Bravissimo: FIBO breaks records across the board
More than 150,000 visitors descend on Cologne
The “BO” in FIBO could also stand for the BOOM of the industry and the trade fair right now. Because the Leading International Trade Fair for Fitness, Wellness and Health once again underscored its exceptional position around the world by setting new all-time records. A total of 153,000 visitors came to Cologne, including 83,000 trade visitors from more than 100 nations.
With an exhibitor increase of 32 per cent, a floor space expansion of 23 per cent and a 12 per cent visitor boost, organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland recorded another huge growth spurt.
A total of 960 exhibitors (prior year: 725) presented current fitness and health industry trends and innovations on an area of 160,000 m². With 153,000 visitors (prior year: 136,000), including 83,000 trade visitors, FIBO continued to expand its role as the leading international business platform. On the weekend, when the Exhibition Centre Cologne opened its gates to fitness fans, the show turned into a soaring success. As in years past, FIBO had already been sold out for private visitors before the trade fair even started.
FIBO doubles in just four years
“Right now, FIBO is among the world’s leading trade fairs with the best growth momentum. Simply a fantastic development”, says Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO Reed Exhibitions Deutschland. In the span of four years, since the move from Essen to Cologne, FIBO doubled both the number of visitors and the floor space; the number of exhibitors grew by a respectable 57 per cent during the same period.
If one asks FIBO Event Director Ralph Scholz for the “why”, he’ll credit four central reasons with creating this dynamic: “First, the market continues its positive development with increasing demand, second, powerful trends and innovations, third, gains from the international segment, and fourth, the continued advancement of FIBO by Reed, which is having an ever-greater impact.” By way of example, he lists the positioning of the three areas FIBO EXPERT for trade visitors, FIBO PASSION for active workout enthusiasts and consumers, and FIBO POWER for the bodybuilding, weight training and martial arts community.
European fitness market expanding
EuropeActive Board Member Herman Rutgers pegs current growth in the European fitness market at 4.9 per cent when taking into account the sales of the altogether 51,200 fitness studios in Europe, a figure that reached €26.7 billion last year. Some 52.4 million people are members of gyms at this time, according to the latest Deloitte study presented at the 3rd European Health & Fitness Forum in Cologne. A representative study conducted by TNS Infratest and commissioned by The German Industry Association for Fitness & Health (DFIG), among others, found that 10.8 million people actively exercise for fitness reasons in Germany right now.
Completely in line with the latest trends
Some of the hottest trends are technical innovations, digital offerings and personalised training units. This year’s FIBO was well-aligned with these themes, even dedicating an entire hall to EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) for the first time. The FIBO visitor survey revealed that nearly one in six trade visitors have plans to invest in this area. Still ranking high are functional training, group fitness choices, and strength and cardio training. Almost one in two FIBO trade visitors came to Cologne with concrete investment plans. One in seven said they’re planning investments of more than €200,000, seven per cent even of more than half a million euros.
Media spotlight on FIBO
By garnering lots of media attention, FIBO was able to raise awareness for fitness and health among broad swaths of the public. Nearly 1,000 accredited journalists from 32 countries reported “live” from FIBO, including all German TV stations, news agencies, numerous radio stations and daily newspapers, as well as online services, “YouTubers” and bloggers.
The next FIBO will take place at the Exhibition Centre Cologne from 6 to 9 April 2017.
To download up-to-date images and obtain detailed information regarding FIBO INNOVATION AWARD, please visit www.fibo.de.
Note: FIBO’s visitor, exhibitor and floor space figures are calculated and certified according to the uniform definitions published by FKM – German Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics.
Exhibitor statements:
“As a trailblazer and pioneer of the industry, we found confirmation at FIBO, Europe’s most important trade fair, that our digitalisation strategy under consideration of our credo ‘Human before Machine’ perfectly captures the zeitgeist.”
Udo Münster, Managing Director, milon industries GmbH
“Sixty year ago, the first fitness studios opened in Germany; now, about ten million people work out. Very few markets change so rapidly and dynamically. For 36 years, gym80 has been tackling this challenge anew each year, and today FIBO is one our most important trend barometers. We’re particularly pleased by the incredibly positive customer feedback we received in response to the launch of Studiyou®. We’re a comprehensive fitness, medical and functional provider. Our answer to the increased demand for holistic and profit-oriented solutions is Studiyou®: tailored concepts from a single source, from the entry-level series to the exclusive, fully electronic solution including cardio. The encouragement we received from our customers was phenomenal and made FIBO 2016 a complete success for us.”
Arie van Winkelhof, Managing Director, gym80
“Nine years ago, we had a stand with ten square metres and two people at FIBO. Today, there’s almost an entire hall and a dedicated EMS congress, and we had the largest stand at the trade fair – it’s an amazing feeling. This development tells us the concept is working. EMS in general is very well received by a broad audience and has the potential of conquering new markets worldwide. We, for one, saw lots of international visitors at our stand.”
