W. Britain and Shows (1 Viewer)

[WBritain]

Hi All:

Wanted to wish everyone well at this weekends Westcoaster, Craig and Woody will put on their usual amazing show I am sure! I am sorry we will not be able to make it this year but this is our mega American Civil War year.

Last December we did the Fredericksburg 150th Anniversary event at the battlefield. With over 20,000 folks in attendance we were able to reach out and recruit hundreds of new collectors.

With that success, we took the hard decision to take a pass on some great toy soldier shows, for this year only, and attend the following American Civil War events:
150th Battle of Chancellorsville - May 3-2
150th Battle of Gettysburg - June 28-July 6
150th Battle of Chickamauga - September 13-15

Through our club, our catalogs, our dealer events and the toy soldier shows we are attending this year, we continue our outreach commitment to our core collectors. But we must also be vigilant in recruiting new collectors, this growth insures there will be a strong, steady flow of new figures sure to make our existing guys happy!

Does missing the Westcoaster mean there is trouble at Britains?
Yes, if you mean trouble for our competitors! We'll let our quality, our new 80 page catalog, our ads in a wide variety of publications, our competitive pricing, our attendence at the above events, and our EARLY delivery of 13 new items from the 2013 catalog next week speak for themselves....oh and one other thing, we celebrate 120 years in business this year...Mark Twain said it best...rumors of his demise were certainly exaggerated...

Enjoy the show guys!

Richard

 

[mestell]

{bravo}}{bravo}} . . . . 'nuff said
:smile2: Mike

 

[kogu]

Sounds like a plan, Richard :smile2: :wink2:
And very promising {bravo}}
Konrad

 

[Lo1863]

Richard,
It's great to hear that you will be attending these American Civil War events. I was unable to make it to the Fredericksburg event, but I know you will have no problem catching the eyes of new/future collectors for your ACW line. I may have to make the trip up to VA for the Chancellorsville event. I am planning on taking another trip up to Gettysburg this year, but there is no way I am going during the anniversary week. Talk about a mess of people! I will be praying for you...haha

 

[desk11desk12]

Bravo Richard, a class response to idle rumors.

Carlos.

 

[desk11desk12]

Bravo Richard, a class response to idle rumors.

Carlos.

BTW, I talked to Ken Osen about a week ago and he told he's coming to the Texas Show representing Hudson & Allen and Britains. That should be great. Ericka and him always bring great things to see and buy.

Carlos

 

[jazzeum]

Richard,

Sorry you won't be at Valley Forge. Hopefully, Ken and Ericka are.

However, I assume you will be in Chicago.

Brad

 

[braddinpa]

See you at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg!

Where will you be? I know you have the display in the Fredericksburg Vistor's center. Are you doing anything at the Chancellorsville Visitor Center?

Thanks

Brad

 

[WBritain]

Hi All - answer a few questions

Chicago - of course! Never miss it!
All three ACW events we will be in the visitors center
And do not forget the show we help sponsor in Williamsburg, Military History Weekend, October 12/13 this year!
Had the pleasure of doing the Florida show in January this year too, was a great weekend.
Last year we did the Toronto show, so while it may seem we miss the Westcoaster and Valley Forge from time to time, I have made a very conscious effort to reach out to some of the smaller, regional shows to see collectors that cannot make it to the "biggies".

Andy, Martin and Laura have done a great job bringing in new folks to the Texas show, as we have at the Williamsburg show, I just wish some of the bigger shows would make a little more effort to do so. I know it takes a lot of time and money to organize a show and it is not easy, so not throwing stones. But I also know I have offered the organizers of each and every one of these shows time, money and marketing support on behalf of W. Britain to help widen their appeal and broaden the tent, to no avail, yet. And I should note this offer did not come with "strings attached", we'd be thrilled to have K&C, Jenkins, CS, First Legion, etc. as part of this renewed outreach. A rising tide....

So back to my refrain, I will work hard to reach out to our existing collectors, but I would also like to see more new faces at some of these shows before I spend precious time and resources attending them.

Hope that helps,

Richard

 

[HistoryfortheAges]

It's great to see Britains leading the effort to bring in new collectors to the hobby. They have been holding the line on price increases as best as they can from what I can tell, much better than most companies and without sacrificing on sculpting, painting, style and quality of their products. Richard and Ken have it right if there is any possibility of having this hobby survive the next decade and beyond... Rising prices for matte-painted metal figures have to be considered the biggest threat to the hobby if that is your preferred style for collecting. The next biggest threat is the shrinking collector market in coming years as current collectors cease to collect because of rising prices, space restrictions and increasing age... All manufacturers need to hold the line on prices and participate in new creative ways to capture the hearts of potential new collectors who may not even know such a hobby exists! {eek3}

 

[braddinpa]

Thanks for the update!

 

[mikemiller1955]

Richard...I think it's great you're trying so hard to promote shows and attendance...your huge displays are always a must see when you're at the show...you do a lot to enhance the shows and encourage the collecting hobby...