Roz McGuinness
Brendan Perring talks to Roz McGuinness, divisional director at FESPA, about the growth of the newest sign exhibition, European Sign Expo (ESE), and its potential to help sign-makers prosper
Tuesday, 08 Apr 2014 12:35 GMT
Roz McGuinness, divisional director at FESPA, explains that European Sign Expo will be focused away from wide-format print technologies
New kid on the block
You’re new to FESPA, and to signage and graphics. How is it different from your previous professional role?
Actually, there are real similarities. The international exhibition I ran previously was a business-to-business event for retail buyers. The advance of online has been a leveller, giving the customer absolute transparency on price, availability and so on. This has made it business critical for retail brands to understand their customer, to tailor their offering accordingly, and to find a way of standing out, through a well-differentiated product, a niche specialism, or an exceptional service offering.
Our event existed to showcase innovative products, to bring buyers and sellers together, to inspire visitors with ideas for new products or business models, and to make their businesses successful. The same is true of European Sign Expo (ESE) and FESPA Digital. So while the technology and the industry certainly presents me with a learning curve, my motivation is the same. Deliver great events that inform, inspire, educate and connect. See you in Munich from May 22nd to 23rd, 2014!
Can you explain the drive behind ESE, and who it’s aimed at?
ESE is an international event that brings together the whole spectrum of products and technologies being used by signage producers. It’s also the only European event focused on non-printed signage—for example channel lettering, dimensional, illuminated and digital signage attracting a mix of visitors from sign-makers to retail sign buyers. That’s because printed graphics are addressed comprehensively through FESPA Digital, ESE's ‘neighbour’ event. So if a visitor wants to look at innovations in digitally printed signage too, they just need to walk across the halls.
What’s the rationale for pairing EUROPEAN SIGN EXPO with FESPA Digital in Munich?
By putting two focussed events under one roof, we add value for visitors to both. FESPA’s core audience are digital wide-format printers. Some have evolved from a screenprint background. Some are commercial offset printers who have added wide-format digital output. Some are signage producers whose offering includes digitally printed signage, and specialist services like vehicle wrapping. For the FESPA Digital audience, ESE is a natural complement, adding scope to explore ‘non-print’ products and service developments which can enhance their signage offering.
For the FESPA Digital audience, European Sign Expo is a natural
complement, adding scope to explore ‘non print’ products and service
developments which can enhance their signage offering”
FESPA Digital also attracts buyers of wide-format print—typically brand owners, agencies and retailers who are interested in digitally printed point-of-sale graphics, and how digital print can be used to enhance commercial and retail interiors. The opportunity to see developments in conventional and digital signage makes the combination of FESPA with ESE a compelling proposition for this audience too.
What can visitors to Munich expect?
ESE will be closely integrated with FESPA Digital, so visitors can move seamlessly and intuitively between the two events. Sign pros spending time at ESE will find a showcase for illuminated signage, including LED and neon; digital signage; signage systems; and materials. The Signage Hub gives free access to the latest insights from the ‘leading lights’ in signage, through conference sessions, workshops and networking events. And the neighbouring FESPA Digital event has plenty to tempt the signage producer —digitally printed output onto rigid and flexible substrates; soft signage; vinyl products, and so on.
Side by side, the two shows offer sign-makers access to over 150 suppliers, and a concentrated programme of educational and inspirational content focused around four topics—Digital, Fabric and Wrap, in addition to the Signage Hub.
This is the second edition of ESE. What has changed from the first one?
Our key move has been to integrate ESE more closely with FESPA Digital. Over 4,000 visitors went to the first ESE in London in 2013, two thirds of whom were actually there primarily to visit FESPA. Visitors told us the fit was absolutely natural, and they wanted to be able to plan a visit taking in both events.
That’s influenced how we’ve designed the event layout, the navigation from one event to the other, and how we’ve planned our visitor features. Of course, not every visitor to ESE will be interested in FESPA’s print focus, and vice versa. However, we believe that one event enhances the other, making a couple of days in Munich a very worthwhile time investment for any professional graphics producer.
What trends are you observing in signage?
Like the global print community which FESPA serves, sign-makers from all across Europe tell us their customers are expecting faster job turnaround at more competitive prices. Pressure is on to be more productive, and to avoid commoditisation. More than that, customers demand a more comprehensive service.
ESE organisers stress that sign-makers need
to explore the full technological possibilities
of their sector to prosper
They’re looking to their signage providers to advise them on materials and installation; to help them maximise the visual impact and effectiveness of their signage; to deliver a sustainable product; to help them integrate conventional and digital signage where it makes sense.
Signage specialists—like print-service-providers—need to demonstrate their specialist knowledge and offer a premium service by responding comprehensively to the client’s brief, and offering more than ‘just a sign’. We’re here to help, by giving visitors to ESE—alongside FESPA Digital—a comprehensive overview of all the options available to them. That will enable them to provide the best possible service to customers, and support bottom line growth.
How will these trends be reflected in ESE?
The very fact that ESE is co-located with FESPA reflects the trend for sign-makers to offer a more diverse range of services, involving a broad set of production processes, techniques and materials. Today’s sign-maker has a central role to play in brand communication. The contemporary consumer audience moves seamlessly between analogue and digital channels, and expects effective real-time information, matched with powerful imagery. That’s where the expertise of the visual communications professional is invaluable.
ESE will help sign-makers embrace the potential that exists for them to integrate conventional signage with cutting edge technologies and media to produce something exceptional that really delivers ROI for the customer, through the sheer ‘wow factor’, or by changing audience behaviour in a positive way through more effective communication of information.
How much of ESE will be conventional, how much digital signage?
Some 80 percent of the visitors we surveyed in London were interested in digital signage, so it’s certainly important that visitors can connect with suppliers who can advise them on digital signage equipment and software, and guide them on the successful integration of digital signage with the rest of their offering.
Some 80 percent of the visitors we surveyed in London were interested in
digital signage, so it’s certainly important that visitors can connect
with suppliers who can advise them on digital signage equipment and
software, and guide them on the successful integration of digital
signage with the rest of their offering”
That’s reflected in our educational programme too, with sessions to help sign-makers access the digital opportunity. Of course, all digital signage is not the same—there are ‘plug-and play’ solutions, and there are much more sophisticated options. Among our audience, most interest is in the former, and that will be reflected in the programme.
Who are you expecting to visit?
We’re marketing ESE to an international community of signage producers, but we expect the visitor audience to be dominated by central and northern Europe and Italy, where visitors can travel easily to Munich by road, rail and air. In London, 70 percent of visitors were senior decision-makers, and we’d expect this year’s event to attract a similar profile—business owners and managers who come to invest, and to find inspiration for new directions in which to take their business.
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