How is your business faring in these times of continued uncertainty? The Scottish referendum in 2014, a general election in 2015, the Brexit vote in 2016 and now another general election – and who knows, another Scottish referendum to come – have caused plenty to plump themselves down on top of their investment chest with a ‘wait and see’ attitude. Will what’s on offer at Fespa 17 in Hamburg this month convince you it’s time to open it up?
‘Cautious optimism’ was the overarching message from the 243 PSPs that took part in our annual Widthwise Survey earlier this year, well before the 2017 general election announcement. For those of you attending Fespa 2017, bear in mind that I’ll be hosting a discussion panel among PSPs on the key findings of that survey at 11.30am on 9 May – the second day of the show. Come along and join in the debate – it’ll be interesting to see if the current political/economic climate has made much difference to PSPs’ development strategies, and whether our European colleagues have similar hopes and fears!
One of the issues highlighted by the Widthwise research – a full analysis of which will be published in the Widthwise Report alongside the next issue of Image Reports – was that when it comes to the environment, feelings among PSPs blow hot and cold. So for this issue we put a number of eco questions to various suppliers too. The fact that a number of those approached didn’t want to respond speaks volumes in itself – but see what those that did do so think on p26.
I wonder how that topic will play out at Fespa 2017? Show highlights can be found on p15. Perhaps I’ll see you there…
Editor
LESLEY SIMPSON
LESLEY.SIMPSON@IMAGEREPORTSMAG.CO.UK
TEL: 01932 707173