Meetings and conventions provide insights across the business spectrum, bringing the best of sales and marketing efforts for various industries to temporary marketplaces in halls and ballrooms.
That was the case at the Jan. 4 through 5 Agenda show at the Long Beach Convention Center. Agenda hasn’t released its attendance figures, but the August show drew about 12,000 attendees.
Agenda is among the largest shows on the West Coast for the action-sports industry, and it once again counted many Orange County action-sports apparel brands among the 600 or so that exhibited at the recent show, one of two held annually in California.
Locals offered new marketing campaigns, along with some of the latest looks and designs.
Irvine-based La Jolla Group Inc.’s FMF apparel brand introduced its Octane Junkies apparel line for 12- to 16-year-old boys, while Metal Mulisha debuted a new juniors shoe collection.
Newport Beach-based Toes on the Nose debuted at Agenda in a bid to attract a younger demographic, while brands such as Rusty and Electric Visual showed off new logos.
The product launches from brands parallel the trade show’s own growth.
Los Angeles-based producer Agenda LLC said earlier this month that its 10-year-old show is now part of U.K.-based Reed Elsevier Group PLC, whose Reed Exhibitions arm produces more than 460 events. That portfolio includes New York Comic Con and Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.
Former Agenda Partner Seth Haber sold his stake in Agenda to Reed Exhibitions in a deal that closed in December on undisclosed terms.
Agenda LLC declined to say how much of a stake Haber had in Agenda.
—Report and photos by Kari Hamanaka
