Old-fashioned show producer thrives in Reno

In a world that's wowed by all things digital, Jim Sullivan is an old-fashioned kind of guy.

His business putting on big consumer shows in cavernous halls as managing partner in Reno-based Lockett & Sullivan Inc.

is everything that electronic commerce is not.

"We're not virtual," Sullivan said a few days ago.

"We're right in front of the audience." And Sullivan is sufficiently old-fashioned that he seeks to physically touch via a handshake, via a pat on the back each of the hundreds of vendors who participate in the company's shows.

But old-fashioned doesn't mean unprofitable.

The two boat shows that Lockett & Sullivan produces one in Reno, the other in Fresno typically generate $6 million to $10 million in sales during a weekend run.

It's not unusual for the company's Spring & Garden Show in Reno to generate $35 million or $40 million in sales for its vendors.

Lockett and Sullivan haven't done badly, either.

Sullivan, the public face of the company that is co-led by Al Lockett, said the duo have done "extremely well" financially since they began producing shows in 1968.

They're taking a big step this weekend when the company's Northern Nevada Boat, Sport & RV Show at the Reno- Sparks Convention Center teams for the first time with the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority.

The partnership is designed to provide some marketing muscle to the RSCVA's effort to re-brand the Reno-Tahoe region as "America's Adventure Place." For the show, which runs Thursday through Sunday, Lockett & Sullivan provided free booth space to organizations that market tourism and special events in the region.

That's no token contribution.

Booth rentals at the Northern Nevada Boat, Sport & RV Show range from $860 for an ordinary booth to $2,485 for a booth at a high-traffic corner.

Bob Brown, vice president of sales for the RSCVA, said the partnership with Lockett & Sullivan is "a great match" that helps to roll out the "Adventure Place" theme to a largely local audience.

For Lockett & Sullivan, meanwhile, the partnership which includes break on rent for use of the convention center helps build a relationship with the single most important supplier to their business.

Rental costs for the convention center represent the biggest cost of producing a show, Sullivan said, followed at some distance by advertising.

But while rental costs have been climbing steadily, so has interest in the home and garden shows, boat and RV shows and bridal shows the company produces.

"We've fully hit the mainstream.We're not guerrilla marketing any more," Sullivan said.

One hint of that: Home Depot and other big retailers who once turned up their noses at consumer shows now sign up for the opportunity to make their pitch to a group of consumers who are eager to learn about their products.

"The purest form of advertising is the consumer show," Sullivan said.

A consumer show is something like a shopping mall that goes up in less than a week and disappears even more quickly, but shopping opportunities in miles of aisles aren't the cornerstone of a Lockett & Sullivan production.

"We don't do sales.We do shows," Sullivan said.

Entertainment and education are equally important in keeping consumers intrigued.

That's why Sullivan wants a flashy display at the entrance to his shows, and that's why the company's staff tracks down a full slate of seminar speakers.

Seminars at this weekend's show, for instance cover subjects ranging from fly fishing in Nevada to the hidden hot spots for anglers.

Not a few of the vendors and seminar leaders are developed through the personal contacts that Sullivan and Lockett generate in their leisure hours.

Sullivan is a catch-and-release fisherman who devoted the leisure of 13 years to the Billfish Grand Slaw catching every type of billfish in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Lockett, meanwhile, completed a 25- year quest last year when he won the National Water Ski Championship, taking top honors in the 60-plus age category.