Patti and Becks take the Getaway show by storm with Madagascar!

Patti and Becks take the Getaway Show by Storm with Madagascar!

9 09 2008

After weeks of planning and preparation, the Getaway Show, which was held at the Coca Cola Dome adjacent to the North Gate Shopping Centre in Johannesburg has finally come and gone … after 5 days, Becks and I returned to Cape Town with broken fingernails, sore feet, dry skin and were completely talked out! Those of you who work at consumer shows will understand … OK… I’m exaggerating a little and although we had a hectic and tiring time, it was a great learning curve and good experience.

As ‘new kids on the block’ we were competing with the likes of Mozambique and ‘The Maldives’ – But to our advantage there was no one else representing Madagascar and the interest shown was huge. Little did I realize that Gauteng had so many enthusiastic scuba divers, fishermen (and women for that matter, go girls!) and couples looking for a place to honeymoon, and oh yes, bird watchers – look out Madagascar here we come!! At least Durban will be heaving a sigh of relief that so many Vaalies may soon be trekking off to Mada instead of Durbs :~).

Our stand was located opposite Cape Union Mart. Firstly this provided us with some fair ‘eye candy’ and secondly we had the added advantage of endless entertainment. Yes, the human race can be very funny at times, especially when it comes to trying on shoes (squeezing those big ugly feet into a size too small) or trying to keep your beloved pooch from peeing on the beautifully laid out and manicured Cape Union Mart lawn … nothing like stepping into a piddle (excuse the pun) with your new High Tech shoes – but then, they are supposed to be waterproof!!

However, on a more serious note, we feel that for Jenman it was a successful and worthwhile exercise. Overall, the show was very well organized and executed, from build-up on the Thursday to break-down on the Monday. We arrived at the show grounds early on Thursday morning to a virtually empty dome. By the end of the day it had been transformed into a colourful and buzzing hive of activity. From the smallest to the very biggest stand, they were all ready to attract the hundreds of visitors who frequent the show every year. I’m still waiting for the stats, but judging by the numbers of visitors on the Saturday and Sunday the show was a huge success. Friday got off to a very slow start. As for the Jenman stand, besides the usual brochure grabbers and compulsive competition junkies, we had many serious enquiries, mainly for scuba diving, honeymoons, birding and fishing – I believe this caused our poor sales consultants to break out in a big sweat – sorry ladies.

Madagascar is certainly creating a great interest amongst South African adventure seekers and they were attracted like bees to honey to our colourful and informative Madagascar brochure. Having said that, Becks and I became wise to the ‘grabbers’ and decided on an eco friendly plan by using the top half of the fishing competition flyer containing our website details, as a hand out. It worked like a charm. We had a couple of safari enquiries, but for obvious reasons, nothing like the interest shown in Madagascar. There were even a number of people who had either been to Madagascar before themselves or knew of someone who had been.

Our Madagascar North Adventure and Dhow specials also attracted a lot of attention and should we participate again next year, special packages are a definite. Our stand (see photo) was a good mix of advertising safaris as well as an island holidays.