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The Boston Run Show wins Best Consumer Show at TSNN Awards

Raccoon Media Group has seen success at this year’s Trade Show News Network (TSNN) Innovation Awards with The Boston Run Show taking home the award for The Best Consumer Show. The awards evening took place Saturday Oct 28th and honored the “Best of Innovation”. Global show organizers joined the event in Puerto Rico and celebrated those who have truly shined brightly in the past year.

The TSNN Awards recognized nominees in 12 categories and received an incredible number of nominations for the Outstanding Show Pro Awards and Innovation Awards. Finalists for the Best Consumer Awards included Super Pet Expo, Awesome Con, Anime Con, Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show as well as The Boston Run Show.

The debut of the Boston Run Show in partnership with Boston.com and the Boston Athletic Association was hosted at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA in February 2023 and received over 18,000 ticket registrations. Despite the coldest weekend the city had seen for seven years, the show welcomed close to 10,000 visitors out of the cold and into the warm expo. The show’s two stages played host to Olympians and athletes from across the world of running including Sally McRae, Carl Lewis, Dean Karnazes, Dave McGillivray and Jenna Prandini. The line-up of speakers enthralled packed theatres with the highs, lows, achievements, and failures from a life spent running. The city’s runners shopped for new gear, tech and nutrition from leading brands and found new races to sign up to at the Events Village. The event is strategically timed to prepare runners for the city’s marathon and promote the benefits running to new audiences who are looking to start.

Mike Seaman, CEO at Raccoon Media Group commented: “I am thrilled for the team to have been recognized and rewarded for the launch of The Boston Run Show. Despite a tough start due to a  date postponement and extreme weather, we couldn’t be happier with our first running expo in New England. We had a great time immersing ourselves into the USA industry and we think there are exciting times ahead!”

The Boston Run Show will return for its second edition, January 27th-28th 2024 at the Hynes Convention Center. For more information about other Raccoon Media Group events visit www.raccoonmediagroup.com/events.

The Boston Run Show is shortlisted for the 2023 TSNN Innovation Awards

Raccoon Media Group has been shortlisted for this year’s Trade Show News Network (TSNN) Innovation Awards. The Boston Run Show has been recognized and is shortlisted as a finalist for the Consumer Shows category. The awards program will celebrate and honor the “Best of Innovation” – shows that truly shined brightly in the past year with new marketing programs, an amazing virtual or hybrid event, a highly engaging (fun) show or created/maintained a great community or culture after digging deep and finding new ways to serve and engage their audiences.

The debut of the Boston Run Show in partnership with Boston.com and the Boston Athletic Association was hosted at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA in February 2023 and received over 18,000 ticket registrations. Despite the coldest weekend the city had seen for seven years, the show welcomed close to 10,000 visitors out of the cold and into the warm expo. The show’s two stages played host to Olympians and athletes from across the world of running including Sally McRae, Carl Lewis, Dean Karnazes, Dave McGillivray and Jenna Prandini. The line-up of speakers enthralled packed theatres with the highs, lows, achievements, and failures from a life spent running. The city’s runners shopped for new gear, tech and nutrition from leading brands and found new races to sign up to at the Events Village. The event is strategically timed to prepare runners for the city’s marathon and promote the benefits running to new audiences who are looking to start.

Mike Seaman, CEO at Raccoon Media Group commented: “I am so incredibly proud of the team here at Raccoon and it is fantastic to see us developing relationships in the USA and being recognized by the TSNN Awards. To have our company listed alongside the biggest and best events in the USA is testament to the amazing people we have in our business. Good luck to the other nominees and we look forward to the winners being announced next month.”

The Boston Run Show will return for its second edition, January 27th-28th 2024 at the Hynes Convention Center. For more information about other Raccoon Media Group events visit www.raccoonmediagroup.com.

