BFV's Big Interview: ITE Acquires Ascential Exhibitions

BFV speaks exclusively to the new CEO of BVE, Mark Shashoua, who has a wealth of experience and knowledge working in the exhibitions industry.

Mr Shashoua talks about ITE's latest acquisition and how BVE 2019 will be pushing the boundaries of broadcast and production.

Hi Mark. Let's go straight to the breaking news that ITE Group has completed the acquisition of Ascential Exhibitions. Tell us more about ITE and your role in the business and your vision for the future.
Having spent my entire career in the events industry, it's something I'm extremely passionate about. I learnt the trade from my father and it was with him that I founded ITE Group back in 1991.

My role as CEO is to use my experience, knowledge and passion for the exhibitions industry to provide a vision for ITE – a vision that is inspiring, exciting and something that people want to be a part of.

That vision is to create the world's leading portfolio of content-driven, must-attend events that deliver an outstanding experience and return on investment for our customers. This doesn't mean we have to be the biggest, but we do want to be the best.

We are listening and adapting to what customers want and this is what has forged our evolution as a business.

ITE's results for 2018 so far are very impressive. What is the key to your success?
We are very proud of our results. Just two years ago they told a very different story and it's thanks to the people working in our global offices and events, that we are where we are today.

Our transformation and growth programme (TAG), that we started back in May 2017, is having a tremendous effect. Many of our core shows that have taken place this year have benefitted from TAG initiatives for the first time, and this has helped to drive higher customer satisfaction. As a result of this £40 million investment, revenues were 13% higher than this time last year.

I put our success down to one main thing, and that's putting the focus back on our customers. We are now working hard to build sustainable relationships and growth that will serve us well for many, many years to come. We are absolutely focused on being the very best at what we do.

What are the key factors in making a show a "must-attend event"?
Every show is unique, so it starts with listening carefully to what our customers want. That includes both exhibitors and visitors – both groups are very important to us and we work hard to provide the best experience for each of them.

In a competitive market, to become a must-attend event, you have to offer the best return on investment for exhibitors and the greatest return on time for visitors.

It is all about your content. Gone are the days where exhibitions were simply trading platforms. Now, we need to see our exhibitions as places to learn, to meet new people, to discuss, to collaborate and to drive industries forward. We need to provide renowned speakers, thrilling technology and creative environments for each and every event.

Why was Ascential Exhibitions an attractive acquisition for ITE?
The acquisition of Ascential Exhibitions added another seven market-leading events to our portfolio, and we couldn't be more excited about the opportunity it presents. It is incredibly rare to find a business that has all the elements we are looking for and is perfectly aligned to our strategy.

I knew their event portfolio well, having previously been CEO of their Events business. I understood the potential, and the level of investment it would take, to grow those events, and so I could see clearly the benefit the events would bring to ITE.

As well as some great exhibitions, we have also gained some very talented people who I am enjoying getting to know, and looking forward to working with. Our teams have already started collaborating and looking for ways they can help each other and I can't wait to see more of that in the future.

How will this acquisition benefit BVE, and therefore the wider broadcast and production sector here in the UK?
BVE will now be treated as a core event and we will be looking at the investment that this market-leading show needs, to drive growth and continue pushing the boundaries of broadcast and production.

BVE is the UK's leading event in this space. Naturally, it's where the very best creative minds, tech professionals and business leaders come together to explore and experience the future of content creation, commercial innovation and cutting-edge technology.

By investing in BVE and continuing to evolve the best exhibition in this market, we will continue progressing the broadcast and production industry as a whole.

This article is also available in the August edition of Broadcast Film & Video. Available here.