Newspaper publisher Johnston Press is staging what is being billed as the UK’s ultimate show for animal lovers this autumn.

The local press group is organising the LovePets Show, to be staged through its exhibitions arm, JP Events & Exhibitions, in November.

It plans to market the event, which will take place at the East of England Showground in Peterborough, through 43 of its local papers and 35 websites in the Midlands and East Anglia.

As well as giving exhibitors the chance to show off their wares, the show will also feature visitor attractions and live displays, including dog agility and duck herding events.

JP is hoping the event will attract crowds of up to 10,000 and Mars Petcare, makers of Pedigree Chum and Whiskas, have been signed up as main sponsors.

As well as newspaper advertising, its eight-week promotional campaign in the run-up to the event will include radio advertising, an event brochure, in-paper competitions, website skyscraper advertising and a dedicated website, lovepets.me.uk.

JP’s exhibition manager Susanna Hornby said: “No consumer pets exhibition has benefited from such a powerful, co-ordinated promotional campaign.

“There have been promotion campaigns before, but nothing that has brought together the publicity power of our papers and websites in quite such a co-ordinated way.”

The show will span a wide range of pet industry consumer sectors, covering dogs, cats, horses, small mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and exotics.

Added Susanna: “LovePets aims to attract thousands of people over two days, giving exhibitors a great opportunity to meet pet owners face to face.”

Comments

Scribbler (24/05/2010 09:33:47)
Perhaps this is the latest JP staffing-cuts ploy? Find a few tame monkeys, train ’em to use Atex and bingo! No subs OR reporters necessary.

Oggmonster (24/05/2010 09:54:02)
A show for giant pets?

billy davies (24/05/2010 10:29:51)
shortly to be followed, I understand, by the “Hate Journalists and See them Eaten by Crocodiles” show at the Wembley Arena

Subby Sub (24/05/2010 10:30:11)
This will actually double up as a recruitment drive to replace the current senior management executives.
The animals will not require a salary, thus saving millions, and do a far better job than the current incumbents.
However, the ability to s**t all over the company when they feel like it will still remain.

Jeremy Miles (24/05/2010 10:53:49)
I’ve got a horrible feeling those mad old cat ladies we met as junior reporters have come back to haunt us!

outofit (24/05/2010 11:15:47)
What a stroke of genius! Here am I slagging off the JP management for just about everything bad and then, Wham! They come along with a truly off-the-wall, out of the box scheme to get round disappearing circulations, staff, standards, profits et al.
Let’s hold a pet show! A pet show to end all pet shows.
Sorted!
Well, if we needed proof that JP is going to the dogs, here it is.
These clowns belong in a circus.

Donnacha DeLong (24/05/2010 11:28:06)
So THAT’S what they do – pet show organising! As we found recently, they don’t actually employ any journalists. It all makes sense now.

prionmonkey (24/05/2010 11:39:46)
The directors have realised that they know nothing about running newspapers and are desperately casting about for something else to screw up.
This would be hilarious if it wasn’t for the fact that they are making hundreds of journos redundant.
How much did the Atex system cost; how much did it cost to replace all the computers that couldn’t cope with it; how much are they spending on redundancies and how much are they spending on this ludicrous idea?
Sack the board before the shares plummet even further in value. Monkeys.

Lensman (24/05/2010 12:08:23)
Haven’t laughed as much in ages. Would like to have been in the boardroom when this brilliant idea came up. Anyone sure they’re not planning to turn their redundant journos into cans of meaty pet chunks. Sales of these could cover the cost of setting up the show

The witty one (24/05/2010 12:56:00)
Explains why they’re currently treating their staff in the north west like dogs…

Ree Duntant (24/05/2010 14:37:41)
Next, a p*ss up in a brewery perhaps?

Bin There (24/05/2010 15:36:00)
Couldn’t organise p*** up in brewery.

fearfulforfuture (24/05/2010 16:47:04)
In the circumstances, shouldn’t that be “p*** up against a lamppost”?

thejudge (24/05/2010 17:39:06)
Maybe some event company will want to start a newspaper…………… after all there are a lot of quality people out of work now …… just a thought JP.

Sub-for-now (24/05/2010 17:51:02)
Meanwhile, the share price is down to 21p and today’s trading has been a sea of red as investors sell tens of thousands of pounds of JP stock.
Forget the dog show – November is the wrong time of the year for people to be travelling long distances to events – and call an urgent board meeting to decide what sort of future JP has, if it has one at all.

FAST WOMAN (24/05/2010 18:12:18)
As a consultant, can I recommend the following ideas to JP?
1. Double up any remaining town-based editorial offices as fast food outlets. The reporters can practise their shorthand while taking pizza orders over the phone for subs to chuck together.
2. Reporters and photographers can often be found hanging about the office when other people have gone home. Could they not be hired out to other premises as a cleaning crew?
3. If the pet show (in November eeek!) goes well, move on to the adult entertainment industry. So much more lucrative than those little lineage and box ads in the paper.

clare mont (25/05/2010 09:12:16)
I agree with your sentiments, Fast Woman, but surely it should be linage, not lineage.

JP Worker (25/05/2010 09:43:01)
Can I nominate our MD for a starring role – she could play the part of bulldog!

Hengist Pod (25/05/2010 13:52:32)
Why not give some work to the out of work journalists in a journo herding feature instead of the more common duck herding.
I have to say – you couldn’t make this stuff up!

Hengist Pod (25/05/2010 13:56:30)
Why not give some work to the out of work journalists in a journo herding feature instead of the more common duck herding.
I have to say – you couldn’t make this stuff up!

Dave Tommer (25/05/2010 16:34:29)
JP have already turned a once mighty lion of a group into a lame duck. Would anyone really trust these clowns to so much as look after a goldfish?

Beano Bob (25/05/2010 17:00:46)
Is it April 1st and nobody had told me?

Monkey Business (27/05/2010 11:01:44)
How apt… Johnson Press are making monkeys out of their staff with this! Hey ho… we have to recognise that we are in the entertainment business!