Andy Tompkins: declining buyer attendance a key

In an interview, ASR's Tompkins says declining buyer attendance was a key to deciding to shutter ASR. He also has a big "thank you" for the industry.

Published: May 13, 2013

Andy Tompkins being interviewed by Fuel TV at a past ASR. Shop-eat-surf file photo.

After some phone tag, I got a chance to connect Friday with Andy Tompkins of ASR.

The first thing I asked him: Why did Nielsen pull the plug all the way? Many would not have been surprised if the January show was cancelled while the August show remained. Shuttering the show completely seemed so final.

Andy said the team looked at a lot of scenarios – downsizing it to a different venue, just having the August show, etc.

It boiled down to this: There is a certain platform the company is comfortable investing in and producing, and the show was not getting the retail response need to stage that kind of show.

Andy Bob ASR felt it had the brand support – nearly every brand was at one of the four shows under the ASR umbrella in August, he said, but the retail attendance kept dropping each year.

“We were concerned we were at a point of diminishing return,” he said.

(Right: Andy with Bob Hurley at the Dick Baker Memorial Award event.)

Andy shared some statistics with me. At the 2010 August show, typically the biggest ASR show, 1,000 unique stores attended with a total of 3,100 buyers.

In August 2009, 1,300 unique stores attended, and 3,600 buyers. That decline trend had been going on for awhile, he said.

Andy compared that to the once-a-year Interbike show for the bike industry, which still has a very robust independent specialty store base and does not have a lot of other trade shows in the space. At that last show, which happens once a year, 4,000 unique stores attended and 12,000 buyers.

Andy cited several reasons for the drop in retail attendance at ASR, including the consolidation at retail and the growth of the action sports lifestyle, which led larger chains to carry brands. In addition, some larger brands are strategically not opening new accounts and are instead investing money back into the retail floor.

Many brands also have the resources to visit accounts, and so retailers had already seen the lines.

Andy wanted to stress that he is not suggesting action sports as a category does not have a brilliant future. It’s just the way it’s evolving, with the brand consolidation and the big brands getting bigger and stronger, he’s not sure how the success is going to be parceled out.

He definitely thinks participation is growing and consumer interest is high, but is not sure if it will lead to a broad acceptance of many brands or acceptance of a limited number of brands.

And he sees the same thing with retailers – retailers are opening more doors, but it’s mostly the bigger chains that are expanding rather than the independents.

ASR could have put on shows in 2011, he said, but if the product was not strong enough, it did not want to ask manufacturers to invest in it. Also, Nielsen wanted to spend its time and resources on other opportunities. The company recently made an acquisition in the photography space.

Andy likened the decision to athletes who don’t want to continue to compete if they can’t compete on the same level.

See Page 2 for more, including why Nielsen is keeping the ASR name

Lots of effort

I also asked Andy if he thought there was a large trade show solution that could work for all the different constituents in action sports.

Andy Tompkins, Melissa Clary From the outside looking in, it seemed like ASR tried many different things, including adding Crossroads and Class, offering some affordable booth options, flying in retailers, etc.

Andy still thinks there is a need for the industry to come together, and guesses that if another solution is found, it will be very different in the short term – not as large and without all the special events and activities that happened at ASR.

(Right: ASR’s Andy Tompkins with BRA Executive Director Melissa Clary.)

He thinks something will evolve, and he’s interested to see what happens – whether Surf Expo, or Magic or Agenda steps in, or if one of the associations starts something.

I also asked if he felt that there is some finger-pointing going on.

He said he understands why that happens, but he knows ASR did everything it could think of.

“We’re very comfortable with the effort we put forth,” he said. “We were very successful for a long time…we had many, many great years, but sometimes things do have a lifecycle.”

He pointed out that he was looking through ASR catalogs from the heyday of the industry, around the mid-90’s, and 50% to 80% of the brands are out of business or have been sold.

“Tastes change, times changes,” he said.

Lasting 29 years has “been a great run,” Andy said.

Keeping the ASR name

I asked Andy if ASR has sold the name or the rights to the show.

He said Nielsen decided to hold on to it, because one never knows when conditions might change. The company could at some point want to reapproach the market in a different way.

Andy pointed out ASR being a 29-year-old brand was a blessing and a curse. Because of its history, the show had a precedent to maintain, and if they had made it much smaller or changed the focus, the reaction would have been, “but that’s not ASR.”

Andy Tompkins Unfortunately, the changes led to two staff members who focused solely on ASR being laid off, two “really great people,” Andy said. “That’s the hardest part.”

Andy will continue to run some other Nielsen trade shows, including Interbike and Health & Fitness, he said, and will continue to be based in San Juan Capistrano.

Andy’s thank you

With news of the closing, ASR has received lots of messages from the industry, with some saying without ASR, their brand would not have been as successful, which has been gratifying and appreciated at a difficult time, he said.

I asked Andy if there was anything he wanted to say that I did not ask him.

He said he just wanted to say “”thank you to the industry, to express his team’s gratitude for all the support over the years.

“We are not pointing fingers, there are no hard feelings,” Andy said. “We want to thank everyone for all the support – I have nothing but respect for the industry. We will be looking for the best for it.”