Maison&Objet has moved the traditional January appointment to the spring, to return to Paris Nord Villepinte from 26 to 30 March 2021. But the event is not standing still: from January to March, to support the network of exhibitors and stay in touch with an international audience, there will be a fine program of virtual activities online, in the social networks and the MOM platform. A calendar of digital initiatives, talks, online fairs addressing major themes for various markets, then concluding in the physical fair, with an exhibition from 26 to 30 March.
The companies will be promoted and supported with multimedia content made to measure, such as videos and interviews, which will also last beyond the date of 30 March. Parallel to the fair, there is an off-site tour of Paris for the brands that want to present their collections in showrooms or pop-up stores.
Premier Acte collection, by Atelier Tristan Auer, Wilson Associates, Red Edition, Lelièvre Paris. Photo © Frederic Lucano
Maison&Objet thus foreshadows a new virtual + real fair model, a hybrid that seems to work in the new ‘phygital’ era: this was borne out by the success of the last edition in September, with a digital fair that brought together 4300 brands from 77 countries with over 50,000 products presented in 6400 digital showrooms, and almost 215,000 individual international visitors, of which two thirds not from France – numbers made possible thanks to the extensive online community of M&O, with over 200,000 professionals registered at the MOM platform, and 830,000 followers on Instagram.
“Thanks to our ability to generate quality traffic, we have reached the level of over 300,000 visits in 15 days and tripled the number of qualified contacts, observing a visit time on MOM of more than 11 minutes, meaning great visibility for brands and exceptional performance in the digital world,” says Philippe Brocart, General Director of Maison&Objet. “But we also feel the need for purchasers and brands to come back together in a physical format. The digital fair has turned out to be a promising transition between two events, to permit the sector to continue its activities, using simple, adaptive tools. In the future, we are also thinking about new added services. We could also create other types of digital fairs, on specific markets, sectors or geographical zones.”
