Mimo at to ABC Kids
After making our pivot to a baby monitor in mid-August, we focused with laser-like intensity on one deadline: the ABC Kids trade show in October. ABC Kids is the US’s largest juvenile products trade show, and it was held this year from October 14-17 in Louisville, Kentucky.
We had some clear goals for the tradeshow:
Have a working product kit that had been through at least one round of testing with families in the field
Meet our targeted list of retailers, which included both specialty brick and mortar stores as well as the national chains
Develop press contacts and relationships with as many people and outlets as possible
Gauge overall reception of the product and get feedback
Meet as many potential partners as we can
Finally, given that we were all so new to the baby/infant space, we went there to learn as much as we possibly could
Overall, it was a great success, and it was essentially like retail bootcamp: we learned a ton about retail timelines, about the juvenile products community, and about how to position ourselves for next year. We met just about everyone we wanted to, generated great buzz, and developed a ton of new relationships with retailers and other product companies. And, we just learned so, so much—I don’t think anyone on our team correctly anticipated the madness and scope that is ABC Kids.
We also made a ton of excellent friends (Kiinde Guys + Greater than One Kids Ladies, we’re looking at you!) and we managed to bring some classic MIT nerdery to the show (we provided WiFi for all of our booth's neighbors).
The product development timeline leading up to the show was absolutely bananas, but our success in testing, at the show, and beyond made it all worthwhile. We’re already looking forward to next year’s show in Vegas!
