LFP - Large-Format-Printing

An appetite for business rather than frustration with the economic situation: viscom continues on the upswing and sets markers for upturn DISPLAY/POS-World new core segment starting 2010

Monday 19. October 2009 - An appetite for business rather than frustration with the economic situation, impulses for an economic upturn and innovations with a stimulating effect: there was hardly a hint of crisis at viscom which, with a marked increase in visitor numbers, set a signal for an economic upturn in the entire sector.

“In a generally difficult economic environment, viscom was able to demonstrate its strength as a positive impulse giver”, Hans-Joachim Erbel, Managing Director of Reed Exhibitions Deutsch¬land GmbH, remarked at the close of the three-day event. With more than 10,900 trade visitors, viscom succeeded in growing by more than 22 percent compared to the previous event in Düsseldorf (2007: 8,900), again exceeding last year’s top result in Frankfurt. Growth was generated equally at home and abroad.

“Our exhibitors’ innovative capacity beats the crisis”, is how viscom Director Petra Lassahn delightedly sums up the course of the three fair days. This is also evident from the results of the business barometer, a survey taken at viscom by an independent research institute. According to this survey, more than 80 percent of the companies interviewed expect a positive trend in business, with only one in six expecting the economic situation to deteriorate further. The optimism is due primarily to the business generated by the large number of innovations presented at viscom.

This is not only true for the digital high-tech segments which attracted great interest from a broad range of advertising agencies and retailers at the Digital Signage World, and will continue to expand considerably. The segment of industrial inkjet printing which is used increasingly in industrial production – as in the clothing and furniture industries or in interior furnishings – is also attracting a growing number of customers at viscom who can gain an impression of the possibilities already available in production technology at this stage. There are hardly any limits these days to the industrial processing of all types of materials. More than 150 materials were presented at viscom in the “Industrial Inkjet meets Materials” special show. This is another reason why, with a new visitor structure, viscom is attracting new target groups to the fair and developing more and more into an event also frequented by advertising agencies, decision-makers from industry and the retail sector as well as the manufacturing sectors. A trend that again continued this year.

Yet even in the “classic” segments of advertising technology and light advertising with their predominantly trade character, innovative capacity helps to reach new markets and target groups by using new technologies and materials. A case in point is the first “European Wrap Star” which demonstrated the design possibilities available today with the use of new high-performing films.

All in all, 15 product innovations and best practice applications from the segments of Digital Printing/Large Format Printing, Light Advertising, Signmaking and Digital Signage received awards at this years’ viscom (for more detailed information on these, visit www.viscom-messe.de).

In the segments relevant to POS which, with the application of new materials and finishing techniques as well as of digital media and lighting technologies, are growing in importance for product presentation and packaging, viscom further strengthened its leadership. Especially the combination of classic displays, digital POS media and innovations in material technology proves that viscom has the potential to become the POS industry’s central trade fair in future.

From 2010 onwards, this is to become another viscom core segment named DISPLAY/POS World, specifically targeting manufacturers and suppliers of display, POS and packaging solutions. “For our exhibitors and visitors, the concentration of exhibitors from the Display/POS sector in a segment of their own represents an additional asset and ideally complements our established core segments advertising technology, lighting technology, digital and individual printing, as well as finishing technology and digital signage”, says viscom-Chefin Petra Lassahn. In addition to the exhibition area, the segment will also include an extensive supporting programme as well as the traditional SUPERSTAR contest.

viscom frankfurt will take place from 28 to 30 October 2010 in Hall 3 of the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre.