Earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending a small industry exhibition at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

Called The Garden Press Event, it's a show I have been attending for a number of years now and one that sees the number of exhibitors relevant to our readership decidedly fluctuate. There was a time that amongst the companies hawking their gardening gloves, trowels, seeds and hanging baskets there were machinery brands well into their double figures. Nowadays it appears to have settled into the high single figures who choose to take their place in the North London venue.

And why are these manufacturers in attendance? Fom speaking to the machinery people there this week, the eyes that they are especially looking to catch are those of influencers. The right ones obviously. Not just those on the scrounge for a free leaf blower, but those who have real sway over the decisions made by their end-user followers. A well-chosen influencer will have a close and trusted relationship with their followers. The idea being that these end-users can then come through your dealership's doors or visit your website, armed with greater knowledge about what a quality machine can do for their garden.

Also by positioning themselves amongst the hanging baskets, I do feel these specialist domestic machinery brands are very much locating themselves at the heart of the wider horticultural conversation. They are placing themselves in the mix alongside design trends, sustainability stories and lifestyle aspirations - and are presenting powered machinery not simply as a boring necessity, but as a means to better outdoor living.

In conversations with manufacturers I had this week, I was repeatedly told it was not just about meeting influencers with the highest follower count, though. It's important to stress that they were looking for creators who represented the right fit. Those who genuinely care about lawn maintenance, garden improvement and the tools required to achieve both. Crucially, alongside this, I kept hearing that it was long-term partnerships that were required. Not fly-by-night, flashy team-ups. But people or channels they could build a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with.

There isn't another show like the Garden Press Event that facilitates this meet-up between brands and influencers. I heard several first-hand anecdotes from representatives of marques that our dealer readers stock, regarding relationships that have been forged at previous editions of this show. In turn this has led to high-profile coverage and, vitally, to customers arriving at dealerships asking for the machine they'd seen in use on a post somewhere.

For the few machinery brands exhibiting this week, the calculation is strategic. They are not there to sell to the press; they are there to influence the influencers - and, by extension, tomorrow’s customers. Dealers know that we're living in an age where purchasing decisions for domestic kit can be formed on a smartphone before they are finalised in a showroom. For the companies putting themselves in the sights of the right content creators, the hope is their dealers will see a direct benefit.

We'll feature some product information in greater detail in an upcoming issue of Service Dealer magazine, but what were the machinery companies saying and showing at the Garden Press Event this week?

STIHL who always have a significant presence at the event, told me that last year a contact made here led to them becoming the official supplier of outdoor powered equipment to the Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel.  On the stand were plenty of products powered by the smaller AS batteries, including the HLA 40 long reach hedge trimmer and the HTA 30 pole pruner - both light in weight and popular with an older demographic. Later, at an aftershow event, the company revealed that 2026 is set to feature their biggest TV promotional campaign yet, designed to tie-in with their 100 year anniversary. A new advert was revealed for the first time that will be going live soon, leaning into the company's professional heritage.

Stiga featured two ride-ons and two robots on their stand, illustrating both their domestic range and their newly made move into the professional sector. New UK md, James Gordon, explained it was an exciting time for the company with new product launches and several new staff members joining their team. The message they were wanting to convey to the press and influencers was the conversion from petrol to battery - stressing that the power to price ratio was more attractive than ever to new buyers. The Vista robots on the stand featured a new AI camera for navigation around gardens that are constantly changing, and the E Park Pro benefited from their new cassette battery system that they said offered the power of a petrol equivalent.

Husqvarna were displaying some robotic mowers and handheld products on a stand that was also branded with Flymo and Gardena. Interestingly, they included one of their top-end professional blowers within their display to illustrate to the gardening influencers their commercial heritage - getting the message across that their domestic products come from the same technical know-how that the demanding commercial practitioners use. Of the Automowers on display, new for 2026 was an example of a 300 series at a new lower price point than the range has featured before. The company told me their dealers were keen to get their hands on this model, due to customer demand.

Mammotion robotic mowers were on show from Mower Magic who have been dealing in these machines for around two years now. They told me their dealer network is growing for the brand with around 30 across the UK, but with gaps in their coverage for the right dealers to join in the right places. New for 2026 is the introduction of Tri-Fusion - described as an integration of 360° LiDAR, NetworkRTK and AI Vision for precision, adaptability, and stability. By using these technologies, I was told the robots deliver precision within 1 cm.

Webb were promoting their new 40 volt Eco-X series, that will all be available from April. They said the range covers all major categories of garden care - from lawnmowers and grass trimmers through to hedge trimmers, blowers, vacuums, chainsaws and scarifiers. The series has been engineered as a complete cordless ecosystem rather than a single-tool offering. Brushless motor technology is utilised across the range to offer improved efficiency, longer runtimes and extended product life.

Makita said the visitors to their stand were interested in everything they had on show - which included a new snow blower - as they liked their UK-built story. Their XTG range had experienced a lot of traction due to a successful Europe-wide promotion across the past year they said, with more to come in 2026.

Also on show were more mass-channel robotic mowers and hand held equipment from Bosch, Yard Force and EcoVacs.

Overall, the show is still worth a visit from a traditional journalist such as myself, as it is interesting to see which brands that our dealer readers stock are wanting to forge new relationships with the next generation of influencers. Clearly this event isn't the only means of achieving this goal. but as the only trade day specifically geared toward generating these meet-ups, it seems to me like a great place to start. It will certainly be interesting to watch in subsequent editions whether machinery exhibitor numbers begin to creep back up again.