Sign & Digital UK, which ran from 2 to 4 April at the NEC, welcomed over 5,095 unique visitors* to its annual event this year, with 340 attending for more than one day.
Decision makers came from a wide range of organizations including Signs Express, Hobs Repro, The Delta Group, Coventry Building Society, Siemens, Fastsigns, Pensord, Motorola Solutions, Perton Signs, Northumbria Police, Tesco, Woodland Trust, Somerset County Council, Signarama, Homebase, Renault F1, Amey, Hollywood Monster, Merson Signs, ITV, Next plc, Sodexo, Severn Trent and Hammonds Furniture.
Many substantial deals for new equipment were made over the three-day sign making, digital printing and display solution show, with visitors having access to over 185 leading brands and more than 50 new product launches & updates. Under the show’s 2019 theme The Face of Innovation, Sign & Digital UK also offered the show’s most comprehensive content programme to date, including many live demos and a host of lively and inspiring keynote talks and panel debates in the Main Stage Theatre.
Renowned entrepreneur, author and inspirational speaker, Sahar Hashemi, hosted a well-received talk and Q&A on her experience of co-founding the UK’s first coffee shop chain, Coffee Republic, on the opening day.
The Main Stage theatre also doubled as a TV studio, capturing the sessions and filming the many demos, workshops and vibrant exhibition stands throughout the show floor. Video highlights from the show can be found on the Sign & Digital UK website (https://www.signuk.com/day-one-highlights-video#/).
Away from the main stage, another show highlight was the HEXIS Battle Wrap contest, which saw contestants compete in heats over the three days. The high-energy skill testing contest concluded with a competitive final on the final day, with Chris Hooper from Wrapworx winning the trophy and the final prize worth £2,500.
The show floor also hosted three dedicated demonstration zones – Décor Live in partnership with Antalis, Retail is Detail in partnership with ArtSystems and Signmakers’ Workshop with expert trainer Paul Hughes. These demo areas encouraged visitors to try out different techniques whilst learning valuable tips and tricks from industry professionals.
Rudi Blackett, event director for Sign & Digital UK said: “It’s been another fantastic year at Sign & Digital UK where we showcased new content & features and celebrated the industry’s creativity and innovation. We are truly grateful to our fantastic line-up of speakers, including the inspirational Sahar Hashemi, for delivering an engaging range of debates and keynote talks at this year’s show.
“Once again, I would like to say a big thank you to all the exhibitors, visitors, partners and media supporters who came to the 2019 show. It’s always a pleasure to see end-users and suppliers come together to do business and seal deals in an innovative environment, face to face.
“We’re already looking forward to hosting another great event next year with even more exciting and interactive content. To help us build on previous successes, we will be inviting the industry to work with us. Through a series of round-tables and focus groups, experts from across the visual communications space will collaborate with us to deliver the best possible visitor experience for 2020 and beyond.”
Feedback from exhibitors at the show reflected how lively the show floor was over the three-day show. Some comments include:
Stephen Holden, Marketing Development Manager, RICOH:
“Sign and Digital 2019 has been the perfect vehicle to launch our new range of large format and direct to garment printers because it has enabled us to reach a target audience that’s outside our typical customer base. We’ve also made some great sales - so we are very happy.”
Andy Watkins, Group Commercial Director, Wrights Plastic Group:
“I’ve been blown away by Sign & Digital UK 2019 and hugely impressed with the footfall – we’ve had 150 people visiting the stand within the first day and a half, which has totally exceeded all expectations.”
Sam Rylands, Marketing Manager, DURABLE:
“We've tried a number of similar shows in the past but have never found the perfect fit for us. Given the success we've seen already, it looks like Sign & Digital UK might be the one!"
Katie Farr, Head of Marketing, Antalis:
"We’ve been exhibiting at Sign & Digital UK for a number of years now. Once again, the Décor Live sessions have worked fantastically well for us as they attract passersby that get to see our materials being applied in application.”
Sign & Digital UK returns to the NEC, Birmingham from 28 to 30 April 2020 and is free to attend for visitors. To enquire about exhibiting please contact the show team on 01342 332 000, email signanddigitaluk@fav-house.com or visit https://www.signuk.com/#/
*Subject to audit
