Placing the spotlight on haptic advertising – that is the aim of the event format “HAPTICA® live”, which was brought to life by the Cologne, Germany-based publishing company, WA Publishing, in 2013. The focus of “experiencing haptic advertising” lies in presenting concepts and ideas for the practical application of haptic advertising products to companies and marketeers. The concept evidently aroused the interest of many decision-makers from the marketing, advertising, creation and purchasing sectors: In spite of the public transport strikes around Cologne and at the airports, according to the official figures, in total 959 visitors (previous year: 614 visitors) attended the second edition of the HAPTICA® live on March 26, 2014 at the Palladium in D-Cologne and experienced the entire diversity and creativity of this form of marketing.

The event concept comprises of several elements: 78 exhibitors (previous year: 42) presented their products in two halls. A lecture programme featuring five marketing professionals and the Best Practice special show comprising of manifold campaigns and examples of application offered insights into everyday practice. A further highlight was the Promotional Gift Award 2014: All 53 award-winning products were on display in a separate exhibition. Furthermore, 46 award winners attended the prize-giving ceremony in the afternoon in person, in some cases from England, Italy, Slovenia and Spain.

The majority of the visitors of the HAPTICA® live ‘14 came from the Cologne district, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhine-Main, but there were also attendees from Berlin, Munich and Hamburg as well as from neighbouring European countries. The visitors praised above all the good mixture of exhibits – many renowned companies were among the exhibitors – the inspiring ideas among the special shows, the friendly and relaxed atmosphere, the harmonious brand identity of HAPTICA® live and the entertaining award ceremony of the Promotional Gift Award prize-winners.

“The name of the event hits the nail on the head: Advertising is made tangible here. I particularly find the creative ideas in the special show and the innovative products among the Promotional Gift Award exhibits highly interesting. It is amazing what ideas people come up with, when they don’t just look at promotional products as give-aways.“
(Rolf Enzenauer, Dialog-Friends, Leverkusen)

“A big praise for the event: It is a good size and a great exhibitor mix. The lectures also provided exciting impulses: I particularly enjoyed the presentation on haptic advertising for B2B communication by Henkel and the lecture on multi-channel marketing by Payback.“
(Nicole Kammann, Deutsche Post AG, Zentrale Gruppe Dialoglösung (Central Dialogue Solution Group/Cologne)

“As providers of digital economic information, we like to present innovations to our customers and use innovative promotional products to promote our services. I found the exhibition areas very inspiring: One often has too little time to be creative, which is why the best practice examples are important because they trigger off one’s creative instincts.“ (Silke Traurig-Eckerskorn, Bisnode Deutschland GmbH, Darmstadt)

The majority of exhibitors were also satisfied, regarding not only the quantity, but also the quality of their discussions with the visitors.

“Both the layout and the location, as well as the frequency of visitors convinced us. The long queue in the entrance area at half past ten in the morning was crazy, we certainly hadn’t expected that. The various elements, like the Best Practice special show for instance went down very well with the visitors. They enquired about the exhibits at the stand and in some cases even approached us with some good ideas after visiting the exhibition. This makes consulting dialogues fun.“ (Sebastian Tatzel, XD Design by Xindao)

“The HAPTICA® live definitely has great potential. Trade fairs are rarely this well-attended; this was no doubt partly due to the supporting programme. I find it good that the visitors are offered this opportunity.“ (Christian Kempf, Picard Lederwaren GmbH & Co. KG)

Overall, the HAPTICA® live ‘14 got everyone in the mood for more – a new venue date for next year has already been fixed. The third edition of the APTICA® live will be staged at the Palladium in Cologne on March 25, 2015.

www.haptica-live.de