Rainer Beck, Director of Sales, miha bodytec GmbH
“The media response at our stand was sensational. Our show concept worked extremely well. The hall was always full. We had a large, international audience across all days. Lots of trade visitors with big investment plans stopped by our stand, and we closed some excellent deals.”
Christopher Nolde, Managing Director, bodyficient GmbH
“We ran a joint stand with Vosswinkel this year, and we’re thrilled about what’s happening here. The traffic, the customers, the interest and the reactions to our brand ambassador Fernanda Brandao – all of it was really great. Everything was just right. We loved the entire fashion hall, from the concept to the catwalk to the other fashion manufacturers. We’re planning on expanding our stand next year.”
Matthias Bäumer, General Manager, PUMA SE
“The trade fair was sensational. We’ve been participating for three years, and we’ve doubled the size of our stand each time. We’re extremely happy with the response and the fantastic atmosphere. FIBO is particularly important for us as a pure online brand, because this is where we come into direct contact with our customers. That’s a wonderful feeling. One particular highlight this year was of course taking home two FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARDs. The product is still a prototype at the very early stages of development. The price and the attention that goes along with it are now motivating us even more to continue to develop the product until its ready for sale.”
Philipp Deslandes, Managing Director, GYM AESTHETICS
“This was our first time at FIBO, and we hadn’t expected such a rush at our stand – both in terms of private and trade visitors. Lots of studio operators paid us a visit. Nutrition is becoming an increasingly important factor in the fitness sector. I believe that our CORNY SPORT product is right in line with the spirit of our times, which is all about marrying enjoyment and function.”
Jan Böhm, Key Account Manager Out of Home, SCHWARTAUER WERKE GmbH & Co. KGaA
“FIBO is the leading international trade fair for fitness and health. That fact was proven once again by this year’s impressive event. We were able to efficiently use the four days to tastefully demonstrate and further consolidate our leadership position in the market. Numerous talks with existing customers and contacts with new customers were extremely valuable in terms of our market penetration.”
Guyves Sarkhosh, Corporate Communications Director, Jentschura International GmbH
“As a global leader in functional training, we’re represented at many trade fairs around the world. But FIBO is the ‘crown jewel’ – the most important trade fair in strategic terms. It offers a fantastic setting for us to present our innovations to the world, close deals and make lots of new contacts. We were so thrilled by the trade fair that we’ve already started planning for the next FIBO this week. See you again 2017.”
Matthew Januszek, CEO, Escape Fitness
“FIBO is a unique platform for us in order to personally present our diverse INLINE consulting services and our franchise brand INJOY specifically to an expert audience. What’s more, we’re also using the enormous media interest in FIBO to enhance the positioning of and education about health-oriented muscle training – for us and on behalf of the entire fitness industry. This year, in conjunction with our methodologically sophisticated campaign ‘Deutschland trainiert’ (Germany works out) and the scientific essay ‘Was bringt Bewegung’ (What’s exercise good for?) as well as with the support of the impressive 90-year-old gymnast Johanna Quaas and the likeable verbal acrobat and former footballer Thorsten Legat, we were able to introduce this topic to numerous popular media outlets. We also reached our sales goals, which means we can definitely speak of a highly successful FIBO 2016.”
Bettina Langwald, Press Officer, INLINE Unternehmensberatung GmbH
“The trade visitor days were very, very good for us. But FIBO as a whole was also a great trade fair. Especially in comparison to recent years, we can say: a success with more to come.”
Josef Bruss, Managing Director, EQUIMED Consulting oHG
“We especially saw lots of traffic from tanning salon operators at our stand this year. We were very happy about that. Saturday, which was actually a private visitor day, was also a very good trade fair day for us. Both national and international customers came to our stand. FIBO is emerging as an increasingly important platform for tanning salons – and operators of tanning salons are recognising that. We already booked for next year.”
Florian Kreitz, Brand Executive, JK-INTERNATIONAL GmbH
“Just like in past years, the trade fair was very well attended. The quality on the trade visitor days was excellent. That’s why were able to present and market our new product – the Dr. Wolff Faszienzirkel, which was also nominated for the FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARD – in a great way.
Dr. Hartmut Wolff, Managing Director, Dr. WOLFF Sports & Prevention GmbH
“In general, it’s extremely important for Karstadt Sport to participate in the world’s largest fitness trade fair. For the first time, we’re very satisfied. Setting up Hall 4.2 as a shopping mall created a very pleasant platform with a fantastic atmosphere. FIBO is a must-attend event for us.”
