The popular event has shown remarkable resilience and this year is celebrating its 80th anniversary
“WHERE THERE’S, muck there’s brass” is certainly appropriate when it comes to the National Ploughing Championships which celebrate their 80th anniversary this September.
In 1931, when Kildare man JJ Bergin held the first championship on his farm in Athy, there were about 40 entries and it cost €11.
This year the organisers are expecting up to 1,000 exhibitors for the three-day event and they hope to match last year’s record attendance of 180,000 visitors. The biggest event in the farming calendar is organised by the National Ploughing Association of Ireland, led by managing director Anna May McHugh and her daughter, Anna Marie.
The championships have proved very resilient in the face of the recession. Turnover from gate receipts, exhibitors’ fees and sponsorship for last year’s event came to €3.8 million, generating an operating profit of €1 million. For their endeavours, Anna May McHugh’s remuneration was €126,000 while Anna Maria’s salary was €63,000.
Anna Maria McHugh says that while some exhibitors have reduced the size of their stands at the event, the number of exhibitors hasn’t changed. “The motor industry died completely on us two years ago but this year we have Volkswagen supplying us with a fleet of courtesy vehicles,” she says.
“Most of our business is repeat and we don’t really go out and advertise for exhibitors. However, we target companies internationally by exhibiting at agricultural shows in Britain and Germany. We also work with Enterprise Ireland who bring delegations to the event.”
Indoor units in a marquee with up to two other exhibitors costs €1,000 for a 3sq m area for the three days of the event. For outdoor units, costs range from €142 to €160 a metre frontage.
“We haven’t changed our rates since 2008,” McHugh says. “Haggling doesn’t really enter into it because the price is the price. Nobody gets a 10 per cent reduction over the other person.”
FBD Insurance is the event’s main sponsor and has been involved with the championships since 1970. Adrian Taheny, FBD’s executive director of marketing and sales, says: “It would be unthinkable for FBD not to be at the ploughing championships. Anna May and Anna Marie are tough people to negotiate with, but fair play to them, they have a product that is unique.
“Farmers are our most important market so it’s a great opportunity for us to meet our customers. As main sponsor, we get signage on all the fencing surrounding the site. We sponsor the tannoy announcement system, give out 40,000 high visibility vests in association with the Road Safety Authority and sponsor a beef cattle demonstration.
“This year we will also have a specially decked out tour bus that is going to be attending all the various shows in the lead-up to the championships.”
Apart from selling its insurance products, FBD also promotes its hotels and resorts. “We get huge numbers of farmers going to our Sunset Beach Hotel in Spain each year,” says Taheny.
For many companies, the ploughing championships are immune from any cutbacks in the marketing budget. Dr Anne Marie Butler, who heads up Ulster Bank’s agri department, says: “It’s a huge project for the bank every year and it’s not an event that would ever be up for the chop. Our plans for September started back in January. This year we have linked up with Newstalk, who will be broadcasting live from the event. We can be at the ploughing while simultaneously getting nationwide airtime.”
AIB has been involved with the ploughing championships for more than 20 years.
Dr Anne Finnegan of the bank’s agri propositions and strategy unit says: “It is a key event for AIB in showcasing our farming proposition and our agri advisers and local agri staff. We get to talk to our customers and to farmers en masse for three days. You can’t buy market research like this.”
Other exhibitors in 2011 will include 23 small companies from Carlow who are grouping together in the hope of generating €250,000 worth of sales over the three days of the event. Dena Nolan of Bunbury Boards, which makes chopping boards, serving boards and platters, was persuaded to take part by Carlow County Enterprise Board.
“It’s not cheap taking part but it’s another way of marketing our product to a wider audience,” Nolan says.
Ruth Clinton, managing director of IAS Labs, a specialist in soil, grass and milk testing, is returning to exhibit for a second year.
“We got €6,000 worth of business last year,” she says. “You meet up to 40 people a day and you would never do that selling on the road. The key to winning business is following up on the contacts you make at the show.”
It’s the third year at the event for Karen O’Sullivan, marketing manager at the Talbot Hotel in Carlow.
“It’s one of our key selling platforms of the year and I would hope to generate at least €5,000 worth of business,” O’Sullivan says. “We will be exhibiting in the Carlow tent and that’s important, because if we just have a stand on our own in a field stuck beside a big tractor, I think we would be lost.”
siobhan@businessplus.ie
