Canon Europe has confirmed that it would not be attending Ipex 2014. It was soon followed by Canon Europe’s professional print director David Preskett announcing via Twitter that he has stepped down from his position as president of Ipex 2014.
Patrick Chapuis, Head of Production Printing Group at the company, said: ‘After careful consideration of our position, Canon Europe is announcing its withdrawal from Ipex 2014. This has not been an easy decision to make as we have previously had two successful shows at Ipex. However, just as we have encouraged our customers to ‘see the bigger picture’, we have had to look at our own bigger picture. This has involved a continuous assessment of the ways in which we communicate with our customers.’
‘We remain fully committed to our customers and to the printing industry as a whole, so with Canon and Océ solutions now addressing all segments of the market, we need to adopt the strategy that will most benefit our customers and indeed their customers.’
‘Therefore, while we will continue to consider future European industry events and their fit with our business and marketing plans, we will also continue to invest in our extensive network of showroom facilities and in a series of customer focused events across the region.’
The announcement comes less than two months after Xerox pulled out. Further big industry names such as HP, Kodak, Landa, Heidelberg, KBA and Komori have also withdrawn, many citing similar reasons.
Mr Preskett tweeted this morning: ‘Hard to stand down as President of IPEX 2014 today, many thanks for the support from the IPEX Advisory Committee.’
The Informa Group, organiser of Ipex 2014, has already made changes to the show – moving it to London, reducing it down to just six days and changing the focus of the show onto print and multi-channel services.
It made a statement through Informa Exhibitions managing director Peter Hall who said: ‘Ipex has been an integral part of the international printing industry for over 100 years, and therefore we do not wish to compromise the brand’s credibility. We will collaborate with all stakeholders to determine the role Ipex has to play to provide today’s printer and their customers with the ideas, insights and solutions to effectively promote the power of print media and its integration in the marketing mix.
‘Further to these consultations, we will issue a statement about the future direction of Ipex shortly. The Informa Group remains committed to delivering world class events with the support of key industry stakeholders and we will announce our plans in due course.’
