Photo courtesy Viscom
Despite a current slow phase for international business, particularly in Europe, the recent 2012 Viscom show in Frankfurt, Germany, was the biggest yet, setting new records for numbers of exhibitors and attendees from around the world. The biennial visual communications trade fair, which encompasses everything from wide-format graphics to digital signage, took place from October 25 to 27, 2012, at the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre. The fully booked venue hosted 327 exhibitors—up seven per cent from 305 at the previous event in 2010—from 32 countries. They were visited by 12,100 attendees, up four per cent from 11,600 in 2010. Both of these figures exceeded the targets established before the fair. “Viscom has emphasized its role as Europe’s leading trade fair for visual communications, technology and design,” says Petra Lassahn, the show’s director. Exhibitors were surveyed to gauge their impressions; 73 per cent rated business at the fair as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ and 21 per cent reported ‘satisfactory’ results. “This year was our third time at Viscom and we have already booked for the next one,” says Antonius Wessling, an account manager for SloanLED, which develops light-emitting diode (LED) systems for the sign industry. “We are very, very satisfied with our participation. We presented three new products here that attracted strong interest.” “We are very satisfied,” says Michael Wartmann, a marketing manager for wide-format printer vendor Mutoh. “We were able to conclude several contracts directly at the trade fair. Viscom has provided a kick-start and revitalization of the market.” Another survey, designed to provide a ‘business barometer’ in connection with the event, found 56 per cent of interviewees predicting the business horizon would brighten noticeably, while only 11 per cent assumed prospects would remain bleak. Back in 2006, Viscom counted only 171 exhibitors and 6,700 visitors. That was a year of reorientation for the event, which began to target a broader array of attendees from the retail and marketing industries. “Due to the reorientation, Viscom now addresses the full spectrum of visual communications, design and branding,” says Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO of Reed Exhibitions in Germany, which organizes the event. More than a third of this year’s visitors were from store design firms, global brands (including Nike, Red Bull, Adidas, Nestlé and Reebok), advertising agencies and retailers, marking a significant increase among the newly targeted industry segments. “We had the perfect mix of visitors at our stand, including customers, partners, service providers and the press,” says Stephan Kurz, a large-format sign and display production business manager for HP. “It was a very successful trade fair for us.” “We met primarily our customers, but also our distributors,” says Stephanie Rohn, a product manager for Seiko Instruments, which exhibited inks. “We had a very good turnout of international visitors at our stand,” says Wolfram Last, corporate sales manager for NEC Display Solutions. “The proportion of large companies looking for specific information on digital signage applications has grown. There was especially strong interest in touch-screen technology. We see a trend here.”
