What’s your name and position within the organisation?
I am Treve Evans, Senior International Relations Manager at AIPH – the International Association of Horticultural Producers. I am responsible for commercial partnerships and Expo development.
Give us a brief overview of AIPH as an organisation in general, and your approach to sponsorship and partnerships specifically?
In addition to representing the interests of the global ornamental horticulture industry, AIPH, with a mandate by an international convention, is the global body which approves International Horticultural Exhibitions, which we have been doing since 1960.
Cities around the world approach AIPH for approval to host these spectacular and beautiful, public-facing, major, international events. Lasting up to six months and ranging from between 25 and 500 hectares in size, they attract many international participants and millions of visitors. You can see the scale and beauty of our expos in a short video here.
Millions of dollars go towards developing these international spectacles that can stimulate the development of a city and transform its international reputation. Each one is carefully regulated, steered, and monitored by AIPH.
AIPH is new on the scene with regards to developing partnerships for our expos. We are in the process of building a strategy to engage partners with our expos and the significant opportunities they present.
What are the current trends within your business area, and how are they affecting how your work and how you deliver on strategy?
Clearly the current global situation poses challenges. With years of planning, reputation and financial investment at stake for our host cities, cancelling events is not an option, but we have approved some slight re-shuffling of the calendar.
However, the schedule remains strong, and there continues to be a very positive mood and appetite for our events with more and more cities approaching us to host an expo. We currently have ten expos in cities in Europe and Asia scheduled between 2021 and 2027 for which we expect more than thirty million visitors.
Because of this schedule, and the fact that we will be receiving more applications from cities through the mid to late 2020s as well as into the 2030s, we are seeing that this is appealing to potential partners who are looking at the significant and ongoing opportunities our expos present.
With sustainability and ethical, environmental practices becoming more critical, how has the AIPH tapped into this trend?
AIPH approved exhibitions help to green cities across the globe to enhance the environment as well as local and national economies. With every exhibition, further awareness builds around sustainability and environmental issues – these are echoed by the themes of each expo.
We therefore believe our expos provide a wonderful platform for potential partners who share our passion for greener and more sustainable cities, to further enhance their green credentials, reputation, and image.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Whilst we have had some success with partnerships on a limited scale in 2020, there have certainly been challenges for sponsorship this year. However, in conversations we have had with potential partners, we foresee that businesses will start again to look at opportunities in 2021.
Importantly, to partners who are not previously aware of the nature and scale of our events, we are able to demonstrate that our expos present something quite different for them outside of the established opportunities provided by sports and other events. We now want to build an attractive and unique value proposition for partners who want to benefit from being involved with the greenest and most beautiful shows on Earth.
Treve Evans | Senior International Relations Manager
AIPH – International Association of Horticultural Producers
Email: treve.evans@aiph.org | Web: www.aiph.org Horticulture House, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0RN, United Kingdom