After the Volk-PC and the Volks-T-shirt, now the Volks-fair: In the "Bild-Stadt" (Bild City), the Berlin-based Axel Springer Verlag wants to paint the town red in Herne, in the heart of the Ruhr district. On the around 100,000-m² fairground where the traditional Cranger Kirmes funfair is held, the pilot event with discovery worlds based on the various Bild brands such as "Sport Bild", "Auto Bild", "Bams", "Computer Bild" and "Bild der Frau" is scheduled to take place from May 13 to 24, 2010. So far the concept reads like a cross between a funfair, consumer fair and concert. 300,000 to 600,000 visitors are expected over the twelve days of the event. Herne is considered ideal because of its high population density and the large reach of "Bild" in the region. However, potential visitors have to be prepared to pay entrance. The publishing house expects further revenue from co-operation with major brand traders who may be present in the individual worlds. Promotional campaigns and sponsoring activities in the tents and on the open-air areas will provide opportunities for them to present their brands. This includes the Bild covered market for which Messe Frankfurt was obtained as a marketing partner. The difference in the exhibitor portfolio of the individual Bild worlds and the Bild covered market is essentially the size of the business partners and the resulting contacts who are important for the marketing. "Of course, we contributed our know-how in event and trade fair management and our expertise in all aspects of hall planning from the outset", Frankfurt's managing director Detlef Braun explained.
 
"As the market leader in Germany's trade fair business, Messe Frankfurt is a strong, innovative and, above all, interested partner and was therefore our first choice. We held preliminary discussions with various companies, including trade fair organisers, but we chose Frankfurt in the end," Tobias Kuhn, publishing manager for "Bild am Sonntag", recounts. The trade fair company will be advising the publishing house on many issues, not just the marketing, Kuhn continues.
 
If the concept is successful, Messe Frankfurt is also being considered as a venue. "After all, we are a major player in Frankfurt's city marketing. A final decision on whether and when the Bild city will be coming to Frankfurt will not be taken before the end of the first event. Axel Springer decides what, where and when," Braun says. The topic of consumer exhibition was not on the agenda for a long time in Frankfurt. "Our involvement does not mean we are now intending to venture further into the field of traditional consumer fairs. They are offered by enough providers already. But our pioneering spirit in this project has contributed to our wanting to work closely on this event," was how the managing director explained Frankfurt's commitment. Of course, Springer is also pursuing financial aims with this project. The idea will stand or fall by how successful the marketing is. However, Springer is still keeping an exit door open. The project is still at the planning stage, Kuhn says. Alongside Messe Frankfurt, Axel Springer Media Impact (Asmi), a business unit of the publisher, will be providing additional marketing.
 
There is a similarly devised event that has worked well for years: The Rewe-Family-Fest, which has toured several German cities each summer, also draws the masses with a mixed bag of bargains in non-food tents, various discovery worlds and live acts of popular boy groups. At the Cologne retail group's event, suppliers and brand traders also get involved with large promotion and sponsoring campaigns, but here the general public gets to enter free of charge. ank