PHILADELPHIA – Informa Markets’ New Hope Network held its final Natural Products Expo East in Philadelphia last week as the healthy lifestyle products company announced a new event to debut next year, Newtopia Now.
Newtopia Now will introduce a new trade show event format that the company says will focus on leveraging a more tailored and intentional approach to boost connection and product discovery. The trade show will offer more opportunities for all brands to engage, with an emphasis on curated matchmaking within a diverse community of buyers, brands, and partners; increased avenues for new and emerging brands to participate; unique product discovery opportunities; and the chance for industry leaders to discuss and plan the future of the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry with attendees.
“The interest we experienced in Newtopia Now by both retail buyers and CPG brands at Expo East was strong and, in fact, exceeded my expectations,” Carlotta Mast, SVP & Market Leader, Informa Markets’ New Hope Network, said. “This is a new trade show concept for the CPG and retail markets, designed to meet changing buyer and brand needs, and I think that is why our community members are eager to learn more and explore the ways they can best participate to help them achieve their goals. The New Hope and Informa Markets teams are eager to continue listening, learning and adapting our Newtopia Now concept based on input from our buyers and brands.”
Lacey Gautier, Vice President of Events at New Hope Network, a division of Informa, added, “Newtopia Now embodies a new event model that veers away from a traditional trade show floor layout and net square footage metrics. We’ve developed the event based on buyer priorities, and exhibitors invest in experience-based packages that align with their unique show objectives. Market receptivity has been strong thus far, and we’re excited to bring this event to life, a new model and concept that complements Natural Products Expo West and addresses the changing needs of our industry.”
Since its inception in 1985, Natural Products Expo East has been at the forefront of the natural and organic CPG sector, providing an invaluable platform for thousands of retailers’ product sourcing needs. The show helped emerging brands by boosting their profile on a national stage and fostering partnerships between buyers and brands. The trade show had been held in cities across the East Coast, including Washington D.C., Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia. This year the show attracted nearly 16,000 attendees and featured more than 1,000 exhibiting brands.
“We are enormously proud of the legacy of Expo East and are grateful that it has served as a valuable destination for the organic and natural products industry for many years,” Mast said. “We thank our exhibitors, buyers, attendees, and partners for their many years of support and look forward to continuing to work together as champions of regeneration and prosperity across the natural and organic CPG community.”
Newtopia Now will launch Aug. 6-8, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. New Hope Network will also produce Natural Products Expo West 2024 in Anaheim, Calif., March 12-16, 2024.
Reach Carlotta Mast at Carlotta.Mast@informa.com; Lacey Gautier at lacey.gautier@informa.com
