Feature article – SOCMA comes full circle

SOCMA has acquired the Specialty & Custom Chemicals show. We spoke to CEO Jennifer Abril to find out why

The US trade association SOCMA has purchased the Specialty & Custom Chemicals America show and made an industry event a key part of its offer for the first time in 15 years. There was a time, of course, when an industry event was basically what SOCMA did.

Back in 1985, SOCMA started InformEx as a small-scale event for the US speciality and custom chemicals sector. It grew steadily to become a full-scale convention lasting for 3.5 days and typically attracting 4,000+ visitors to a show floor with some 500 booths.

“At its pinnacle in the early 2000s, InformEx was the event for the industry to attend,” says SOCMA CEO Jennifer Abril. “In a way it was a victim of its own success. It outgrew the ability of a trade association to handle, so it made sense for us to hand it on to an expert in the field.” For this reason, SOCMA sold InformEx to CMP in 2005, though it retained an advisory role.

Meanwhile, former InformEx sales manager Tom Leahy launched first the Specialty & Agro Chemicals America show in 2012, which now takes place in Charleston, South Carolina, in September. In 2018, Specialty & Custom Chemicals America was launched in Fort Worth, Texas. Both have been known informally as ‘Chemicals America’.

A new format

The format of these events derived from Leahy’s discussions with the industry. They are very different to what InformEx had become, being based on standard-sized, tabletop booths, free-to-attend educational sessions, low costs, networking opportunities and restricting the exhibitor base to companies headquartered in, or at least with a substantial presence in, the US.

Thanks in part to the ‘reshoring’ trend of recent years, both shows have become outstanding successes. SOCMA partnered with Leahy from the outset and, says Abril, ultimately buying the Fort Worth show was “something we contemplated from the beginning. It turns out that 2020, following on from initial growth, was the right time for both buyer and seller”.

Selling InformEx, she adds, did not take away from SOCMA’s role as a commercial connector for the industry, which it regards as its key function. However, it did leave more of a gap than SOCMA had realised at the time. “After these 15 years, this has become the critical missing piece that will enable our association to become whole again.”

Abril characterises what SOCMA will be doing from now on as a kind of inverted pyramid. At the bottom, are the lead sheets that help match companies’ project needs and capabilities. Next comes its newly launched manufacturing solutions database, a search engine through which users can find specific equipment and chemistries offered by members.

A further level up is the business-to-business platform, through which individual businesses can find each other in a more pinpointed way. The top level from now on will be the (renamed) Specialty & Custom Chemicals America Show, where businesses can come together each year in a show environment.

Plans for transition

Many SOCMA members, Abril notes, have said that the Chemicals America shows feel quite like InformEx used to be in terms of intimacy and its community feel. Thus, while SOCMA will seek to grow the Specialty & Custom Chemicals Show, “we will only grow it to the extent that it works for the industry”.

“Our objective is not to have something of the size and scale of InformEx as it used to be, but to ensure we are maximising the right attendees and the right exhibitors each year. What it already has is what makes it attractive to SOCMA,” she says.

For the 2021 show, which will kick off SOCMA’s 100th anniversary year, the association will continue to work with Leahy during the transition period. There will be “limited adjustments” to the format, reflecting safety protocols and other considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic. SOCMA will work with the authorities, the venue and others to find ways to enable face-to-face encounters to continue.

In the longer term, any change in format will be incremental and based on input from an advisory group of SOCMA members, Abril says. Other venues may be used – probably in the Texas-Louisiana area that houses so much of the US custom chemical sector – but the most important driver is to remain in the first quarter of the calendar year, counterbalancing the Charleston event and other East Coast shows.

State of business

COVID-19 is obviously having a huge impact on the chemicals industry in the US, as everywhere, SOCMA has found. How its member companies are faring is varying heavily from sector to sector.

Broadly speaking, Abril says, Q1 was strong across the board. Those SOCMA members who were well-positioned to serve industries that were absolutely essential to addressing the pandemic, like pharmaceuticals, medical devices, household cleaning products and antimicrobials, did particularly well.

Business in Q2 was largely dependent on the sector, and some were slightly off while others were stable in Q3. Some companies were concerned about a potential cliff in 2H because the horizon ahead was so unclear, but that did not materialise. Sales were softer in the middle of the year, but not drastically so. Some companies are looking at a strong end to 2020 and Q1 of 2021, and some are now saying they need to refill their pipelines.

“For the most part, we believe that most companies will find themselves close to what the projections for 2020 were at the start of the year,” Abril concludes.

Contact

Jenny Gaines

Senior Director, Communications & Engagement

SOCMA

+1 571 348 5150

[email protected]

www.socma.org