains from this is anybody’s guess. From where we’re standing, nobody does.
*The VIA awards are jointly owned by Datateam, publishers of Vending International and the AVA.
