Fespa is ploughing around £120,000 into a project called Print Inspiration Rallye to get wide-format print application possibilities in front of creatives.
The organisation has bought one of the iconic US school buses and will transform it into a showcase of wide-format print that will be driven to various vertical market exhibitions and events. The bus will make its first appearance at Fespa Digital 2014 in Munich next month.
“We need to try and highlight how printers can succeed and that means looking at the supply chain - the buyers of print and how we engage with them. We started at Fespa 2013 with the Creative Corner and provided a focus and content for brands, agencies and creative to say ‘this is what wide-format print can do’, and now we’re taking it one step further,” said Fespa CEO Neil Felton. “We’re going to take that information to the events where these people are – Cannes Lion etc. – via a moveable showcase. We’ve bought an American school bus and will be wrapping it and fitting it out in wide-format printed products. The first iteration will be seen at Fespa but we will continue to work on it and improve it as we go forward.”
Fespa will also use Fespa Digital to kick off a new Global Census. This is a one year campaign that will see Fespa gather information at all of its shows around the world and via online surveys. The results will be released in various stages, with a full report expected shortly after Fespa Brazil in 2015.
“We want to get as large a base as possible of information, which we can turn into global trends, regional and more granular national material,” explained Felton, “so we can see for instance, how the UK is performing against the rest of Europe? How is Europe faring on the worldwide stage? As a global organisation we want to be able to provide that sort of information.”
News of the two new projects coincided with the announcement that Fespa Digital 2014 exhibition space has sold out. Around 450 companies will exhibit, 50 more than at the last Fespa Digital event in Hamburg in 2011. Fespa said there will be at least 50 product launches at this year’s show which opens on 20 May.