Raccoon Media Group has been acquired by Cuil Bay Capital

Raccoon Media Group Ltd has announced that a new investment vehicle, Cuil Bay Capital (CBC), has today acquired a majority stake in the business. CBC is led by Doug Emslie, the former CEO of Tarsus Group who will join the board as chairman, replacing Ralph Collett. The remainder of the senior management team will remain in place to take the company into its next phase of growth.

Mike Seaman, CEO of Raccoon Media Group explained “Over the past seven years, Raccoon has evolved from a personal dream to a business that employs 33 members of staff, delivers ten events per year, has a growing digital arm and operates in the US as well as the UK. I couldn’t be prouder of the team and what we have managed to achieve together. This acquisition is perfectly timed to enable us to take the next step on our journey, building on the solid foundations that already exist and giving us the investment and ability to expand”.

He continues “Doug has been an incredible advocate and mentor for us over the last couple of years and shares the same passion in creating products that inspire people to live active and healthy lives. The team at Raccoon will remain unchanged and we are all excited for the future growth of the business. You can expect to see us move into B2B as we expand our portfolio, whilst retaining our focus on quality of delivery, customer service, passion and purpose”.

CBC’s strategy focuses on acquiring well-established, entrepreneurial businesses and events that are in the high-growth stage in sectors that are in transition. The purchase of Raccoon is the initial stage of developing a portfolio that focuses on healthy, active and sustainable markets that inspire positive lifestyle choices.

CBC Chairman Doug Emslie, who was the first employee of Tarsus Group in 1998 and served as its CEO until its acquisition by Informa for $1 billion in April 2023, will assume the position of Chairman at Raccoon.

Speaking about the exciting acquisition, Doug Emslie, Chairman of CBC, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “I am very pleased to have Raccoon as our first investment and I look forward to working with Mike Seaman and his team to help them execute their exciting expansion programme. Raccoon will continue to grow organically, by launching new products and by acquisition. They have a clear plan building passion-led communities in multiple media channels and we are excited to help them achieve their aims.”

“The exhibition sector is a very entrepreneurial and dynamic sector and the opportunity for CBC is to help entrepreneurs accelerate the scaling of their businesses both sectorially and geographically by providing both financial and strategic input.”

Raccoon Media Group has purchased the Allergy and Free From and Just V Show brands and assets from F2F liquidators

Raccoon Media Group, award-winning organisers of the National Running Show, National Outdoor Expo, National Equine Show, National Cycling Show and National Snow Show, has confirmed that they are now the owners of the Allergy and Free From and Just V Shows following a purchase of the brands and assets from liquidators appointed by F2F Events Ltd.

Dates for the next event will be 22 – 23 June 2024 and will be held at Olympia London. Nathalie Davies, MD, Raccoon Media Group said ‘We are thrilled to add these two established and successful events to our portfolio and have already had some fantastic conversations with key stakeholders in the industry. We’re confident that we can make these events a real success with a great deal of synergy from our existing consumer portfolio focusing on healthy lifestyles and nutrition.”

Project 96

(London – 5 June, 2023) – Long-time exhibition industry professionals and avid runners – Mike Seaman, CEO of Raccoon Media Group,  and Douglas Emslie, Senior Advisor at Informa and former Tarsus Group CEO – will be running the infamous, 96-mile West Highland Way in Scotland July 1 to raise funds for four charities.

Mike and Doug’s goal was to bring in a total of £96,000 (£1,000 per mile) for the following charities:

  • Green Hub is a local community project supporting teenagers and their families / carers facing social, emotional and mental health challenges
  • Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity is a leading, specialist paediatric centre, delivering some of the most advanced treatments, complex surgical procedures and cutting-edge research to over 90,000 children and young people from across the UK and beyond
  • Mind UK provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding
  • Cancer Research UK fund scientists, doctors and nurses to help beat cancer sooner. They also provide cancer information to the public

HERE is the link to donate to these incredible causes!

“Mental health and cancer impact most families. We have chosen 4 charities that do fantastic work in these areas and this run will be a major boost to them in helping those in need,” Emslie said.

Seaman concurred that the charities were chosen carefully, adding ““Doug and I spent a long time deciding which charities we wanted to raise money for, and the causes are incredibly personal, important and meaningful to us both.”

The charities range in size, with one of the smallest ones being Green Hub, which is based near where Doug resides.

“Doug’s wife, Caroline, joined Green Hub 18 months ago and quickly became an integral part of the team, running our inspiring Teen Garden. When she and Doug told us that Green Hub was to be a beneficiary of Doug and Mike’s extraordinary West Highland Way adventure, we were completely over the moon,” said Vanessa Lanham-Day, Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the Green Hub Project for Teens.

She added, “As a small, locally-based charity their donation will make a massive difference to the range and depth of work that we do for teens with mental health issues. Doug and Mike’s story of resilience, and how they have come back determined to succeed in this gruelling challenge on their second attempt, is an inspiring message for all young people today.”

This isn’t the first time that Mike and Doug have tried to complete the daunting West Highland Way course.

“Social media tends to be about successes. This challenge is about failure. Last October Mike and I attempted the 96 miles of the West Highland Way, and we had to stop after 72 miles due to my feet issues,” Emslie said.

He added, “Rather than give up, we saw the failure as a huge learning opportunity, and we return more resilient to do it again this time better equipped to complete it.”

Seaman added, “This is a huge challenge that will test us both mentally and physically – the West Highland Way is a brutal route and has to be one of the toughest things I have ever done”

The West Highland Way stretches 96 miles (154 Km) from Milngavie to Fort William in Scotland, taking in a huge variety of scenery along the way, from countryside parks to loch-shores and open moorlands to steep mountains.

Mike and Doug will have to contend with running a total distance of 96 miles (154km) with 3,155m (10,351ft) of elevation gain, covering very tricky terrain and ‘variable’ weather conditions.

Astonishingly, the team have already raised over £96,000 with an incredibly generous donation from Charterhouse and the Tarsus management team. During the recent acquisition of Tarsus by Informa, £96,000 was set aside to support the challenge. On their behalf, Doug Emslie stated:

“Whilst we were going through the transaction with Informa, the team  decided that we wanted to ensure a proportion of the transaction was paid to good causes, which is exactly what we have done here. £96,000 makes a huge difference to these charities and we are excited to see how far we can go beyond that. I will certainly be talking to my other contacts and connections to see if they can match this generosity as we seek to go #beyond96”

Follow @Project_96 on Twitter and @Project_96whw on Instagram leading up to the run. On July 1, make sure to tune into the Instagram link for live updates!

22-23 ESG Report For Raccoon Media Group

Raccoon Media Group have released their ESG report for the last financial year (1 April 22 – 31 March 23).

You can now read the full ESG report here.

A message from our CEO:

The last 12 months have been an exciting time of growth for Raccoon Media Group, seeing us launch and acquire several new shows whilst delivering significant organic growth from our existing products.

Simultaneously, we remain as a values-led business that believes in aligning both profit and purpose. Whilst we are privately held and have a stated aim to create value for our shareholders, we also want to use our platforms as a force for good that helps grow and support the markets that we serve.

I am delighted with some of the progress that we have made around our ESG targets, and I believe that we also have a strong and clear plan to develop this further. This document is an opportunity for us to reflect on what we have achieved and learned along the way, but it also a platform for us to build on as we continue to develop and improve our actions.

We will continue to publish this report every year, to hold ourselves to account, but also to be open about our actions and methodology. Please do challenge our thinking and ask questions – we are happy to share our thoughts, but we don’t claim to have all of the answers and we are keen to learn and to listen.

By the time that you read this document, I want it to be out-of-date – I want us to continue to relentlessly develop and refine our thinking and I want us to have achieved and delivered more.

Please do get in touch directly if you would like to discuss any aspects of this report.

Mike Seaman, CEO, Raccoon Media Group

[email protected]

The National Outdoor Expo 2022 organised by Raccoon Media Group and held at the NEC Birmingham is the winner of the first BELA Award 2023

EMECA has awarded Raccoon Media Group the BELA – Best Exhibition Launch Award 2023 for its outstanding achievement with the National Outdoor Expo 2022.

