27th July 2010
LAPADA Fair 2010 Social Media
Dear Exhibitor,
Following on from the success of last year’s LAPADA Fair, we’re pleased to announce that once again we’ll be marketing and supporting the event on the Internet via social media means including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.
With the 2010 Fair only two months away, we thought that now would be a good time to get in touch and remind you that we have official LAPADA accounts set-up on the above webpages and would be thrilled to upload any of your photos of event stock - with a link to your business home-page - in order to help raise awareness of the event and your goods.
Last year twelve LAPADA Antiques and Art businesses submitted photos and information to us which were then published on our social media sites and therefore allowed Fair visitors to browse these items before the event and earmark anything of interest for viewing on the day. We had some fantastic feedback about the service and through it we were also able to share our photos of the Fair experience with the community; very useful for those people who unfortunately couldn’t make it.
While we understand that not everybody is comfortable with these technologies we do encourage any dealers with an interest to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have about the process which we can then address. If you wish to do so, or have photos and captions to submit, please reply to this email or contact Nick Williams at lapada_fair@yahoo.co.uk. Also, please note that if you have submitted images for LAPADA PR purposes prior to receiving this email, then you will find at least one of your photos already on Facebook and Flickr but feel free to send additional ones.
Websites:
Many thanks for your time and we look forward to seeing you in September.
17th May 2010
Extended opening and more exhibitors build on 2009 success
The second staging of our Association fair in Berkeley Square will be extended by one day and will have later closing times, both arranged due to popular demand from exhibitors. The Private View will be from 5pm-9.30pm on Tuesday 21st September, and the Fair will open to the public from Wednesday 22nd through Sunday 26th. Opening hours on the Wednesday and Thursday will be extended to 9pm, in order to capitalise on the visitors from nearby offices coming after work, and local residents popping in before dinner. The Fair will open at 11am each day from Wednesday 22nd – Sunday 26th.
The Fair will welcome at least half a dozen new exhibitors, drawn from an extensive waiting list of dealers who have applied since September 2009. Each new exhibitor has been carefully selected in order to contribute greater variety and depth to the disciplines offered for sale, and will bring our exhibitor numbers to just over 90. A new floorplan, designed to create better storage facilities and maximise on stand space will also incorporate another London Plane tree. The trees are an unique feature of this fair, and were much commented on last year; they certainly add an unusual charm and character to the fair’s setting.
Incidentally, the London Planes in Berkeley Square are said to be the most valuable trees in Britain (worth, apparently, one quarter of a million pounds each, so we are VERY mindful of their welfare!), and contributed to the delightful environment outside Megan’s restaurant; this ‘terrace’ space is retained in 2010, and will enjoy some additional dressing by Architectural Heritage. The Champagne Bar has been moved in to the restaurant area, and we are looking to continue our relationship with Veuve Clicquot. We are delighted that Megan’s will once again provide a full service catering facility.
The Fair is benefiting from support in Country Life magazine, one of our media sponsors, and the relationship with Rolls-Royce has been further developed with a new sponsorship package.
The marketing team has developed and acquired new mailing lists; ticket distribution in 2010 has been increased to over 325,000 and extra advertising spend is planned for the national newspapers.
We are also continuing to build on the foundations laid last year and further develop our on-line presence using social media. The 2009 fair saw these new technologies being utilised for the first time to promote the event, with a number of exhibitors using this opportunity to reach more customers and we received very positive feedback from all involved. As before, if any dealers would like to submit photos of their fair stock, with accompanying captions, these can be sent directly to Nick Williams at lapada_fair@yahoo.co.uk.
LAPADA is also working with Lancer Property Asset Management (who lease the square to Westminster Council) to develop a restoration fund for the fountain in Berkeley Square, as part of our long term commitment to the locality.
18th January 2010
The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair Berkeley Square 2009
Before the last marquee panel had left the site, the inaugural 2009 LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair in Berkeley Square already had 68% of exhibitor booking forms returned for the 2010 event, and by the end of the following month of October, some 91% had re-booked.
The superb surroundings, strong numbers (some 13,500) of sophisticated visitors and the organisation of the first ever art and antiques fair to be held in Berkeley Square was unanimously praised by exhibiting dealers. David Moss of the Antiques Trade Gazette called it “a triumph”; and The Art Newspaper declared it “a winning success on many fronts”.
Local Mayfair residents and West End professionals not seen at other London fairs were very much in evidence, and there was no let-up in daily attendance – even Friday buzzed from morning till evening.
There is a substantial waiting list for the remaining few stands available this coming year. A revised floorplan has been devised to ensure improved store room provision, so work will shortly be underway on the re-allocation of 2009 exhibitors, and in due course, new applicants for 2010 will be approached regarding suitable stand spaces.
21st August 2009
Dear Exhibitor,
With this year’s LAPADA Fair just over a month away, we thought that now would be a convenient time to remind you of the free marketing possibilities we have available for our members through the social media sites, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.
Since contacting you at the beginning of July, a number of LAPADA antique and art dealers have provided us with photos of their stock which we have uploaded to the aforementioned websites and linked back to their business home-pages, providing them with an increased web-presence.
We now have 70 Facebook fans and over 100 Twitter followers: whilst a modest starting number, all have an interest in antiques and art, and any information provided to us by you is being disseminated to a targeted audience.
Because of this, we encourage you to spend a few minutes e-mailing photos of your stock with captions, or any of your antiques news and events to us at lapada_fair@yahoo.co.uk.
We have also established a marketing relationship with three excellent local hotels, including The Athenaeum. They are providing special rates during our event and will be promoting the Fair to their guests. This information is now on our website Links page.
We hope your fair preparation is going well and look forward to seeing you all in September.
The LAPADA Team
1st July 2009
Dear exhibitor,
As part of our online marketing and advertising for this year’s new Berkeley Square Fair, LAPADA is now using online ‘social media’, which includes Twitter and Facebook, to attract and communicate with a wider audience.
These websites will contain Fair information, provide an informal messaging service, host photos of past events and include promotional shots of LAPADA members’ items. All photos will be credited and linked to the dealer’s website, subsequently acting as a free, main-stream means of additional marketing for your business. Additionally, if you have any shop or street events planned for the near future, then provide us with the details using the e-mail at the bottom of the page and we can let the online community know.
A number of LAPADA dealers have embraced the social media idea and there has since been online interest in their posted photos, we would therefore encourage all exhibitors to contact Nick Williams, and provide him with images and information about your stock, in order to widen your sphere of contacts prompt interest from new fields.
You can visit any of the following websites by clicking on the name below.
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A multi-faceted social media website which allows for messaging, photos and videos. Information will be posted here along with photos of past events and of any exceptional objects LAPADA members would like to submit. The primary intention at present is to promote the Fair in September.
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Referred to as ‘micro-blogging’, Twitter was initially used as a way to inform others of what you are doing using 140 characters or less. It’s now become hugely influential in real-time news and current events. Twitter will be used to integrate with the existing antiques and art community, exchanging information and opinions.
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A photo management and sharing site that allows for photos to be tagged with associated words, helping visitors find appropriate images. A number of photo sets have been created, containing photos from LAPADA events and submitted members’ items relevant to the Fair.
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If you have any questions, would like to submit a photo and details for uploading (currently we are looking for items you intend to bring to the Fair), or provide a missing caption then please e-mail Nick at lapada_fair@yahoo.co.uk.
