CHICAGO — Newtopia Now, a new show produced by Informa Markets’ New Hope Network, welcomed more than 7,000 attendees, more than 4,000 of which were registered buyers, to the Colorado Convention Center August 25-28. The show also featured 560 exhibiting companies — 180 of those being companies exhibiting at a trade show for the first time.
The show aims to reimagine a traditional trade show by focusing on purposeful discovery and authentic connections, which helped to drive the sales strategy for the inaugural edition.
Newtopia Now is designed to be an immersive experience that fosters deep connections and gives emerging brands and product innovation a platform. To accomplish this, the show had four curated neighborhoods. The Regenerate neighborhood showcased sustainability and environmental impact, while the Glow neighborhood highlighted conscious beauty and holistic wellness. The Thrive neighborhood explored the future of human health, and the Represent neighborhood celebrated diverse founders and multicultural products.
Newtopia Now Launches New Sales Model
To best meet attendees’ event needs, Newtopia Now launched a new sales model that included booth offerings and branding opportunities.
“Retailers indicated that their primary reason for attending was to discover new products, followed by the opportunity to build new relationships,” said Alexandra Wurster, Vice President of Sales, Natural Products Expo & Newtopia. “We took these top priorities and created Newtopia Now. Our packages featured turnkey booth setups that not only provided a cohesive look across the show floor but also allowed our brands to concentrate on other crucial pre-show activities like matchmaking and event promotion.”
The sales model featured packages that included turnkey booth solutions and setups that provided a cohesive look at the show floor, but also allowed brand to focus on matchmaking and event promotion — both being very crucial pre-show activities.
“To enhance brand visibility, every package included AI matchmaking and access to our online marketplace, “Beacon,” enabling brands to showcase their products in advance,” said Danica Cullins, EVP of Health and Nutrition at Informa Markets. “This helped retailers plan their visit to Newtopia Now more effectively. Additionally, we offered a customized matchmaking service for hosted buyers, arranging on-site meetings between them and exhibiting brands.”
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Networking and One-to-One Meetings
Newtopia Now also featured speed networking sessions and one-to-one meetings that were curated through the show’s matchmaking program Conscious Connections. The program is designed to pair retailers and investors with emerging businesses. The response to the packages and features was extremely positive, and more than 2,400 on-site meetings were conducted.
The inaugural event also introduced an on-site Market that was focused on early product discovery. The Market gave retailers the chance to explore products before exploring the more curated show floor. Once on the show floor, buyers were able to readily find their desired categories.
