8 Issue 257 - February / March 2025 www.signlink.co.uk INDUSTRY / NEWS signlink signlink signlinkmagazine FESPA announce major exhibitors for Global Print Expo FESPA Global Print Expo is heading to Berlin for 2025 with a range of major manufacturers and suppliers already announced. The trade show, hosted by the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA), returns to Germany after a three-year absence, taking place at the Messe Berlin venue from May 6th to 9th. The 2024 event took place at the RAI conference centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. With more than 500 exhibitors confirmed, visitors to FESPA Global Print Expo 2025 and its co-located events, European Sign Expo and Personalisation Experience, will be able to explore a wide range of signage technologies, media, services, and consumables. Of the exhibitors, a reported 18% are returning exhibitors who were not able be present at the 2024 event in Amsterdam, while another 17% are first-time exhibitors. In its official announcement of the event, FESPA has confirmed a range of key exhibitors who will present their latest solutions. Printing manufacturers have already been confirmed for the event including Canon, Durst, Fujifilm, Ricoh, and swissQprint. SwissQprint recently announced the release of its new generation of flatbed printing solutions, which it has labelled “the new era of flatbed printing”. This includes the Nyala 5 and Impala 5 solutions, which feature faster speeds and more colour channels than previous generations. Both machines will be on show at the global print expo. Other confirmed exhibitors include 3M, Brother, EFI, EFKA, Epson, Kit Builder, and Kongsberg. Callus Software, Design Huddle, Luxe Lightwrap, and Printess are amongst the new exhibitors, showcasing solutions in interior films, finishing, automative wrapping, and design software for personalised printing. The World Wrap Masters car-wrapping competition will also make a return to the trade show. Following a series of regional competitions over the first two days of the event, vehicle wrappers from across Europe will go head-to-head to wrap a variety of special objects and vehicles. This will be followed by a final in which the regional winners will compete to be crowned World Wrap Masters 2025 champion. Alongside the competition, visitors will have the chance to attend a series of live wrapping demonstrations with industry experts. The FESPA Awards also returns for 2025 to honour the achievements of specialist printers and sign-makers worldwide in 18 categories. The awards aim to celebrate expertise, creativity, and innovation in the industry. Visitors will have the opportunity to see entries to the FESPA Awards first-hand throughout the duration of the exhibition. The winners will be announced at an official awards ceremony on May 7th. Dedicated websites for FESPA Global Print Expo, European Sign Expo, and Personalisation Experience are now live. Each website provides practical information for exhibitors and visitors. The 2024 event took place at RAI Amsterdam with over 12,000 attendees attending from 120 countries By Jonathan Pert Tom Goddard, president of the World Out of Home Organization (WOO), has released a New Year’s message to the out-of-home (OOH) industry, referring to potential economic downturn in 2025. In his message to the industry, Goddard speaks about “clouds looming on the global economic horizon”, saying that “in 2025 we have arguably more than our fair share”. Global economic growth is projected to remain at 2.8% in 2025, essentially unchanged from 2024, according to a UN flagship report. This is only just above the 2.5% threshold that is often associated with a recession. Despite the message about potential difficulties for 2025, Goddard stresses that “the OOH industry nevertheless finds itself in good shape as we enter a New Year”. The WOO president adds: “Of all legacy media it has adapted most effectively to digital with our unique combination of creativity and technology. “We may be the world's oldest medium, but let's remind marketers in 2025 that we're still the best.” World Out of Home president warning The winner of Ocean Outdoor’s inaugural Digital Creative Competition Grand Prix has been announced, with a UK entry winning this year’s prize. The competition, newly created by Ocean Outdoor for 2025, highlights projects judged to be outstanding examples of digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaigns. The competition draws together the winners from its annual Digital Creative Competitions. As well as the UK, local competitions took place in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. From these winners, 11 creative agencies fought it out to win the Grand Prix. The winner of the award this year is the ‘Dare to dunk?’ campaign by London-based agency To Boldly Go and biscuit brand McVitie’s. The DOOH campaign features an interactive game powered by haptics and gesture control. Players use Ocean’s hand and gesture control technology to dunk a virtual McVitie’s biscuit, trying to hit the ‘sweet spot’ before the biscuit breaks. UK out-of-home campaign wins Ocean’s Grand Prix competition James King, marketing director of McVities (pladis UK&I) and Kate Skeggs, senior brand campaign manager for pladis UK&I Tom Goddard (pictured) was appointed president of the World Out of Home Organization in 2017 By Jonathan Pert
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