Playtime CEO Addresses Coronavirus Concerns

Amid today’s global pandemic, Playtime has announced its decision to operate as a nonprofit. “We are living in exceptional times,” says Sébastien de Hutten, CEO of Playtime trade shows, acknowledging almost all businesses will suffer from Covid-19.

“We have decided after much deliberating, that in good conscience, we cannot accept that a business would profit from the losses being felt by everyone else as we suffer through these exceptional times,” de Hutten says, despite numerous brands having already signed up for its upcoming summer editions.

Playtime will be taking the following actions to support its partners: 

1. A discount of 20-25 percent on all booths in Playtime Paris and New York. (For Shanghai, Playtime is working on financial help for international exhibitors who must travel.)
2. A discount of 50 percent for a subscription to the Playtime digital platform.
3. A redirection of all financial efforts, before, during and after the shows, to the promotion each brand as well as the products sold on the platform.

“We also are negotiating for lower prices from our suppliers at the shows for their additional services,” Hutten says, noting more updates will roll out as negotiations develop. “Playtime is a small family business that has always been devoted to all the individuals in this profession, and a small business has a soul! This is the time to reach out even further to each other and engage in a new type of relationship in which we don’t just work as individual entities, but rather all together as parts of a whole.”

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