NO Fender, Gibson, or PRS Guitars at NAMM 2022?!

Why are Fender, Gibson, and Paul Reed Smith Guitars are ALL skipping this year’s NAMM show! What gives? I’ve got some thoughts and an official statement from PRS on why they chose to not exhibit this year.

#NAMM #Guitars #nammshow #prsguitars #fenderguitars #gibsonguitars

NAMM Show 2022
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00:00 Intro
01:20 PRS Statement
02:27 My Thoughts
04:53 Conclusion

[karlaskitties]

We used to exhibit at NAMM for about 10 years and quit around 2010. Even then the ROI for a smaller company in a niche market (acoustic pickups) was non-existent. You were just lucky to have it be a zero sum game. The true cost was a full week of extreme stress for 3 to 5 ppl. The show itself is an annoyance, you are ripped off paying thousands for a small space of bare floor. The exhibits need to be compliant with very stringent regulations youre not even allowed to use a step stool to mount a poster or some such element, because the union doesn’t allow that. You would be fined. You’re not even allowed to bring food inside, or water, they search your stuff, in order to have to buy at vendors for astronomical prices. We just quit exhibiting. Hasn’t hurt us none. If you make a good product, your happy customers are your best asset.

[michaelvarneyLLNL]

That's too bad... I wanted my first visit to NAMM to have some PRS in it!

[LevonsWound]

ive attended NAMM and participate in global trade shows for over 30 years. Since the pandemic, access and increasing demand for social media marketing most companies are rethinking the value and ROI of launching products at large trade shows. The cost to rent space, move a booth, the travel and housing expense of your marketing team is astronomical and continues to increase YoY. Trade shows are going away, look in the background and notice the lack of attendance at NAMM2022. I was there in 2019 right before the pandemic and it was packed in Anaheim. What's clear is digital marketing and strong partnerships with distribution chains who share the cost to announce, launch and generate interest in a new product is the future. Trade shows have become a small party that results in little to no value or sales and will always be a waste of money.

[adanhernandez]

I do know for a fact that Fender sent representatives to NAMM, not sure however why there is no booth

[cukeq]

I'm excited for my first NAMM visit, but very disappointed to see they skipped : (

[spuckula]

From the scuttlebutt I heard on the floor this past weekend, many vendors opted not to attend simply because it is too expensive. The return on investment is negative from a marketing perspective. It's probably why Yamaha had such a reduced footprint this year, as well. But at least they showed up.

[chrispile]

PRS is Big Three? I guarantee you Ibanez sells way more than PRS.

[keithmilne]

Visited NAMM yesterday for the first time in several years and agree with several of the comments below. Was disappointed Fender, Gibson and many other smaller companies had no presence this year. Keep in mind, however, that the California NAMM show usually takes place in January. This is the first post-pandemic show and I think there is still a lot of hesitation from some vendors and attendees. I also heard an unconfirmed rumor that vendors only had three days to set up. Gibson and Fender usually take over complete rooms, so this could have been a factor. Many years ago I was a principle in Emu System's advertising agency and would go every year - it was a much different experience then. I say give it another year and see what happens. Its still a fun event if you have the chance to attend.

[eurly]

Makes sense. Same reason Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo all exited E3. Giant exhibitions are a thing of the past now that you can market DIRECTLY to consumers via Youtube and social media. They cost CRAZY $$$ and have such a limited audience. These companies get 10x better ROI by sending a YouTuber 1 guitar than doing an entire exhibition show.

[richardleonard]

Went to NAMM yesterday, and I sorely missed the three you mentioned...overall, the show is a shadow of what it used to be. In addition to the big three mentioned above, the show was missing a number of other iconic companies, including Marshall and other smaller, but important companies like Presonus, Breedlove, etc. And while it was crowded, the buzz seemed way less. Definitely missed what used to be a great experience: Seeing new introduction of custom shop products from Fender, Gibson, PRS, etc. The pandemic changed many things -- probably forever -- and NAMM is likely one of them.

[beatuplexus]

NAMM is simply going the way of E3. Digitial marketing is just so much more powerful and efficient.

[skidoo]

I don't think it's really worth it for those 3 to do NAMM. I think NAMM is great for smaller, less established companies to get their stuff out there. NAMM or no NAMM, Fender, PRS and Gibson sales will not suffer. lol

[Hysteriskull]

We're going to see more and more of this. NAMM's a dinosaur that's outlived its usefulness. There's less and less ROI for the larger companies and NAMM continues to price the Anaheim show out of the reach of most smaller companies. As someone who has attended almost every NAMM show since 1980 (the first six years as a buyer and as an exhibitor from 1986 on) I've seen the show's relevance steadily decline. In recent years NAMM has had to institute "public days" to try to offset the loss in revenue and crowd size which means that it becomes more of an attraction (like Disney across the street) than an actual trade show. A 3 day trade show becomes a 2 day show but exhibitors still had to pay for 3 and face fines if they decide to pack up early. I've seen several shots and videos from this year's show and the crowd size looks anemic compared to shows past yet NAMM will issue their usual statement claiming record numbers of attendants and exhibitors.

[thmke]

PRS hasnt done a Summer NAMM in years. They chose to throw their own event at the factory called EXPERIENCE.

[toneconsultant]

I have been waiting to attend NAMM. If nobody will be there, what’s the point?

[Jerry_Fried]

Also, no Fender means no Gretsch or Charvel. No Gibson means no Epiphone. There were no D'Angelico, no Danelectro, no Vola, no Suhr, no Boss, no Tagima, no basement exhibitors at all. Companies like Godin, who in the past have had a whole Level 2 room to themselves, were relegated this year to a limited display panel on the main exhibit floor.

[redrocker]

Ibanez has a booth which makes no sense since they haven't been able to fulfill buyers who are on waiting list for the past 1 3/4 years.

[johnramsey]

Is Jackson/Charvel not attending either?

[shawnshipstad]

They did not show up as the quality and prices are fucked-up.

[lespaulman]

As a smaller company (EARTHBOARD Pedlboards), there was a silver lining to this years NAMM. Many of us smaller companies had been relegated to hall E, but this year we went to the man floor. That was a nice change. That being said, it will be interesting to see what happens next April 2023 for the next NAMM. When the heavy hitters don’t show, I wonder how NAMMs revenues will stack up. Especially without Summer NAMM until 2024. No matter what happens, it’s a fun event, and some evolution might be good for the industry. Having NAMM far outweighs not having it.