With a new director at its helm, Baselworld, the once mighty watch and jewelry fair, is in a fight for its life as it continues to bleed exhibitors.The exodus has forced a major makeover for its March 21-26 edition in Basel, Switzerland.The world’s largest watch and jewelry trade show lost half its exhibitors between 2017 and 2019 — from 1300 to 650. Organizers did not want to reveal how many vendors they have confirmed this year and said they are still seeking more. However, the Swiss exhibitors alone are on record for 92 spots this year, down from 120 last year.That reflects the departure announced last summer of the 18-brand Swatch Group (including Breguet, Blancpain and Omega) from the show’s central, ground floor. Other brands like Maurice Lacroix, DeGrisogono, Raymond Weil, Corum, Favre-Leuba and Rebellion also called it quits.Attendance has hovered around 100,000, down from 150,000 at its height in 2014. After Swatch’s departure, only four of the so-called “big five” major brands remain: Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chopard and the LVMH group (Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith).“Everyone is conscious that Baselworld is in a transformative phase, and this transformation starts now, in 2019, and continues through 2020 and the following years,” said Michel Loris-Melikoff, Baselworld’s new managing director, appointed in July 2018, speaking in a telephone interview. “Until now Baselworld was a b-to-b platform, and in future it will open, and become increasingly an experience platform.”“It’s a question of survival. If [Baselworld] doesn’t make these changes, I think the future of the fair will be quite tricky,” said Yves Vulcan, head of communication for Swiss exhibitors at Baselworld. Billed as a “new concept,” the show will “feel very different inside, with more incentives for visitors to stay in the show, with more entertainment, better restaurants, and a more attractive, welcoming space,” said Vulcan.Reasons for the show’s struggle for relevance have partly been attributed to industry changes in the digital era, leading to differing needs of exhibitors who increasingly have alternative means of staying connected with clients and customers all year. Many brands have therefore become at odds with Baselworld’s b-to-b focused identity, and have been requesting that the show evolve to put them in touch with final customers instead. Changes, however, came too little too late, according to many exhibitors. In addition, a much more competitive, challenging watch market, has put a strain on brands who can’t afford the high costs of the show.While Swiss watch exports rose 6.3 percent in 2018, they slowed in the second half of the year, fueling fears that China’s economy, the Swiss watch industry’s largest market, could suffer under a trade war with the US.Baselworld’s new director, who has 20 years of eventplanning experience, nevertheless said that an updated and improved version of the watch and jewelry show is as crucial to today’s watch industry as ever.“We put on a show, because the industry needs this type of platform to be seen, to network, to conduct business, to be able to exchange, see new products,” said Loris- Melikoff, who does not seem daunted by the monumental task appointed him. He took the job just before the announcement of Swatch’s departure, something that industry insiders had predicted would bode the end of the fair. In fact, Loris-Melikoff insists this is just the kind of predicament he relishes.“The challenge was already very, very big, even before Swatch made this decision. When I accepted this job, I knew there was a transformation that needed to take place, and that is also the reason I accepted the job,” he said. “When you can transform a product, you have to take what’s good in the product — and there are a lot of very good things in Baselworld that must be continued in the new Baselworld of 2020 — and then there all the things that you need to change and develop. And that is why it was very important for me to listen to our exhibitors, to go speak to them, to analyze their needs, and be able to synthesize all these needs. In the end, that is the basis of the new 2020 concept. My objective was to be able to define a new vision by the end of the year, which we have done. And we’ve discussed with the major exhibitors, and now we are in the process of developing a strategy. This new strategy, the new Baselworld 2020, will be presented during Baselworld 2019,” said Loris-Melikoff.Anticipated changes already visible in the upcoming edition include rearranging exhibitor placement thanks to freed space provided by departing brands, with an upgrade to jewelry and independent watchmakers (including Ferdinand Berthoud, MB&F, Kari Voutilainen and Unwerk), the creation of a central “Show Plaza” stage for jewelry and fashion shows, as well as brand presentations and conferences, much more centrally located, bar and restaurant options, an improved, central work station for media representatives, as well as the regulation of hotel prices, which were known to inflate during show dates. A new website is already up with more transparent, user-friendly content, and the existing chatbot is being upgraded. In response to demand from major brands, beginning in 2020 the show dates will coincide with the Geneva-based, SIHH luxury watch salon so that visitors can attend both shows, back to back.With technological and other service developments to be announced at the start of the show, the 2019 edition is, “a little stream compared to what will come in 2020,” promised Loris-Melikoff. “I think the essential aspect of an experience, is to be able to propose something to a community that they can’t find online or in shops. So this experience must be unique, and it addresses not only the retailer, but also the consumers interested in jewelry, and all the sectors we show at Baselworld,” he said.Some peripheral brands have already shown enthusiasm for the benefits they’ll gain from a smaller show and better positioning. “It is fantastic to finally be showing alongside all our high-end independent creator friends in Hall 1.0,” said independent watchmaker Max Busser, creator of MB&F, referring to the newly centralized location of the “Les Atelieres,” sector for independent watchmakers. “With fewer brands showing at Baselworld, retailers and journalists have more time and are less stressed. Consequently, 2019 should be even better than previous years,” Busser told the show organizers.As for the Swatch Group, Loris-Melikoff said he was trying to woo back the brand. “For us it’s very important that Swatch feel themselves represented in the new Baselworld, which we’re in the process of putting in place. So we’re in contact with Swatch, and of course we hope they’ll come back.”However, with many exhibitors feeling their requests for changes went unanswered in the past, the new Baselworld direction is charged with winning back their trust. In response, Loris-Melikoff agrees “it’s time to work.”“Once you know the needs and expectations [of brands and users], you have to work on one problem at a time, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” he said, citing his swift handling of hotel price regulation, as well as coordinating dates with SIHH. The show is also re-evaluating some of its own exhibitor prices for 2019, and their totality for 2020.“On the one hand, we’re being asked for more services and on the other, a reduction of price per meter square, so those are two expectations that are a bit contradictory, it requires that we redo our business model, and we are in the midst of working on it,” said Loris-Melikoff.This column appears in the March 2019 edition of BlouinShop. 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