• Parent company of the Action Sports Retailer, Health+Fitness Business and Outdoor Retailer trade shows to handle sales and marketing of the ispo china trade show exclusively to North American companies in the sports, fitness and outdoor industries.

Munich, Germany and San Juan Capistrano, California, November 14, 2007 –Messe München International (MMI), Munich (Germany), today announced that a cooperation agreement for ispo china with Nielsen Business Media, parent company of the Action Sports Retailer (ASR), Health+Fitness Business (HFB) and Outdoor Retailer (OR) trade shows in the USA, becomes effective immediately and thus also for the upcoming ispo china 2008.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nielsen will be responsible for all North American sales and marketing efforts of MMI´s ispo china trade show. ispo china 2008 is the fourth edition of this event and the leading international trade show for sports, fashion and lifestyle brands in Asia. The upcoming event will take place February 24-26, 2008 at the CIEC trade show center in Beijing. Due to the constant growth of the show, the organizers are planning for 6 exhibition halls and a total of 20,000 square meters of exhibition space. The core segments of ispo china 2008 will be winter sports, lifestyle, as well as the rapidly rising outdoor segment.

Nielsen staff will help North American companies associated with its ASR, HFB and OR branded trade shows enter the Asia-Pacific markets, particularly in the rapidly growing Chinese sports market.
"I strongly appreciate the cooperation between the ispo Group and Nielsen Business Media, which has a substantial strategic meaning," said Manfred Wutzlhofer, Chairman and CEO of Messe München International, organizer of ispo and ispo china, amongst others. "Firstly regarding the successful development of ispo china as the most important business platform in Eastern Asia; secondly regarding the fact that a premium business event organized by the most prominent trade show organizations in this segment will significantly support the globally linked sporting goods markets."

"We are excited to help our customers access the world’s largest consumer market for sporting goods and apparel in partnership with MMI and its ispo China trade show," said Joe Flynn, vice president and general manager of Nielsen’s Sports Group. "The Asia-Pacific market is growing at a phenomenal rate and ispo China has established itself as the pre-eminent trade show in the sports and outdoor recreation market. We are confident in ispo China’s strategy, management team and the organization of the show and believe this partnership between two of the world’s largest sports trade show producers will be a winning combination for our customers and association partners."

"For over 25 years Nielsen’s trade shows such as OR, ASR and HFB have earned the respect and trust of the North American markets in which they serve," said Tobias Gröber, Head of ispo Group Group. "Working together on behalf of the industry, Nielsen and ispo china are now able to give American companies the best possible support and guidance into the Chinese sports market."

"This newsworthy collaboration between the two teams of the ispo Group and Nielsen Business Media adds a vast range of new possibilities to our projects in China," said Stefan Reschke, Exhibition Group Director and responsible for ispo china. "The cooperation between these two extremely competent and experienced trade show organizations will offer our common clients, the sporting goods manufacturers and the Chinese retailers, an even brighter future than already given in this rapidly growing market."

In 2007, ispo china was attended by more than 300 exhibitors from 20 nations, over 12,000 trade visitors and 583 media representatives.

MMI organizes more than 40 trade shows for capital goods, consumer goods and new technologies in the European, Asian, Middle East and South American markets. The ispo group, Messe Munich, produces ispo winter, ispo china and GOLF EUROPE. For more information about MMI, please visit www.messe-muenchen.de 

Nielsen Business Media is one of the largest trade show producers in North America with 135 shows produced annually. Besides the successful ASR, HFB and OR shows under its Sports Group division, Nielsen also produces the Interbike International Bicycle Expo and the FlyFishing Retailer trade shows. For more information about Nielsen business media, please visit www.nielsenbusinessmedia.com 



Messe München International Contacts
Media: Susanne Fischer, Manager Marketing & Communications, ph.: +49 (0)89 949 20 870, fischer@ispo.com
Tobias Gröber, Head of ispo group, ph.: +49 (0)89 949 20 155, groeber@ispo.com
Stefan Reschke, Exhibition Group Director, ph.: +49 (0)89 949 20 191, reschke@ispo.com

Nielsen Sports Group Contacts
Media: Rich Kelly, marketing manager, 949/226-5754, richard.kelly@nielsen.com
Sales: Joe Flynn, vice president and general manager, 949/ 226-57XX, joseph.flynn@nielsen.com


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