I received an e-mail the other day from a company that sells radio frequency identification products and services. He said he’s heard rumors that CMP, a large IT publishing company based in Manhasset, N.Y., plans to buy RFID Journal or RFID Journal LIVE! and merge it with CMP’s RFID event. My correspondent was concerned about this because it creates some confusion about which event to exhibit at.
That might, in fact, be the very goal of the person or persons spreading the rumors. It’s well known that RFID Journal announced back in August 2006 that we would hold next year’s RFID Journal LIVE! conference at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, April 16-18, 2008. Meanwhile, CMP announced last month that it would hold its event in the same city a month earlier. Many exhibitors at our recent event told me they are angry about this, and more than a few said they won’t bother exhibiting at the CMP event next year because there were so few buyers (end users) in attendance at their event this year.
CMP has been adopting a me-too strategy of late. Aside from the decision to move its event to Vegas after three years in Dallas, the company adopted a logo for its European event that looks very similar to the logo for our Europe event last year. It even used our tag line— “Put RFID to Work”—on its marketing materials for the Europe event. (We’ve registered the phrase as our trademark.)
I should stress that I don’t know if the rumors are emanating from CMP, where I worked for 10 years. In any case, that company did approach RFID Journal about a potential sale, but the talks didn’t progress beyond one brief conversation.
As the largest shareholder of RFID Journal, I can tell you I’m not looking to sell the company. I have been approached by potential buyers every few months since 2003, and I’d be lying if I said I would never sell the company. But I’m committed to the RFID industry and want to be part of its ongoing growth. We are investing heavily to grow the company and educate potential end users because I believe—and always have believed—this will be a very important technology and a very large industry in the not-too-distant future.
When I started RFID Journal in February 2002, very few people had heard of radio frequency identification. Some within the industry even thought RFID was too niche a technology to support a Web site, never mind a print magazine and events. I take no small pride in the fact that most people now know what RFID is, and that so many companies are achieving benefits from using it. I look forward to seeing my vision of RFID being used in retail, supply chain and manufacturing operations become a reality.
We are gearing up for our fall events—RFID Journal—AAFA Apparel & Footwear Summit, EPC Connection (in partnership with EPCglobal North America), RFID Journal LIVE! Europe, RFID Journal LIVE! Canada, (in partnership with EPCglobal Canada)—and for RFID Journal LIVE! 2008. I have no doubt that our events will attract the most end users and potential end users, as well as the leading RFID vendors that want to be associated with high-quality events.
We’ll also be adding multimedia content to our Web site, and we’re planning to redesign the site to make it easier for you to find the information you are looking for. I continue to believe in RFID’s ability to deliver value to companies, and I know our strategy of delivering great content to end users and implementers will win out over any me-too strategy.