Restructuring at Frankfurter Buchmesse complete

Streamlined structures at Frankfurter Buchmesse / Planning for 2021 book fair has begun / Feedback from more than 200 customers has been evaluated

The restructuring announced by Frankfurter Buchmesse in November has been completed: corporate structures have been streamlined and the announced reduction in headcount has largely been concluded. Juergen Boos, director of Frankfurter Buchmesse, commented on the processes: “Like many other businesses, Frankfurter Buchmesse has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic on an existential level. As a result, we had to implement a restructuring process that involves painful and far-reaching changes. I would like to thank all the employees who have helped set the course taken by Frankfurter Buchmesse in the past years through their commitment, leadership, creativity and passion. I will miss them - as colleagues and friends.”

Thanks to these measures, the Frankfurt Book Fair is now well positioned for the coming year. Parallel to the internal restructuring, intensive discussions have taken place in recent weeks with approx. 200 Frankfurter Buchmesse exhibitors from Germany and abroad. The participants in the workshops represented all relevant segments and markets. The exchange with customers focused on what exhibitors at Frankfurter Buchmesse are concerned with in today’s very uncertain times and what Frankfurter Buchmesse can do to provide its customers with even more support.

All respondents agreed that a physical fair should take place to the extent permitted by the pandemic. At the same time, they said, the fair should concentrate on the basics: offering a venue for the international rights and licensing business and facilitating networking within the international book and publishing industry. On a more detailed level, the exhibitors’ responses revealed a diverse range of needs regarding the fair: while international exhibitors would like B2B venues and an improved matchmaking tool, German exhibitors say that interactions between their authors and the public and the resulting media response are of major importance. All exhibitors surveyed said they would like flexible presentation formats. The digital tools offered by Frankfurter Buchmesse are to be further developed next year, augmenting the physical fair.

Juergen Boos: “The customer feedback we have received in recent weeks is very valuable to us. It shows that Frankfurter Buchmesse must serve different and in some cases contradictory interests. Yet responding to this diversity is what Frankfurter Buchmesse is known for. We will be presenting our concept for Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021 in a few weeks.”