…global visitor numbers showed market geared for growth

FESPA Digital 2014 basked in sunshine in Munich, while a dramatic increase in visitors to the four-day event suggests that the outlook for wide format print is bright too.

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The largest ever FESPA Digital show in its eight-year history attracted a record audience of 16, 766 unique visitors, a 30% increase over FESPA Digital 2011 in Hamburg, the previous best.

49% of all visitors returned to the event for more than one day, bringing the total attendance to 24, 954 visits. This exceptional figure, up from 40% in Hamburg, underlines printers’ desire to allow sufficient time this year to fully explore the 536 exhibitors with their many product innovations, as well as taking advantage of FESPA Digital’s extensive educational content programme.

WHEN FESPA DIGITAL 2014 WAS DECLARED OPEN

“This is the biggest and by far the best FESPA we’ve ever put on. It’s the most in-depth show of digital printing the world has ever seen,” said FESPA CEO Neil Felton in a short speech before he and FESPA president Lascelle Barrow jointly conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the show’s entrance.

FESPA CEO Neil Felton and Pesident Lascelle Barrow declaring FESPA Digital 2014 open

According to Felton; “it’s thrilling to see the market respond to FESPA Digital with this buoyant enthusiasm. This level of audience growth bucks every trend in the B2B event world. It strongly reinforces our conviction that a content-rich, community-led event, geared towards the needs of exhibitors and visitors rather than those of shareholders, offers all participants the most positive experience, providing a great platform for business with a unique ‘feel-good factor’.”

The four exhibition halls and themed content ‘hubs’ buzzed with visitors responding to FESPA’s call to ‘Dive Deeper Into Digital’. Exhibitors all around the show reported exceptional footfall, dynamic conversations with investment-ready decision makers, qualified leads and confirmed sales. Many participating companies pronounced this their best-ever FESPA, with commercial outcomes for many expected to exceed those from the flagship ‘screen + digital + textile’ FESPA event in Berlin in 2007, before the global economic crisis impacted the sector.

FESPA - Neil with Today's Press - Chris — FESPA – Neil with Today’s Press – Chris

FESPA 2014 AWARDS REFLECT FESPA’S GLOBAL REACH

FESPA revealed the winners of its 2014 Awards at a Celebration Dinner held at Löwenbräukeller, Munich, on Thursday 22 May 2014.

The Awards attracted entries from across 24 countries, with the top prizes being given to entrants from across Europe, Asia and Australasia. By opening entry to all printers, regardless of their membership of a FESPA national association, the FESPA Awards attracted entries from countries previously not represented, including Malaysia and New Zealand.

This year’s winning pieces included innovative entries across all categories, including a 60ft wrapped boat, a wrapped cable car and more than 30 t-shirt entries. The Garment and Special Effect categories proved to be the most popular among entrants.

Following months of voting online, the 2014 People’s Choice of the Year Award was presented to A-Design, Russia, for their skull t-shirt entry in the Garment and Functional Printing category in which they also won Gold.

The Best in Show Award went to ZEGO Promotion & Logistik GmbH, Germany, for its entry in the Garment Decoration of the Year category. This entry – a Daft Punk themed varsity jacket which combined a variety of different printing techniques – was universally considered the most outstanding example of innovation, grabbing the attention of every judge across the ten categories.

The Young Star Award was awarded to Eleni Bourazanis from England, who has won a six month internship with Mimaki.

The winners in the application categories are:

Fine Art Print of the Year: Marvel Graphic Studio, India
Functional Print of the Year: LUXeXcel Printoptical Technology, The Netherlands
Garment Decoration of the Year: A-Design, Russia
In-store project of the Year: Press On, England
Integrated print campaign of the Year: Horizon Digital Print, Ireland
Interior Decoration of the Year: Van Iwaarden Artwork, The Netherlands
Outdoor and Vehicle Project of the Year: Raccoon London, England
Special Effects Print of the Year: Foster Screenprinting/ Arria Design Group, New Zealand

In addition to the application categories and People’s Choice Award, the Hall of Fame Printer of the Year, voted for by printers, was also announced at the Awards Celebration Dinner, with the honour going to Keith Ferrell, Cactus Imaging, Australia.

The FESPA Awards celebrate print excellence, inviting printers from FESPA’s global print community to demonstrate their most creative and inspiring work.

The Awards were judged at FESPA’s thought-leadership event, the FESPA Global Summit in March 2014. Since then they have been showcased online for people to vote for their favourite to win People’s Choice of the Year. All shortlisted entries were also on display at FESPA Digital 2014 and will continue on a global tour to FESPA Africa (2-4 July 2014), Mexico (21-23 August 2014), China (19-21 November 2014), Eurasia (4-7 December 2014) and Brazil (18-21 March 2015), reaching a global audience. The winning work will also be showcased at www.fespa.com/awards.

Duncan MacOwan, Head of New Media & Events comments: “Congratulations go to all our winners and finalists from this year’s Awards. The entries have shown the power of print to create impact across all types of brief. It’s great to have been able to share these shining examples of creativity and best practice, which mirror the FESPA Digital ‘Dive Deeper into Digital’ theme, showing the diverse range of applications made possible by wide format print.

“By opening the FESPA Awards to all printers regardless of their membership of a FESPA association, we have given PSPs from across the world the opportunity to showcase what they can do. The aim of the Awards is to recognise the talent of our global print community and to inspire others. From the quality and breadth of entries I’m sure that this has been the case!”

The full results of the FESPA 2014 Awards are as follows:

Fine Art Print of the Year

Gold Marvel Graphic Studio India

Silver Marvel Graphic Studio India

Bronze Book Art Museum Poland

Functional Print of the Year

Gold LUXeXceL – Printoptical Technology Netherlands

Silver VCG Colourlink UK

Bronze Keetronics (I) Pvt Ltd. India

Garment Decoration of the Year

Gold A-Design Russia

Silver Midi Print LLCRussia