After many years as the sole promoter of big, multi-city International Motorcycle Shows (IMS), Advanstar Communications is going to have some competition. Marketplace Events announced yesterday that it intends to launch the American International Motorcycle Expo (AIME) in the fall of 2013.
Advanstar is the outfit behind the motorcycle shows that were for years called the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows and are now known as the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows, reflecting the event's major sponsorship. Marketplace Events is an organization primarily involved in putting on home shows across the country, but now looking to expand into different areas.
To that end, Marketplace Events also announced last week that it had hired former Cycle World Vice President and Publisher Larry Little as its Vice President & General Manager, Motorcycle Group. Little's experience with the IMS, plus his position as Chairman of the Motorcycle Industry Council, would seem to provide a solid foundation for Marketplace Events' expansion into this niche.
Marketplace Events offered this statement regarding its plans.
AIME is a trade and consumer show for the motorcycle industry, timed to align with the annual reveal of new motorcycles, aftermarket products, safety equipment, and accessories to the press, motorcycle dealers, and consumers. It is intended to create a greater efficiency for the industry to conduct business with retailers, promote new product to the press and consumers, while creating a heightened interest for motorcycling as both sport and as a viable, green transportation alternative.
No announcement was made as to where the show would be held or how many cities would be included. The IMS visits 12 cities, many in the eastern United States as well as a few places on the West Coast and elsewhere. The two groups might end up competing very little if the developers of AIME opt to open in different cities, but that would mean passing up some of the country's largest metropolitan areas. Still, with many large cities not included on the IMS agenda, there would seem to be little reason for the two to go head to head with any frequency.
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