BAYKO and Exhibitions

Nobody is ever going to be able to buy your product if it isn't in the shops, and, these days, on the net. Your product is never going to get into the shops without a substantial effort to sell it to the retailers. This usually involves a sales force and advertising in the appropriate trade press.

Plimpton did all this very effectively and achieved pretty well 100% coverage of toy shops and the toy departments of larger stores.

Another medium which is often popular as a means of firing up the retailers' enthusiasm is to take a stand at a suitable exhibition where they can actually get their hands on the new product or see the latest enhancement for themselves.

For the toy trade, over the life of BAYKO, there were regular exhibitions in venues still familiar today, such as Brighton, Harrogate, London and Manchester.

As far as I can determine, neither Plimpton nor MECCANO ever attended any of these, though MECCANO did hold exhibitions of their own vast product range.

The best known of all exhibitions was the British Industries Fair [BIF], which included a comprehensive section for games and toys, and BAYKO did make several appearances at this prestige event.

A one-off exhibition, held in 1946, was organised, if I'm any judge of titles, to both support British manufacturing industries and provide an optimistic note to lift, at least a little, the post-war gloom.

The exhibition was called "Britain Can Make It", and was by invitation only!

Both Plimpton and MECCANO ventured tentatively into the realm of Supermodels which they built as part of their BAYKO marketing strategy.

If you've any info. on BAYKO and Exhibitions, I'd love to hear from you...