Blogs

Trade shows only work if organisers can make them pay, so are they charging too much for too little return in a world where PSPs can target suppliers much more easily than they once could and where those PSPs expect the potential recipients of their hard earned investment pot to deal with them on a more personal basis than on a show stand? In Holland for example, the trend is towards smaller, low-cost exhibitor meets where visitors not only get in free but are fed and watered too! What do you think?

I regularly ask Image Reports’ readers to let me have images and details of unusual wide-format print jobs so I can help highlight the flexibility and creativity within this sector. Having made the point in my last enewsletter that we need to perhaps be even more experimental and consider a wider integration of new technologies (such as QR codes and augmented reality) within the print projects we produce I would be particularly interested in hearing about your own involvement in such jobs. You know how to reach me…

Wow, the Fespa Global Summit certainly had some punch. Talk about giving it to us straight – the message from the speakers was clear – move on or go down! Wide-format print has fab future prospects they all agreed, but for those prospects to be anywhere near fulfilled print producers need to step it up in terms of experimentation and getting novel options in front of potential buyers. We’ve been saying that for ages, I know – and day-to-day pressures and economies of running a print business are the oft quoted reasons why it doesn’t happen as much we all recognise it should. But the perception of print’s capabilities is falling way behind its technical and creative capabilities. So how do we right that as an industry? Could the various industry bodies and associations do more to help?

Yet another report extolling the potential of getting involved in digitally printing textiles – so when will it take off in the UK?

Is increased speed still of the essence when it comes to printer development or are there other R&D demands further up your wish list. Let me know if there’s a particular technical topic you would like to see covered in Image Reports this year.

Love what HP is doing to help educate a wider swathe of the design community to the huge commercial opportunities afforded by wide-format inkjet. Taking the mountain to Mohammad is certainly the key to unlocking new markets for the technology. But how many printers using that technology do just that by attending - if not actually exhibiting their own application examples at events that capture potential new customers? If you do – or plan to – please get in touch.

How far has colour management come in relation to wide-format – and how far has it yet to go before the topic ceases to be a continual headache? We’re seeing lots of software development in the area, and plenty of investment intention, but what’s your take on the issue and where to now?

As this is the first Image Reports enewsletter in 2013 let me wish you a Happy New Year! It promises to be full on, with the first of the major events for the wide-format print sector taking place in London at the end of this month – The Fespa Global Summit, 22/23 January. If you’re going to this think tank and would like to talk to me about trends and issues affecting the marketplace then please let me know and perhaps we can catch up during one of the networking breaks. If you’re not going but feel strongly about topics and issues that you’d like to see raised in Image Reports and the Widthwise Survey 2013 please get in touch anyway!

Let 2013 be the year we make more noise. Not just as individual print companies but as an industry. We know that the general perception of print is poor – and that even within our own existing customer-bases there’s often too little real understanding of all ‘print’ companies can provide in terms of services and product. Certainly things have changed in the new media landscape, but print is not the barren wasteland it’s often painted. The problem is, too few see the real, bigger picture. We’ve got to make sure more do.

I know some among you are working on Christmas Day – thankfully I’m not! So, as this is the last Image Reports enewsletter of 2012, may I just pass on my very best wishes to all of you as well as commiserations to those who are now actually wishing for some downtime!

You know what it’s like with New Year’s resolutions - they’re forgotten as quickly as they’re made. So scrap that plan – take action right now and you could have a trimmer business in 2013 according to Planet Positive, which is offering 25% off its new Business Detox programme if you sign up before the end of December. Sounds a sensible move…

What do you think to Fespa partnering with the European Sign Federation to run a new sign event alongside Fespa 2013 – which takes place in London a few weeks after Sign and Digital UK at the NEC? I’d love to get your feedback on the move…

Have you registered for the Fespa Global Summit taking place at the end of January? If not take a look at the December issue of Image Reports where you’ll find a preview and an interview with Fespa’s Duncan MacOwan explaining why it’s worth forking out for this annual event. I’ll be there because I think I’ll get some real insight into how the wide-format print sector needs to develop to remain competitive…

I’ve seen some fabulous digitally printed bespoke wallcoverings of late, but do enough people know what’s achievable? And how can you convert your capability into a stronger order book? If you are happy to tell your story please get in touch.