EMECA created the BELA Best New Exhibition Launch Award on the occasion of its 30th Anniversary last year, to mark the strong comeback after the pandemic. The aim is to draw attention to new organisers, show themes and formats to highlight the innovativeness and attractiveness of the trade fairs industry. At the same time, EMECA intends to foster the resilience of the exhibition sector by showcasing examples of innovative approaches, active creation of new exhibitions and outstanding entrepreneurship. The BELA Award is given to the best first edition of an exhibitions, B2B or B2C, held at the EMECA venues in 2022.

13 submissions from 8 different venues in 5 countries had been received following the call for submissions launched among EMECA venues only. All applications presented appealing concepts, demonstrated innovations, ambitious economic plans and their impact. The jury was thrilled by the high number, the variety and quality of the applications received. EMECA President Roland Bleinroth gratefully indicates: “We would like to thank all applicants and encourage them to follow the path forward in
collaboration with the EMECA venues.” During the EMECA General Assembly taking place in Basel on 16th – 17th May 2023,

Raccoon Media Group was awarded of this exclusive award and honoured by the
representatives of the major exhibitions centres in Europe. Roland Bleinroth adds: “The EMECA jury was impressed by how the community was built in a creative, inclusive and diverse way. The interactive activities implemented both inside the halls and outdoor went well beyond other similar industry events. We also appreciated the comprehensive sustainability measures, carbon footprint measuring and ambitious goal to be a net zero carbon event in 2025. All in all, this a role model for organiser-venue collaboration, we congratulate Raccoon Media Group as well as the NEC Birmingham.”

Mike Seaman, CEO Raccoon Media Group commented: “It was vital for our event that in designing our exhibition, we create and exude an inclusive and inspiring community feel rather than just an event. We’re delighted that the EMECA judges picked up on that, as well as our detailed sustainability measures. The 2022 show saw us ditch aisle carpet for the first time, working with a carbon auditor to measure, monitor and reduce our carbon impact. The second edition has just taken place in March this year with even bigger success, large rebooking numbers and expansion plans of 50% plus floorspace for next edition. We now plan to expand internationally with the National Outdoor Expo in Boston, USA, in 2024.”

Kelly Haslehurst, Marketing Director for Conventions & Exhibitions at the NEC, said: “We are proud to host such great content and innovative new launches at our venue and The National Outdoor Expo is a prime example of this. We’re excited for the success of The National Outdoor Expo going forward and can’t wait to see how it grows and develops. This internationally recognised award is testament to the hard work of Raccoon Media Group and our NEC venue team who frequently pull out all the stops to make each event in the calendar a memorable one.”

Suzanne Shaw announces Run in 4 challenge

Singer, actress and wellness advocate Suzanne Shaw takes on her toughest running challenge to date as she continues to highlight mental health awareness.
Suzanne is a keen runner and uses running to support her own wellbeing.

She has completed multiple extreme running challenges in the past, but this will be her toughest test yet! Suzanne will run at least an ultra marathon (30 miles) for four consecutive days to highlight the fact that 1 in 4 people in in the UK experience mental health issues every year. For added jeopardy, Suzanne will roll a 4-sided dice at the start of each day and if she rolls a 1 then the distance will increase to 50 miles! This means the total distance could be 120 miles or 200 miles – depending on how the dice falls.

Suzanne wants to show just how incredible the human mind and body is when given a chance. If Suzanne can overcome this, then maybe, just maybe, there’s a way out for others suffering too. Various individuals that Suzanne has visited throughout her journey will join her for parts of this incredible challenge, bringing together a community of inspiring individuals, showing even in our darkest and most painful moments, anything is possible. There truly can be a way out that has a happy ending. Suzanne intends to prove that.

