Wolfgang Marzin is president and CEO of Messe Frankfurt, one of the world’s leading trade fair, congress and event organisers with their own exhibition grounds. It employs 2,300 people at 28 locations around the globe and is the second largest of Germany’s six state/city-owned exhibition organisers / venue owners.
He was appointed in 2010 after previously working for trade show companies for more than 20 years. Frankfurt Messe, which is 60% owned by the city and 40% by the state of Hesse, is the world’s sixth largest trade show organiser with a portfolio of owned events in Germany and internationally including plans for more than 40 B2B events in China this year. In 2022, 69% of the group’s revenue was from Germany, with China, the UAE and Argentina comprising the majority of international events.
The largest non-owned events in Frankfurt include: Achema (process industries), CPhL (pharma) and IMEX (meetings) alongside international classics like the Frankfurt Book Fair and newer events like Eurobike. Trade association UFI had predicted that global exhibition revenues this year would average 15% above pre-pandemic 2019. But the 2023 results reportedly varied widely with Germany predicted to be only 82% of 2019. The Frankfurt CEO has predicted that 2024 would be back at least to the 2019 record revenue.
Prior to managing trade fairs, Wolfgang Marzin was a project manager in the logistics industry. He had graduated from the Bremen City University of Applied Sciences.
| Messe Frankfurt €mn SnapShot | 2023* | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| Revenue | 600 | 454 | 154 | 257 | 736 |
| EBITDA | 40 | (75) | (52) | 124 | |
| Headcount | 2,300 | 2.157 | 2,238 | 2,449 | 2,575 |
How did you get into trade shows?
After training as a freight forwarding agent at the Munich-based transport company Schenker and completing business administration studies with a focus on foreign trade, I joined IMAG in Munich as a project manager working in the area of overseas fairs. In 1991, I joined Messe Munich and then moved to Messe Düsseldorf, where I took over as head of its Chicago subsidiary. I also gained wide-ranging management experience in exhibition companies, including in Munich and Leipzig before becoming president and CEO of Messe Frankfurt in 2010. In my first job in the logistics sector, I had touchpoints with exhibitions which sparked my enthusiasm for the industry. It thrilled me from the very beginning. What I love most is the variety of issues every day – it never gets boring.
Can you describe Messe Frankfurt?
Internationality is a hallmark of Messe Frankfurt. Our portfolio includes more than 100 event brands worldwide, leading trade fairs that are No. 1 in their respective industries. They take place at more than 50 locations.
But the focus remains on Frankfurt, where we have the task of creating a socio-economic impact through our events. Trade fairs are all about promoting business – at their own location and throughout Germany; they help to protect jobs, and generate production and tax revenue. Every year, events at Messe Frankfurt generate purchasing power of €3.6bn in Germany, half of which can be ascribed to Frankfurt itself. In addition, the events safeguard 33,260 jobs and result in €657mn in tax revenues throughout Germany. These are just some of the findings of a study by the ifo Institute.
The focus of our activities is a consistent brand and internationalization strategy along our business areas and events in defined industry sectors and clusters: Building Technologies, Safety, Security & Fire, Environmental Technologies, Textile Care, Cleaning & Cleanroom Technologies, Food Technologies, Electronics & Automation Technologies and Manufacturing Technologies & Components, Event & Entertainment Technologies, Consumer Goods, Textiles & Textile Technologies as well as Mobility & Logistics.
What’s special about the group?
Our unique global network. With subsidiaries and sales partners, we have customers in 180 countries.
Our comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organizing and running their events. We are using our digital expertise to develop new business models. The range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. Sustainability is a central pillar of our corporate strategy. Here, we strike a healthy balance between ecological and economic interests, social responsibility and diversity.
How important are the international operations and, given the financial pressures of recent years, have you contemplated cutting them back to concentrate on Frankfurt?
For more than three decades, our global portfolio has played an important role in the group’s strategic development. The group’s events outside Germany allow SMEs, in particular, to gain a foothold in emerging markets. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a powerful global network of 28 subsidiaries and more than 50 sales partners serving some 180 countries. Our activities outside Germany have a positive effect on the events in Frankfurt. Around three-quarters of exhibitors and over half of visitors to the Group’s events come from outside Germany. This international component is well above average in the trade fair sector. We are continuing with our tried-and-tested approach, but are diversifying even more in terms of new market developments, such as recently in Central Asia.
What were the trade show learnings from the pandemic?
Nothing can replace personal contact. We will put a stronger emphasis on providing our customers with high quality data and communication platforms
How would you describe the business challenges since Covid?
Since Covid, there have been many challenges – not only in the exhibitions industry. The world has become more complex due to multiple global crises. Nevertheless, we have strengthened our position as a reliable partner for specific industries. Trade shows are platforms for discussing the challenges of respective industries and discovering opportunities.
In the future, the aim will be to provide our customers with even more qualitative data and providing a year-round communication platform.
Messe Frankfurt sees itself as a year-round business enabler. On the one hand, we create platforms at our trade fairs worldwide where suppliers and users can meet, network and exchange information about the latest innovations and trends. In addition, we consistently supplement events with various digital formats. This means that, as a partner and organizer, we create individually-tailored content hubs for the industries and, therefore, 365-day meeting points around the clock. The added value of this state-of-the-art expansion strengthens our role as a market leader.
When will Messe Frankfurt revenues get back to pre-pandemic 2019?
After a strong core business in 2023 with sales of over EUR 600mn, the company expects further growth this year – with sales at least on a par with the previous record year of 2019.
What are the best lessons you have learned?
My biggest learning is that the greatest challenges can only be mastered by teams of people who can rely on and trust each other.
