Hong Kong, 31st January 2015, and the world of outdoor loses a trailblazer as Mr. Knut Jaeger, 72, founder of Nanjing’s Asia Outdoor Trade Show and Asia Bike Trade Show passes away following a heart attack.
Asia Outdoor shall celebrate its 10th anniversary when it opens its doors this year on 23rd July; ironic tragedy lies in the fact that Jaeger will not be present to witness his creation come of age.
As a pioneer and guide of the outdoor industry in Europe and China, Jaeger made a great contribution to the industry’s development in both Europe and Asia. Everything outdoor was his life and his passion. He enthusiastically and tirelessly worked to promote the outdoor industry and outdoor themes, putting all of his professional effort into making sure that such activities really took off.
Jaeger was a fixture of the international outdoor business. In the early 1990s; he was at the forefront of efforts to create a trade show specifically around outdoor products. He was the chairman of the outdoor working group in the Association of the German Sporting Goods Industry (BSI) and, in close cooperation with the Messe Friedrichshafen Team, developed a new trade fair concept that was centered specifically, and only, on the outdoor theme.
“It has to be pure outdoor”, Jaeger declared at the time. A host of different but related activities thereby found a new, common trade show roof over their heads, in Friedrichshafen. It was a concept that the sports enthusiast was dedicated to and that he fought for, together with other like-minded colleagues. The choice of the name for the trade fair, with the capital D in the middle, was a quick and logical one. The OutDoor at Lake Constance was also Jaeger’s baby.
Jaeger dedicated himself just as strongly to the establishment of Asia Outdoor in Nanjing, which will turn a decade old in July 2015, and to Asia Bike, which every October presents the theme of bicycles in China. As part of a joint venture with Messe Friedrichshafen, Jaeger successfully built up Asian variants of these trade shows at the Nanjing Expo Centre. These developed rapidly and in the process, Jaeger convinced many European and American outdoor and bicycle manufacturers, in addition to the Chinese brands, to become engaged in Asia. As an experienced outdoor man and because of his many years of within the business, Jaeger knew the customs and special characteristics of the Chinese market and paved the way for the international outdoor industry, an enterprise he supported in recent years in Nanjing.
- In 1976, Jaeger founded the outdoor equipment company Big Pack. Two years later, he moved production to China. This made him one of the first German entrepreneurs to set up manufacturing and conclude a licensing agreement when China began to open up to the West.
- In 1990, Jaeger teamed up with other leading manufacturers of functional outdoor equipment to form a specialist “Outdoor” association. He was the director for eight years. German Outdoor Group has developed to be the biggest outdoor market in Europe.
- In 1993, with a view to expanding the Chinese market, Big Pack formed a joint venture with its Chinese manufacturing partner for backpacks and sleeping bags in Nanjing, China. Timely marketing and construction of the company’s own factory in China were important competitive advantages for Big Pack.
- In 1994, as one of the founders, Jaeger set up the first European trade fair OutDoor in Friedrichshafen in Germany and thereafter pushed it forward to become the biggest and most influential outdoor trade show in the world.
- At the beginning of 2004, Jaeger set up his own consulting business and established his company Knut Jaeger, Marketing & Development in Shanghai to assist European companies in China and Asian companies in Europe. Meanwhile, he was the marketing consultant for Messe Friedrichshafen, Vaude and Meindl in China.
- In 2006, Jaeger started the first Asia Outdoor Trade Show in Nanjing, China. With his leadership, Asia Outdoor has grown to be the biggest specialist outdoor trade fair in Asia and the first outdoor trade show to be granted the status of “UFI Approved Event” in China.
- In 2007, together with Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH, Jaeger established Beijing German Messe Consulting Co., Ltd. He was chairman and worked hard to introduce more global shows into China.
- In 2011, Jaeger founded the first Asia Bike Trade Show in Nanjing, China, and developed it to be the biggest trade show in sports bike industry in China.
- In 2012, Jaeger launched the first Chinese Outdoor Market Report during Asia Outdoor in July, which provided professional industry figures and statistics analysis of the Chinese outdoor industry.
- In 2013, Jaeger proposed to set up the China Outdoor Association (COA for short) for the purpose of mobilizing the communication and cooperation in the industry.
- In 2014, Jaeger started to help nurture AERO ASIA in China which will be held in Zhuhai in 2015 for the first time.
“Never Give Up!”
The passing of Jaeger evokes immense grief in the hearts of the local team that make up Nanjing Ningfei International Exhibition Co. Ltd., operators of both Asia Outdoor and Asia Bike. They in particular recall his “Never Give Up” motto with which he signed off every email. The team vows to pass down his outdoor spirit, carry out his behest, and move on to push the Chinese outdoor industry forwards. Profoundly saddened by the news from China, the Messe Friedrichshafen team in Germany will fondly remember a colleague who worked so hard for that in which he believed. “Knut Jaeger was a remarkable person, always thinking positive and always on the go. He knew how to motivate others and to bring his team along with him”, stated Klaus Wellmann, CEO of Messe Friedrichshafen. “We will deeply miss his creative force and his dedication, but will continue to move the effort forward, in his memory.” Family and friends of Knut attended a Memorial Service on 14th February at the Po Fook Memorial Hall in the Tai Wai part of Hong Kong.
This article was first published in The Nanjinger Magazine, March 2015 Issue. If you would like to read the whole magazine, please follow this link.
