Informa, the company that runs the Ipex event due to take place in London next year, has responded to a succession of withdrawals from manufacturers by reaffirming its commitment to the 2014 event.
During March, Canon Europe confirmed that it would not be attending the show – a decision that saw its own professional print director David Preskett step down from his position as president of Ipex 2014.
Later in March, Mimaki, which it is understood had not actually booked stand space for Ipex, announced that it was to focus on Fespa instead, and most recently both Duplo and Impika were reported to be withdrawing. These announcements came just two months after Xerox, which has just purchased Impika, pulled out. Further big industry names such as HP, Kodak, Landa, Heidelberg, KBA and Komori have also withdrawn.
Ipex 2014 organisers have already made changes to the show – moving it to London, reducing it to just six days and changing the focus of the show onto print and multi-channel services. Big names that remain on the exhibitor list include Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Fujifilm, EFI and Xeikon.
Now, in an open letter to stakeholders, Trevor Crawford, exhibition director for Ipex 2014, and Informa Exhibitions managing director Peter Hall, have attempted to clearly set out the position regarding Ipex 2014 and its plans for the future. The letter stated: ‘Ipex will take place in London in 2014. We stand firmly by our mission: to provide today’s printer and their customers with the ideas, insights and solutions to effectively promote the power of print and its integration in the marketing mix.’
It added that commercial printing was at its heart, whether litho, digital or a mix of processes, and that the show was geared to be relevant to the needs of commercial printers today, as expressed by some 1600 printers worldwide that it had surveyed.
The full text of the open letter follows:
We are writing to you to clearly set out our position regarding Ipex 2014 and our plans for the future.
We all understand that print is experiencing some change – economic, technological, social, and environmental. Events that represent print – such as Ipex – have to adapt and reflect those shifts.
When an event takes place every four years, that degree of change can appear dramatic. In fact, it’s simply that a cyclical event like this pulls together the incremental changes that happened over that time period and concentrates them into one experience.
Industries that are in flux have to re-evaluate themselves. They need to be brave and find the clarity to focus on what is valuable and should be developed. This is exactly what our customers and their customers are doing. The same goes for us as an event brand.
Ipex will take place in London in 2014. We stand firmly by our mission: to provide today’s printer and their customers with the ideas, insights and solutions to effectively promote the power of print and its integration in the marketing mix.
As always, we’re putting commercial printers right at the heart of Ipex. We surveyed more than 1600 printers worldwide to ask them how Ipex could continue to be relevant to their needs. They told us:
* We’re channelling major capital investment into digital and post press, to complement what we have already.
* We’re keen to embrace opportunities in new applications, especially packaging.
* We want to understand more about how print works in multichannel marketing.
* We need our customers to understand more about what print can do for them.
We’ve taken that research on board to shape our planning. We’re committed to delivering an event that will help printers from all over the world to adapt to these changes and build for the future. Ipex will be the only event in 2014 that brings together the whole international print supply chain to learn, network and do business.
We said we’d focus the show on digital: some have interpreted that to mean Ipex will no longer serve litho printers. Nothing could be further from the truth. We expect 80% of our visitors to be commercial printers, whether they print litho, digital, or with a mix of complementary processes. Most successful printers don’t define themselves by the type of press they operate.
Printers are looking to Ipex for vital leadership and guidance. They need a neutral environment, not controlled by a single manufacturer, where they can find the time and space to assess and absorb the changes and opportunities around them. We will provide them with a wealth of world-class content through initiatives such as the World Print Summit.
Ipex is a year away. We’re working to deliver an event that gives printers what they need, while also attracting the people who buy print, and showing them what print is capable of, working hand in hand with other communications channels.
Ipex has print at its heart. If you do too, then you’ll be at Ipex 2014.
