British fair organiser makes Bangkok his regional base as firm expands
MICHAEL WILTON was previously based at Mack Brooks Exhibitions' headquarters in the British city of St Albans, where he took charge of organising all four trade shows that his firm holds regularly in the United Kingdom, while he would fly to Southeast Asi
But in February last year, Wilton moved to Bangkok to kick-start the company’s Asean headquarters and the exhibition director has since been flying back occasionally to his home country, as he remains the organising head of its British exhibitions.
The reversal of his working base and travel path has much to do with his company’s determination to expand its international footprint.
Founded in 1965, Mack Brooks Exhibitions had mainly operated in Europe until the 1980s.
During the last 15 years, however, it has started to expand to China and North America – and more recently to Asean and Latin America.
“We’re specialised in very targeted niche markets like rail, airport and cardboard fairs.
“The character of the economies of Southeast Asia is very much industrial manufacturing-led, and that’s why our exhibitions are suited for Thailand and Southeast Asia,” he said during an interview with The Nation last week.
Mack Brooks Exhibitions is one of the world’s three largest privately held international fair organisers.
The company currently organises a total of 40 trade exhibitions in the fields of engineering, transport, metalworking, information technology, textiles, food and beverages, railways, construction, tunnelling, waste and water management, printing, converting, airport management and aviation.
Each of these fairs is normally held once every two years.
Asked about the impact of the recent bomb blast in Bangkok that killed 20 people and injured more than 100, Wilton did not deny that the incident was a shock, but said the Thai economy had in recent times shown “incredible resilience” in the face of many crises – from the major floods in 2011 to the street violence and mass demonstrations that had occurred for months until the military seized power in a coup in May last year.
Wilton recalled that when he arrived in Bangkok with his wife and two children in February, 2014, the city was in the grip of the so-called “Bangkok Shutdown”, during which protesters occupied roads and key government offices in a bid to oust the government. Staffed with eight people, he said Mack Brooks Exhibitions’ Bangkok office was |currently still in its infancy, and he was looking to recruit more employees in the coming years to serve the firm’s expanding operations in the region.
So far, the Asean headquarters has brought in three of the company’s European exhibitions, with Southeast Asian editions set to be held over the next 18 months.
They are: the “Corrugated Cardboard & Folding Carton Exhibition (CCE) – Southeast Asia”, which will be held in Bangkok on September 21-23; “Exporail Southeast Asia”, to be held in Bangkok from June 8-10, 2016; and “Inter Airport Southeast Asia”, to be hosted in Singapore in January, and scheduled to be held there again in February, 2017.
“In particular for CCE, we have talked to European manufacturers, who say Southeast Asia is their key market,” said the exhibition director.
Research has found that demand for cardboard-related products is strong in Thailand, as highlighted by growth industries such as electronics, packaging, healthcare, food and beverages, cosmetics and automobiles, he added.
“Our purpose has been ‘to build the market’ and help make Thailand a hub for these products,” he explained.
Next month’s event will be the first time Thailand has hosted an exhibition devoted exclusively to the CCE industry. Expectations are that 10 per cent of the visitors will come from outside the Kingdom.
Mack Brooks Exhibitions employs more than 200 staff across eight offices internationally, including in the UK, the US, Mexico, Brazil, China and Thailand.
