Yes, we’re hardly into the New Year and the trade show build-up has begun, with event organisers and industry suppliers all beginning to beat their drums to grab your attention. So it must be time to ask, where will you be spending your money in 2014? That’s one of the questions on the Widthwise Survey currently being conducted by Image Reports (click here to take part) so by the time Sign and Digital UK comes round we’ll know where the investment is being made. In the meantime, are there specific areas of development you’ve earmarked as crucial to your competitiveness? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Editor's Blog
Show what you know
A glimpse of an enewsletter from Cestrian this week had us clapping our hands here at Image Reports because it showed that PSPs really are starting to become much more astute when it comes to how they market themselves to potential clients in specific vertical markets. Cestrian really is ‘thinking bigger’, and as such will be featured in our new ‘Think Bigger Report’ for creatives, due to be published this spring. The report is part of a campaign by Image Reports, supported by Fujifilm, to improve the dialogue between the creative and the wide-format sector to establish how print, large-format in particular, can be an innovative medium within mainstream communications' projects, as well as for less well-established – indeed absolutely new – areas of design. If you’ve got something to say about how we can be better doing that as a sector, let me know.
Get in on the act
How are you feeling about 2014? Confident I hope. But hoping isn’t enough is it? Which is why Image Reports is again conducting its annual Widthwise Survey – to find out exactly how those of you involved in wide-format digital print output are managing and to use that data to show the real shape of the market. The poll is now open so click here to take part.
Anyone for ice cream?
I kid you not, I have just seen the ice cream van parked up outside my house, playing ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas’ and selling ‘snow cones’ with hot white chocolate sauce to bemused neighbours. Talk about thinking outside the box! We’ll have a major focus on creativity in the New Year so if the festive season has inspired you to give something new a try, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Consumerism at work
Yes, the in-store concession model is really starting to take off for companies using wide-format digital printers to offer while-you-wait bespoke product offerings to the shopping masses. We’ve seen it work well with canvas prints, but the Yr Store initiative at Liberty and Topman suggests the expansion into other areas is finally taking a hold. Make consumerism work for you and get in on the act now.
Brits abroad
Well, with InPrint in Hannover in April, Fespa Digital 2014 in Munich in May and Viscom in Frankfurt in November, it looks as if it’s destination Germany for large chunks of 2014. Exhibition organisers are doing more and more to entice your end customers to these events so if shows on foreign soil have not been your thing, perhaps it’s not too early to make a new year resolution that they become so.
Do a good deed
PrintIt! is calling for your support. If you’re holding a pre-Christmas get together can you think about holding some kind of fundraiser, like a raffle, for this industry-into-schools programme? And if you do, let me know about it so I can help spread the word…
Can we share nicely please?
It’s nearly Christmas – yay! So are we feeling all the fuzzy loveliness and bonhomie that the season brings? And is there any chance that the festive camaraderie across the industry can be turned into some sort of solid business benefit for 2014 and beyond?
On to a winner?
Has your business won an award in 2013? If so, drop me a line as I’d like to publish a list in recognition of the great companies we have operating in the sector. Meanwhile, well done to Fastsigns Hammersmith for winning Best Hammersmith Business 2013.
Welcome to our world
Just a quick note of welcome to Fespa newcomers Roz McGuinness and Sean Holt. As respective new divisional director with responsibility for all European exhibitions, and as general secretary co-ordinating support for Fespa’s national associations, they will be on steep learning curves. If you have any burning issues that you would like to raise with one or either of them let me know – the more interaction the better.
What do you think?
I’m not sure what I think of Konica Minolta’s generous support of the St Bride Foundation. I should be glad that print’s history is being protected and lauded but I’m just not sure that preserving its heritage will necessarily inspire future generations – or that that is even the right approach to bringing on new talent and setting out print’s stall as a vibrant modern media, an image we’re all working hard to establish. Maybe it’s just me…
Taking the right moves
Well, given that ‘futureproofing’ has been a key focus of editorial coverage and debate here at Image Reports and within this year’s Widthwise Report, I’ve got to say that I’m over the moon to see Inca taking steps to increase the longevity of its Onset range of UV flatbed printers. I hope we see others making such R&D strides in 2014.
Show me what you’ve got
Not only is Fespa seeking the best examples of wide-format print, so am I! As of 2014, Image Reports will include a revamped In-Situ gallery of boundary-pushing jobs designed to grab the attention of potential customers – be they brand owners, agencies, architects, interiors specialists, independent designers etc. So get in touch as and when you create those ‘wow’ jobs. I’ll be putting together the first such gallery over the next couple of weeks.
Are you set for a take off?
Rocket is. The Hertfordshire-based print company Rocket has brought forward its 2014 expansion plans having seen a 25% jump in turnover this year. That MD Tim Porter is using the extra work as a power booster for the company's expansion is understandable. But of course turnover is not profit, and there are those that will argue growing margin rather than company size is what matters. What’s your standpoint?