Faversham House Group, organisers of Sign & Digital UK, are delighted to confirm that 6,756 visitors attended the show at the NEC last week. This is an impressive 22% increase on the 2010 show, reflecting the renewed optimism in the market and the event's role in showcasing the very latest sign making and digital printing products & services.
Rudi Blackett, event director for Sign & Digital UK, commented, “We are delighted to be able to report a significant increase in visitors to the 2011 show. The combination of interactive demos and specialist advice, coupled with the wide range of products and applications on display, made the show a fantastic showpiece for our industry. I would like to thank all exhibitors and visitors for their part in making the show such a great success.”
Visitors to the show shared this buoyant feeling of optimism ”I’ve found this a really worthwhile trip,” says Geoff Rile of GWR Design & Illustration.
Studio Manager Jane Twydle of Succinct Communications said “I really enjoyed the show and come every other year to see what is new and keep up to speed with the market.”
Haydn Pryor of Trust Mark Design & Print Ltd commented “Really good show, I do come every year and will certainly be back. I came up here to visit the Roland stand and did make a purchase”
“We are a small print shop and this is our 4th year coming to the show. We are looking at a range of materials for external signage and identify different hardware to use. We’re impressed with the professionalism in such a tough market and it’s definitely been worth the visit,” said Ian Forsythe of Forsythe and Steele.
Exhibitors also found the event particularly good this year and the increased numbers of quality visitors was the contributing factor. “As a newcomer to the graphics market, I am impressed with the quality and more importantly quantity of the leads we gained. Having attended many shows in other sectors of the digital printing market, this show really exceeded my expectations” said Erik Norman, VP Sales & Marketing for Reprographic Technology International.
“We are delighted with the amount of visitors to our stand all of whom showed great interest in our Fujifilm ‘shop’ as well as the latest Acuity Advance flatbed,” says Graham Leeson, marketing communications manager, Graphic Systems Division – FUJIFILM Europe
Emerson Welch of Clarity Software also commented “Once again, Sign & Digital UK has delivered in quality, quantity and closed sales for Clarity Software. This is a key event in our calendar and enables us to supply our tailored product to its rightful audience.”
Also impressed were a number of large format printer resellers including Stewart Bell of Digital Print Innovations Ltd, stating, “We are delighted with our first Sign & Digital UK. As a young, independent, ambitious business we were extremely pleased with the quality and quantity of the leads we achieved. We’ve already booked a bigger stand for 2012!”
Graham de Kock, City & West End solutions said “Our stand featured a European launch of the Seiko W64S and we also sold printers off the stand on the first day.”
Nick Wintle, Managing Director of IGS UK Ltd added: "The show was a great success for us and we met with numerous potential customers to talk them through our Elements Print Science range. The interest we received at the event was very good and we've already booked a bigger space for next year's event."
Duncan Jefferies – marketing manager; Hybrid Services Ltd. Mimaki’s exclusive distributor for the UK & Ireland commented, ‘’Sign & Digital UK 2011 was an excellent show for Hybrid. It was the ideal opportunity for us to launch five major new Mimaki products – an unprecedented number of exclusives, of which all were very well received by the visitors. We enjoyed three busy days - the interest on our stand and machine orders placed with Mimaki resellers at the show was extremely strong.’’
Nicola Bisset, Group Managing Director at Optimus commented “It is our first time exhibiting and we will be returning. The attendance was good and the lead quality was excellent with many of the visitors being decision makers. Well done for putting on a great show, which was well organised and publicised.
Finally, one of the busiest stands at the show was the Hewlett-Packard stand where Anne Sharp, Category and Marketing Manager for Designjet UK & Ireland had this to say, “We have been pleased with this year’s Sign & Digital UK and the interest that we have seen in HP’s range of LV signage solutions, especially in our Latex technology. It’s been a great event in terms of meeting UK and Irish customers looking for new investment opportunities and we look to forward to next year’s event.’
Make sure you put the date in your diary for next year, the 2012 Sign & Digital UK will be held on the 27-29 March, halls 3 & 3a at the NEC, Birmingham.
Also start thinking about your entries for the next Sign & Digital UK Awards, introduced this year to applaud and award the most creative sign and digital projects and companies in the UK.
For more information, visit www.signanddigitaluk.com or follow all the latest round up of news and information on twitter @signanddigital. To contact the team please email signanddigitaluk@fav-house.com.
