Print and Digital Convention records less footfall this year

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the fourth edition of Print and Digital Convention, organised by the Fachverband Medienproduktion (FMP) and Messe Düsseldorf as an in-person event, recorded around 800 participants on two days of the trade fair. However, the footfall and the number of exhibitors were considerably less as compared to the 2019 show.

Media production professionals and decision-makers from industry, trade, marketing agencies and IT gathered at the Congress Center in Düsseldorf from 20 to 21 October 2021.

In addition to exciting exhibits, according to the organisers, visitors were able to learn about future-oriented content on the potential of digital printing applications, automated workflows, creative finishing, and sustainable packaging solutions.

Among the 64 exhibiting companies, 24 companies (38%) were first-time exhibitors. International key players such as Antalis, Canon, Esko, FKS, Gräfe Veredlungsgruppe, Horizon, HP, Inapa, Kodak, Koehler Paper, Konica Minolta, Kurz, Landa, Locr, Mondi, Obility, OKI and WerkII participated in the two-day trade fair.

Due to Covid-19, the congress trade fair was smaller compared to the previous event in 2019 (94 exhibitors/1,287 participants), and the exhibition space was also smaller at over 800 sqm compared to 2019 (1,360 sqm). Despite all the pandemic-related restrictions, around 800 international participants from the DACH region and BeNeLux attended the convention.

"We are very happy about this result and the successful relaunch in the still ongoing Covid crisis," Rüdiger Maas, managing director of FMP, said in a press note shared with PrintWeek. "We are confident that we will be able to realise our full potential again in 2022. About 40 companies that cancelled for 2021 due to Corona have already promised their participation for 2022."

"With its eight theme worlds and impressive conference and workshop programme, the Print and Digital Convention has once again proven that it is an important content hub for the industry," Sabine Geldermann, director print technologies, Messe Düsseldorf said. "This is where active, highly relevant knowledge transfer takes place, and the current and future trends of the industry are highlighted."

The Print and Digital Convention was divided into eight theme worlds – Interior/Exterior Design, Brand and Product, Value Added Printing, Postpress, Label and Packaging, Printed Electronics, Dialogue Marketing and Sustainable Media Production. The theme worlds examined innovations, trends and visions in marketing realisation, marketing automation and content marketing - across all touchpoints of the customer journey.

In four parallel series of lectures with a total of 48 presentations and workshops, the focus was on sustainable media production, marketing automation/programmatic printing, value added printing and dialogue marketing.

The special format Highlight Guide presented staged campaigns and best cases that were implemented in partnerships between exhibitors and brand owners.

The Print and Digital Convention will be held annually until Drupa 2024: the fifth edition is planned for 22-23 June 2022, the 6th edition in 2023 (the exact date has not yet been set). The convention will then be integrated into the Drupa run from 28 May to 7 June in 2024, the organisers told PrintWeek.