An experienced team of film-makers has come together to capture the challenge which will take place in May this year to raise money for the charity Mind. For updates on the challenge follow @run_in_four or to make a donation visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/suzanneshaw?checkoutMode=Headless

Raccoon Media Group adopts 1,500 raccoons for Surrey sanctuary

Raccoon Media Group, the company behind the award-winning health and well-being shows, is proud to announce the opening of its new raccoon sanctuary, located in the heart of Guildford high street. The sanctuary is designed to provide a safe and secure home for raccoons while also serving as an educational centre for people around the world. If you have any raccoon-mendations on what to name each raccoon, please get in touch.

The company is a small business with good intentions and has a strict sustainability policy for their events with an aim to be net zero by 2025. Raccoon Media Group CEO and animal activist Mike Seaman, commented: ‘we measure and reduce our environmental impact with everything that we do and after my passion-led research into the endangerment of raccoons, I wanted to take this a step further and inspire people to care more deeply about nature and wildlife. Alongside my role as RMG CEO and Guildford running Mayor, I am now excited to become Surreys very first ‘Trash Panda Pioneer’.

At the sanctuary, visitors will be able to observe rescued raccoons in their natural habitats and come away with a better understanding of these highly intelligent animals. In addition to providing hands-on education, the sanctuary will also raise awareness about threats facing raccoons in the Surrey area, such as habitat destruction, being hunted by pigeons, and Cyril Sneer. By educating people about these issues, RMG hopes to help promote conservation efforts that will protect the future of this species.

Head of Raccoon Representation in the UK, April Fules, commented ‘This is a fantastic step towards Raccoon acceptance in this country. I recently visited a group of the Raccoons that will be adopted into the sanctuary, they look visibly enthusiastic to be heading to the exotic town of Guildford’.

To celebrate the opening of the Raccoon Sanctuary, we are releasing a special free ticket code for some of our successful shows when you use code RACCOONSANCTUARY at checkout:

The National Cycling Show

The National Snow Show 

The London Snow Show

For more information on our other shows, click here.

Raccoon Media Group shortlisted for four prestigious AEO Excellence Awards 2023

Raccoon Media Group has been shortlisted in four categories of this year’s AEO Excellence Awards including Marketing Campaign of the year for the National Running Show, Best Consumer Show for the National Outdoor Expo, Best International Launch for Snowbound Expo and Best International Show (Americas) for Snowbound Expo.

The second edition of the National Outdoor Expo in partnership with Ordnance Survey was hosted at the NEC in Birmingham and was attended by over 20,000 people. The show’s two stages played host to experts and adventurers from across the world of outdoor pursuits including Ben Fogle, Ray Mears, Helen Skelton, Hamza Yassin, Alastair Humphreys and Preet Chandhi enthralling packed theatres with the highs, lows, achievements and failures from a life spent in the outdoors.

The 2023 show was the fifth National Running Show to be hosted at the NEC in Birmingham and attracted over 26,000 visitors across the two days. The show boasted a sensational line-up of speakers including Eilish McColgan, Dina Asher-Smith, Colin Jackson, Kriss Akabusi and a first class retail experience with top brand exhibitors.

Almost 20,000 visitors attended the first edition of Snowbound Expo at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston. The show’s two stages played host to Olympic Athletes, record-breaking leaders and adventurers from across the States including Conrad Anker, Kelly Clark, Phil Henderson, Chris Davenport, Dani Reyes-Acosta and many more, regaling packed theatres with the highs, lows, achievements and failures from a life spent in the mountains.

Mike Seaman, CEO at Raccoon Media Group commented: “I am so incredibly proud of the team here at Raccoon and it is fantastic to see their hard work recognised at such a prestigious event. To have our company listed alongside the biggest and best events in the country is testament to the amazing people we have in our business. Good luck to the other nominees and we look forward to the winners being announced next month.”

Snowbound Expo Boston will return for its second edition on the 3-5 November 2023, The National Running Show will be back at the NEC in Birmingham on 20-21 January 2024 and the National Outdoor Expo will return to the NEC Birmingham on the 23-24 March 2024. For more information about other Raccoon Media Group events visit www.raccoonmediagroup.com.