PCA Issues

[ElkTwin]

It’ll be like Al Michaels calling play by play at a slap fight at a grade school playground.

[scottpearce]

Scott Pearce here - just to clarify something, our cost per square foot is the cheapest out there, in any industry, even lower than TPE. The costs exhibitors bear in coming to the PCA show are entirely of their own choosing (e.g. booth size, staffing, parties, discounts, etc.). Our charge, average around $19/sq foot, is just about half of the going rate in Las Vegas for the same time of year. Most of our exhibitors also report to capturing an average of 25% of their annual sales at the show.

Thanks!

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by scottpearce

Scott Pearce here - just to clarify something, our cost per square foot is the cheapest out there, in any industry, even lower than TPE. The costs exhibitors bear in coming to the PCA show are entirely of their own choosing (e.g. booth size, staffing, parties, discounts, etc.). Our charge, average around $19/sq foot, is just about half of the going rate in Las Vegas for the same time of year. Most of our exhibitors also report to capturing an average of 25% of their annual sales at the show.

Thanks!

Great to see you here Scott! And thanks for the extra bits of information.
We've just completed our renewal (minutes ago!) and plan to have representation at the show.


john

[Rob G]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

We've just completed our renewal (minutes ago!) and plan to have representation at the show.


john

Sweet!

[TommyBB]

Originally Posted by jefslat

AJ has announced that they have reversed their decision and will be at PCA. Brenda and I will cover it again this year (and do a better job than last year because life happened) and report the impact TPE had. We also might do TPE next winter to see if this "split" look like foul play on the part of of one (or all four) of the companies or if it is still all about price per square footage to exhibit. I especially want to get a comparison interview from Nick Perdomo (if I can ever corner him) since he is doing both shows. Or Robert Holt (much more accessible).

A friend of mine/ours reached out to me privately, this afternoon, to tell me that A.J.F. was never not-going to PCA.

[TommyBB]

Steve Saka spurs discussion this morning.

Question of the Week

Okay, these are the Questions every suit in our biz wants to ask, but wisely does not because they are too controversial.

No one ever said I was wise... <snicker>

The past few weeks have been CRAY CRAY with Drew Estate, STG, Altadis and Davidoff aka the Big 4 all deciding simultaneously to not exhibit at the annual PCA Trade Show in a very public way.

The reason stated was the ROI on attending the show was insufficient. The Trade Show's poor management and escalating costs have forced these companies to decide to pull out and better allocate those resources.

The counter-narrative is that while true the PCA Trade Show has issues some quite serious, the real reason these companies pulled out is because they due not agree with the PCA's stance on the FDA and they do not want to fund an organization that they perceive is working against their regulatory interests.

Add about a million more words said by others.

You have heard/read both sides of the story... a lot.

Okay so here are the real questions that every C-Suite and Board of Director is dying to know the answers to:

1. Who do you believe? The Big 4 or PCA?

2. Does it impact your view of either group, either positive or negative?

3. Does this impact whether you will buy any of the Big 4's cigars regardless of who you believe?

4. Do you think any of this matters to the average guy who walks into a cigar shop?

I know this isn't a scientific survey, but the answers should be intriguing...

###

[CSMAnderson]

Thanks Tommy for sharing Saka's view. He always asks good questions.

[scottpearce]

Great to hear John, thank you!

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by BigO

For every millions of Macanudos that are sold, there's a much smaller amount of Umbagogs sold. Without the Macanudos, tastes wouldn't evolve towards Dunbarton's offerings.

I am really enjoying all of the new "boutique" cigars that I have been getting from SBC. I bought about fifty different samplers so far. It is fun for me to incorporate them into my rotation because I never know what I am going to get. Overall my experiences with them have been positive. Now I too have enough cigars for the rest of my life. But I love buying them, especially from B&M's. Walking into their humidors and seeing all different cigars, the aroma that you can't get from mail ordering, out comes the wallet to buy cigars that technically I don't need. But I do need to go to cigar stores and buy more anyway and smoke in the lounge and nobody can take that away from me.

[TommyBB]

But do we ever, REALLY, NOT need them?