About the Exhibition

“As technology changes every year it’s important to see where it’s going and where it might take us in terms of diversification. Visiting Trophex allows us to see these changing trends.”

Bob and Steve Chapman, Robert Chapman Presentations & Awards
in Sutton Coldfield

 

Trophex is the only major show in the UK devoted to the trophy, awards and engraving industry. The show has a good balance of exhibitors who represent the industry, some exhibit year after year and for some it was their first time. Regular exhibitor Glenway Products Ltd had another great show. They were delighted with their stand which had a new layout for 2012 and showed their products in a new light. Andrew Sharp, Managing Director said: “We were really pleased with the turnout again this year. Our new Xplode range has gone down very well with visitors and we are very optimistic for the year ahead.” Sharing the Glenway stand for a second year was Victory from the USA. Eric Priceman, Victory's vice president was happy with the results: "I see a lot of positives from Trophex. It seemed like traffic was up this year and customers were in more of a buying mood than in recent years. Glenway is our main distributor in the UK and it was nice to see their customers take a genuine interest in the product range."

 

Gravograph exhibit every year but this year they had split their stand into two between the aisle and were showing lasers on one stand and engraving machines on the other. This allowed people to walk in between creating a lot more sales opportunities.

 

Sponsors of the Trophex Awards and regular exhibitor to the show were Crystal Galleries who had three generations on their stand! They were showing awards, their stem wear products and sandblasting equipment. Once again Trophex was an excellent show for them. Says Jeremy Lowes, Managing Director: “The quality of customers was good with people taking a genuine interest in our products and sandblasting machines. We had a lot of new customers visit our stand many of which were foreign – we even sold a system to a customer in Beirut! We were very busy throughout the exhibition and even ran out of brochure packs – something we’ve never done before!”

 

First time exhibitor Datron were busier than they expected. Ian Fenton, UK Sales Manager at the company was pleasantly surprised with the number of machine enquiries they had. When reflecting on the show Ian said: “We had a number of enquiries for our high-end quality CNC milling and engraving machines, visitors were also interested in tooling and service. We saw this as a very good sign as it could prove that the UK market isn’t as flat in manufacturing as we get told it is.”

 

Regular exhibitor Cebrian (UK) Ltd was once again at the show. Paul Simpson, Manager said: “Trophex 2012 was extremely busy on both days and we were very pleased with how well the exhibition went for us. We were showing our new ranges of glass, resin and ceramic trophies which visitors seemed very impressed with.” They have recently taken on a new sales rep – Ray Harper – and Trophex was the ideal place for Ray to meet customers both old and new.

 

Exhibiting from Malta for the first time were Fair Play Awards. The company was started in 2011 and Trophex was the first time they had brought their product ‘Medal Print’ to Europe. Medal Print is a new high speed system that prints high quality nameplates at an affordable price. Dominica Minnaard, Sales Manager of the company said: “We were pleasantly surprised with how busy Trophex was for us. We had a very positive response for Medal Print. Retailers can see where the product is going which is encouraging.”

 

First time exhibitor Arbro brought over 40 years of experience in the watch and gift set trade to Trophex. The show was a great success for them. When reflecting on the exhibition Kevin Reynolds, Sales Director at the company said: “Overall the show was very good for us. We took details from a number of potential customers on Sunday and we had three phone calls in the office on Monday!”

 

Visitors at the show included Michael Helliwell from Eagle Design Engraving Services in Horncastle, he said: “I visit Trophex to get ideas and source items for customer requests. It’s one thing to look at things on a website but it’s much better and really useful to see everything in one place.”

 

John and Lesley Ingleby from Ballcraft Engravers Ltd in Huddersfield came to the show with a positive attitude to meet people and renew acquaintances. They read the Trophex Show Guide (the December edition of TEN) before coming and find this invaluable.

 

Bob and Steve Chapman from Robert Chapman Presentations & Awards in Sutton Coldfield visit Trophex every year, when reflecting on the show they said: “Trophex is a buoyant, lively and busy show which is well laid out. We visit the show every year to keep up-to-date with what’s out there, to study market changes and to look at any advances in technology particularly in engraving – the tools of the trade.” They continued: “Trophex is a great day out for us where we can meet with both old and new suppliers to discuss our business. If you don’t come to the show, you don’t have access to this information.”