UK-based Sourcing City and the British Promotional Merchandise Association (bpma) have announced they will partner on a new two-day tradeshow event, to be held in September 2017. The event will combine features of the SC Marketplace, an invitation-only networking event of pre-booked appointments held each September, with those of The bpma Show, a product exhibition for bpma members. The announcement comes at the conclusion of the 2016 bpma Show, held this past week.

“We are confident that the new event will deliver an exciting combined concept that offers something of real benefit to everyone in a professional distributor company at an important time of the selling year,” said David Long, chairman and founder of Sourcing City, in a statement. “The main driver to merge the two events was that both organizations feel it is in the best interest of the industry’s suppliers and distributors not to have two shows at the same time of year. … We are therefore pleased that we can bring the best of both events into a single show next year. Having everyone in one place will be more productive, cost-effective and a lot of fun!”

The event will feature a new name along with rebranding efforts, and organizers are also considering giving distributors the option to invite end-users for one of the two days. Sourcing City is under contract to manage and organize the event, and will partner closely with the bpma Board along with support from the bpma Secretariat. The bpma will continue to host Education Day independently before the official start of the event, as well as the bpma Annual Awards Dinner on the evening of the first day. The location and event dates have yet to be determined.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Sourcing City on this venture,” said Matt Franks, bpma chairman, in a statement. “We've listened to our members, and feel a combined show bringing together the features of The bpma Show along with the networking of Sourcing City Marketplace will deliver enormous value to our members.”

Additional details will be made available to the industry later this year.