BAYKO and Exhibitions

Just in case you've arrived here looking for information on modern day exhibitions and fairs at which the BAYKO Collectors Club, or its members, are taking part…
Nobody is ever going to be able to buy your product if it isn't in the shops, and, these days, on the net. Your product is never going to get into the shops without a substantial effort to sell it to the retailers. This usually involves a sales force and advertising in the appropriate trade press.
Plimpton did all this very effectively and achieved pretty well 100% coverage of toy shops and the toy departments of large department stores.
A sample of exhibition related pages
Another medium which is often popular as a means of firing up the retailers' enthusiasm is to take a stand at a suitable exhibition, where the retailers can actually get their hands on the new product or see the latest enhancement for themselves.
For the toy trade, over the life of BAYKO, there were regular exhibitions in venues still familiar today, such as Brighton, Harrogate, London and Manchester.
Strangely, as far as I can determine, neither Plimpton nor MECCANO ever attended any of these, though MECCANO did hold exhibitions of their own vast product range.
However, the best known of all the trade exhibitions was the British Industries Fair [B.I.F.], which included a comprehensive section for games and toys. In the Plimpton era, BAYKO did make several appearances at this prestige event.
Unfortunately, apart from references to the fact that they attended, and even where their stand was located, there is little other information available. However, we can trace references to the occasional spectacular supermodels built to show just what BAYKO could do.
Both Plimpton and MECCANO ventured tentatively into the realm of Supermodels which they built as part of their general BAYKO marketing strategy.
A one-off exhibition, held in 1946, was organised, if I'm any judge of titles, to both support British manufacturing industries and provide an optimistic note to lift, at least a little, the post-war gloom.
The exhibition was called “Britain Can Make It”, and was by invitation only!
According to page 277 of 'MECCANO Magazine', August, 1961, [right] MECCANO was one of the six hundred and seventy seven firms who attended the British Trade Fair in Moscow in May, 1961. Unfortunately though, the article makes no mention of BAYKO. I'm not sure whether to read too much into that, however, as the magazine doesn't even carry an advert for the world's first and finest plastic construction toy. Indeed 'MECCANO Magazine' seems to have had an uncomfortable relationship with BAYKO.
Page 277 of MECCANO Magazine with an article about the Moscow Trade Fair in May 1961
However, although I've no direct evidence for BAYKO's involvement in it, there is circumstantial evidence that MECCANO's presence in Moscow probably did included it. The the only Russian language MECCANO leaflet I've ever seen, almost certainly contemporary with the article, actually does include BAYKO
In the early 1960s, Mr. MECCANO also promoted his range of products through MECCANO Trade Fairs, at the Grosvenor hotel, adjacent to London's Victoria Station…
If you've any info. on BAYKO and Exhibitions, I'd love to hear from you…
 
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