Single Market Events (SME) is launching two new editions of its Baby and Toddler Show in Australia and is looking to take other UK formats down under this year.

The Baby and Toddler show was first launched in Sydney and Melbourne and won Best Consumer Show at the Exhibition and Event Association of Australia Awards in 2010. SME MD Tim Etchells said the decision to expand into two additional Australian cities, Perth and Brisbane, was partly driven by exhibitor demand.

“Financially, I don’t think Perth will be a huge winner for us, but sometimes you’ve just got to provide a service to the exhibitors,” he told EN. “You can’t just take the ripe cherries; you have to have a more even spread.

“I haven’t done anything in Perth apart from touring Jamie Oliver there, but because of the mining, there’s a lot of money in the city and one or two consumer shows are going well. It has got its challenges including the five-hour flight from Sydney, but we’ll see what happens.”

SME also runs Art Sydney and Art Melbourne, a selection of fashion events and launched Better Homes and Gardens Live in Sydney in 2010, which attracted 28,000 visitors. Etchells is now in talks with other organisers to take more UK formats into the Australian market. SME has a full-time team of 30 employees in Australia.

“We understand the UK and Australian markets and what can work in Australia, so we’re well placed to take more UK/European products there,” Etchells said.

“The market is different in that the business population is split between Sydney and Melbourne, which is good and bad news. It’s bad because the shows can’t reach the same scale they can in the UK, but the good thing is if something works in one city, there’s no reason why you can’t run it in the other city. You may have success in Brisbane as well.

“You can end up running three quite nice shows with one overhead, so profitability-wise, it’s strong.”

Etchells recently promoted Charles Ross to deputy MD of Single Market Events.

Read our full interview with Tim Etchells in the upcoming April edition of Exhibition News. Subcribe today at: http://www.exhibitionnews.co.uk/subscribe