LONDON—CloserStill Media announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Elite Exhibitions, producer of industry-leading cruise ship design trade shows in the U.S. and Europe. The annual Cruise Ship Interiors (CSI) Design Expo takes place at the Miami Beach Convention Center June 6-7 and ExCeL London December 4-5.
Elite co-founders Toby Walters and Sam Murray will continue to lead the 30-person team as CEO and Commercial Director, respectively.
CSI is “well-loved” by the cruise ship sector, said Gareth Bowhill, CEO of CloserStill Media, who has big plans for the brand. “An immediate key area of collaboration is around audience development and how we can help the Elite team think about reaching deeper into the community through leveraging our data, analytics and digital marketing resources and know-how across the group. Elite is grappling with many of the same opportunities and challenges that CloserStill continues to face as a high-growth business, and so we see plenty of opportunity helping them through the pain points with experience, know-how and practical tools to allow our new colleagues to remain focused and staying close to their market, their audience community and their customers.
“Our cultures and shared mindset are strongly aligned, so the collaboration has been super effective from day one — it feels we are embarking on an exciting journey,” he said. “We also believe that collectively we share a culture that fosters organic growth, and expect there to be future launches that we will be working on together.”
Bowhill also sees a number of synergies with the current CSI portfolio. “CSI and its value proposition align well with our Influence Group business in the U.S., with its focus on design and environments and senior audiences including from the hospitality and leisure sectors, with strong synergy with event brands such as Hotel Spaces, Restaurant Spaces and Retail Spaces,” he said. “CSI also shares many of the same characteristics as our Automotive Interiors show in Europe and the U.S. in our Transport and Infrastructure division.”
“Having observed CloserStill for some time, it was clear that they were the perfect fit for Elite,” Walters told Exhibition World. “Sam and I have worked extremely hard to build a company that prides itself on an engaging and entrepreneurial culture. This partnership will provide both our team and our business the ability to pursue new opportunities whilst accelerating our growth.”
Reach Gareth Bowhill at g.bowhill@closerstillmedia.com; Toby Walters at toby.walters@elite-exhibitions.com
Photo Credit: Cruise Ship Interiors Design Expo
