As I landed at the Barcelona airport and walk down the aisle, I saw large signages and hoardings of ACIMIT, the association of Italian Textile Machinery manufacturers, and the Turkish textile industry, advertising their country pavilions at ITMA. The branding and promotions didn’t stop there. Large signages and banners were seen all over Barcelona, and most importantly inside and outside of the expo centre, aggressively promoting brand Italy, Turkey, Germany, Swiss and other country pavilions.
At ITMA 2011, India was the 3rd largest country in terms of number of participants, next only to Italy and Germany. Equally, India was among the top 3 in terms of the number of visitors, with more than 5000 Indian textile professionals visiting the show. VDMA, the German Association of textile machinery manufacturers, has stated that 47% of the visitors during the first few days to their member pavilions were from India. Despite all these big numbers, there was no visibility for Indian exhibitors or visitors.
In fact, I was surprised to see that not many Indian companies were covered in the ITMA show daily, which was circulated among exhibitors and visitors attending the show.
It’s time for Brand India to be marketed and showcased in a much better manner. We could possibly look at a common Indian pavilion at the next ITMA or in any of the international textile shows and project ourselves as one brand, which could immensely benefit the exhibitors.
This could also help in negotiating better rates for participation with the organisers. I hope industry associations like TMMA, ITAMMA and others come together and take initiatives to promote Brand India in such international shows.