Scout Plant-Based Expo, a uniquely formatted plant-based expo, has been announced for September 18, 2021 in Los Angeles. The artisanal and comprehensively curated expo will take place in the open air at the Paramount Studios Backlot in Hollywood, a studio lot that is designed to resemble the Upper West Side of Manhattan, replete with fire escapes and brownstones.
The organization’s founders, Lori and Jim Amos of Scout 22 Marketing & Public Relations, will be partnering with plant-based industry organizations and leaders to shape the expo. “I wanted to have a venue where emerging and existing plant-based brands can have a significant presence and sufficient time with retail buyers, distributors and investors—and vice versa,” explains Lori Amos.
Lamenting the current status of plant-based expo events, she adds, “These mega expos we are now accustomed to are counter-productive—it is impossible to get quality time to make connections and it really is the brands that have the most money to spend (bigger, sexier booth) who are the ones that get noticed. We want to change that.”
In addition, Scout 22 will also provide valuable PR and marketing services to the emerging companies who exhibit at the expo as part of the flat rate cost of the booth package. States co-founder and film studio ex-pat, Jim Amos, says, “Our booths will be a single rate for everyone, no one will get a double wide or super-sized option no matter the size of the company so everyone is on a level playing field. It’s 100 percent about boosting the plant-based community up—all boats rise vs. a race to the top for those companies with the most money.”
Experienced Leadership
Founder Lori Amos has spent nearly three decades in the advertising and marketing agency world, having worked on Fortune 500 brands at top tier global and regional agencies like Deutsch, RPA, Grey, DDB and others. “We have the resources and the passion to add significant value to our exhibitors and attendees, we aren’t there to sell add-ons, this Expo is all inclusive plus it will be a one day event and in a fun environment rather than a mammoth, sterile, fluorescent lighted exhibition hall,” she says.
In addition, the expo will feature a virtual component for individuals and companies who cannot attend the event in person but can still take advantage of discovering the most innovative new brands and seeing where the plant-based sector is heading.
Diana Edelman, the founder of Vegans Baby and a plant-based pioneer in promoting plant-based chefs and culinary level amplification of vegan foods, will be joining the Scout team as the director of exhibitor affairs. “For brands, it’s all about getting in front of the right people at the right time, whether that be retail buyers, distributors, investors or the media,” says Edelman. “For retailers, it’s about the right product at the right time i.e., why is this product going to add to their bottom line or fill a void. For investors, it’s all about discovering—and getting in on the ground floor of—innovative new companies who will be tomorrow’s success stories. That’s where we come in. We’re building the room you want to be in.”
Expo Selection Standards
Scout Plant-Based Expo will be accepting applications this summer. Attendees will be approved based on a set of criteria that considers:
- Taste
- No animal products or exploitation of animals or people
- Commitment to positive or zero impact on the environment
- Quality and sustainability of ingredients
- Supply chain transparency
- Healthy workplace standards (pay, fair practices)
Right Time. Right Place. Right Format
There is no denying that plant-based food is in on the rise. U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods are worth $5 billion and have risen 11.4 percent in the past year, as opposed to the total US retail food market growing only 2.2 percent.
Even mainstream media outlets are noticing. Fortune recently wrote, “With the meat processing industry in a tailspin amid Tyson and Smithfield plant closures owing to outbreaks of COVID-19, there is a potential nationwide meat shortage looming. This shortage, coupled with consumer uncertainty during this anxious time, has seemingly contributed to a surge in demand for plant-based alternatives.”
Another reason why the time is right for this kind of more intimate event is the dire outlook for large-scale conventions and expos for the foreseeable future. As Julius Solaris recently wrote in the industry trade journal Event Manager, “We need to agree that we won’t go back to how things were in January 2020. The idea that launching an event will result in high attendance is nonsensical.”
Further details on Scout Plant-Based Expo will be forthcoming by late summer. To get expo updates, or if you’re interested in exhibiting, sponsoring or attending the event, visit scoutpbexpo.com or contact Lori Amos at lori@scoutpbexpo.com.
Founded in 2015 Scout 22 is a full-service marketing and public relations agency based in Los Angeles, Calif., whose focus is companies that practice conscious capitalism with an emphasis on plant-based/vegan products and services. Scout 22 partners with like-minded businesses to propel brands that are ethical, sustainable and good for people and the planet. Global clients have included Beyond Meat, Fry Family Food, Copper Branch, Plant Power Fast Food, milkadamia, Future Kind and others. For more info, visit scout22.com.
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