Angelika Gonda, Marketing, Karstadt Sport
“Our event on Thursday was amazing and a great opportunity for us to build our community.”
Natasha Bellroth, Co-Founder and General Council, PILOXING
“We’re overwhelmed by the very positive response and huge interest we were able to generate – especially among lots of international customers and end consumers. Winning them over with our product affirmed the value of our work. We feel very optimistic that we have a leading edge product that struck a chord with visitors. The jury decision surprised and delighted us quite a bit. In their decision, they commented: “The wheel has been reinvented. True to the principle: from primitive to complicated to just beautiful.”
Christian Polenz, Owner, YAB.Fitness
“FIBO was truly a great success for us. We were delighted to see so many curious visitors at our stand. Face-to-face contact at the trade fair is very important in order to provide information about our sports headsets. The trade fair is the perfect place for a dialogue with other manufacturers and to make new contacts in general – and that’s what it’s all about, after all. One of our highlights is that we we’ve now even been able to win a FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARD.”
Sybille Bloech, End Customer Marketing Manager Germany, Austria Switzerland, Jabra
“A total success. People were enthusiastic. We had amazing visitors, amazing contacts – the atmosphere was great! A really cool event.”
Johannes Scholl and Michael Schmidt, CEO, ICAROS GmbH
FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARD 2016: Meet the winners
Yesterday, on the third day the Leading International Trade Fair for Fitness, Wellness and Health, nine winners were recognised with the coveted FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARD 2016. The winning products, which were presented at the big FIBO Party at the Cologne event location DIE HALLE TOR 2, weren’t the only new things. The name of the “Oscars of the Fitness Industry” also made its debut this year, and the prizes themselves were handed out – also for the first time – by the jury, trade visitors and the audience. Accordingly, the 12 nominated products had to win over a range of industry actors, including studio operators and trainers, end customers, and the five-member jury.
Products were approved for the awards if they represented a major contribution to the innovative advancement of the entire industry and had not been on the market for more than a year. Sweeping the board at the FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARDS presented in cooperation with TÜV Rheinland Group and Fit For Fun magazine was GYM AESTHETICS: he company’s high-tech underwear was recognised with first place by both private and trade visitors for its ability to capture force and movements in all kinds of fitness exercises. Runner-ups in the trade visitor category were MATRIX / Johnson Health Tech (second place) and Icaros GmbH (third place). In the private visitor category, Jabra GN Netcom GmbH came in second and YAB.Fitness third.
First place in the jury award went to YAB.Fitness, whose ergonomically formed YAB.s dumbbells are aimed at protecting joints while making training significantly more efficient by offering additional gripping options. Icaros GmbH was awarded with second place by the jury, and MoveToLive Deutschland GmbH finished third.
The jury
The Jury Award was presented by an expert panel made up of Prof. Paul Eigenmann (Qualitop), Prof. Dr. Dr. Ingo Froböse (German Sport University Cologne), Matthias Lompa (TÜV Rheinland), Heike Schönegge (Fit For Fun) and Elmar Trunz-Carlisi (Institut für Prävention und Nachsorge GmbH [IPN] in Cologne).
All nominees and winners were presented on Sunday evening at the trade fair’s FIBO INNOVATION FORUM in Hall 4.2.
For additional information on the FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARD 2016, go to www.fibo.de
The FIBO INNOVATION & TREND AWARD 2016 ranking:
Trade Visitor Award
1st Gym Aesthetics High-Tech Underwear / GYM AESTHETICS
2nd Connexus / Johnson Health Tech. GmbH (Matrix)
3rd ICAROS / Icaros GmbH
Private Visitor Award
1st Gym Aesthetics High-Tech Underwear / GYM AESTHETICS
2nd Jabra Sport Coach Wireless / Jabra GN Netcom GmbH
3rd YAB.s (dumbbells) / YAB.Fitness
Jury Award
1st YAB.s (dumbbells) / YAB.Fitness
2nd ICAROS / Icaros GmbH
3rd XT-one / MoveToLive Deutschland GmbH
About FIBO
No other event worldwide even comes close: FIBO in Cologne is the largest international trade fair for fitness, wellness and health. Here, the global key players of the industry come together. Here, everything revolves around innovations, trends and investments. At FIBO 2015, 725 companies from 40 nations presented their products and services to a total of 136,000 international trade and private visitors. In 2016, the trade fair will take place at the Exhibition Centre Cologne from 7 to 10 April. Divided once again into the three segments FIBO EXPERT, FIBO PASSION and FIBO POWER, FIBO 2016 will take place at the Exhibition Centre Cologne from 7 to 10 April. Kicking off the trade fair on 6 April will be the 3rd European Health & Fitness Forum, a meeting of about 400 leading representatives of the European fitness sector.
www.fibo.de
