Darryl Danielli Just over a year ago, Ipex 2014 was 75% sold out and perhaps even reaching 100,000sqm on the show floor. What happened?

Trevor Crawford We were almost a victim of our own success because we set off with two and bit years to go, much earlier than usual, as we were moving to London from Birmingham and we know that people don’t like change, so we wanted to help get them over that. So we got to Drupa and we had the most amazing booking programme we’d ever had. But then it all fell apart.

And why do you think that happened?

A number of reasons I guess. But there was a time when all of us used to have detailed three- or five-year plans, but the world has changed and now many businesses don’t even wrap up their budgets until they get into the year. What that demonstrates is that there are more people involved in every decision now and decisions are spread across so many different regions and people generally leave it late until they make that call. From an exhibitor point of view, it’s probably going to be Q4 this year.

Really, you think exhibitors might come on board that late?

Yes. In 2010, in the final three-month run-in to the show, we took the best part of 3,500sqm in bookings, which was three times that of 2006, and this time I think it will be even greater. Because I think people will make late calls, not because people doubt that we can pull it off, but just because of the nature of the market.

A four-year cycle must be a killer though, because so much can happen between shows?

In a way, if you have an annual or biennial event, it’s a lot easier. Especially when you’re in a flat market, because you’re always in people’s faces. But when it’s a quadrennial event, it’s difficult for venues and, to be fair, it’s probably difficult for big exhibitors too as they don’t really know what footprint they need until they’ve spoken to every part of their business. Also there’s the challenge that people move around jobs much more than they used to, so on each cycle you might be dealing with different people and they don’t necessarily ‘know’ the show in the same way as someone who has been around for a while.

So is every Ipex like a ‘new’ show then?

I think it is now, most certainly this time around. But that can be good thing too, because I love launching new shows, it’s what gives me the biggest buzz.

Is that why Ipex 2014 feels like a new show then, because you’ve had to change everything?

Yes, well, we’ve got heritage and we’ve got legacy, but that can’t really impact your strategy. Also, we’ve had some pretty difficult times of late, as you know.

But there’s an impression that Ipex 2010, against all the economic odds, was a good show. But then some people seem to think that Drupa 2012 didn’t quite deliver and Ipex suffered as a result as the big exhibitors suddenly started scrutinising their show spends?

Possibly, but the bottom line is that for whatever reason the international funding of Ipex has dried up. So we had a situation where HP and Heidelberg walked away and then there was a domino effect, and we’ve been trying to manage the fallout of that. We walked out of Drupa with the single strongest order book in our history. That’s because all of us, Informa and the exhibitors, delivered a phenomenal show in 2010 and everyone was buying London, buying new international audiences, buying cross-media. There was a buying frenzy. So when all of a sudden HP pulls out, Heidelberg, Xerox pulled out, then it created a domino effect and I think it gave a few people the excuse to save a bit of money. At the time, it was so far off, it was difficult for people to focus on it.

Isn’t that part of the problem with being an international show though? Your funding comes from international budgets and the decision-makers are too far removed to see beyond a potential cost saving?

Possibly, even to the point that some of them have never even been to the show. You could probably write a book on the year we’ve had, perhaps even make a film…

…not sure I would watch it to be honest, sounds like a tearjerker.

Fair point. You can overcomplicate things though, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the what-ifs and what we could have done. You can’t think like that though, you can’t live in that world of trying to work out who to blame or think of what we could have done differently. I think largely we did all the right things. What it boils down to is a seismic shift in international funding. It has certainly gone for us and we’re now focusing on different pools and I think that’s where our successes will come from.

Do you think your messaging was a bit off? From the outside it does seem that you were pinballing from one setback the next, then getting the messaging wrong. Is there anything you would do differently?

Honestly, I don’t think there is an anything we could have done differently.

But what about the whitepaper that seemed to be interpreted by some people as Ipex turning its back on litho?

I don’t know, maybe it was slightly misinterpreted; but I don’t think we ever said that litho was dead or that we were going to become a digital show. I think we should be – and are – technology-neutral. It is fair to say that there won’t be a lot of litho on the floor, but we’re gaining ground. We have Printers Superstore, we have Presstek and we have post-press supporters of litho and it will remain terribly important to the show.

If you look at vertical shows, such as Fespa and LabelExpo, they seem to have been immune to the big show backlash. So do you think there’s an opportunity to be a purely digital show?

There’s definitely room for vertical shows.

But there aren’t any purely digital shows, with the exception of Hunkeler Innovationdays…

I think that digital has moved on and that’s part of the reason why we don’t run Digital Print World now, because digital is now part of the mainstream. I think a show’s success can be about its neutrality, if you take the average printer they’re not going to focus on just one particular technology. So I think there’s absolutely a need for generalist shows.

Do you think that the days of the big international shows have gone?

I think it’s hard to second guess that; we have a fantastic heritage and a brand that still has a real connection with UK visitors and those from the rest of the world. I think the big international shows are having a rough time; some will change shape, but they will always be important. But we’ve had to grapple with how we make Ipex a lot more relevant to visitors. We need to focus on the things that will make the show an unmissable opportunity – like the content stream we’ve invested in so heavily – because if we get that right, then everything else will fall into place.

Has Ipex ever faced this scale of challenge before though?

Yes, we’ve always reflected the challenges facing the industry, and the industry has been through some pretty tough times at various points. But the thing to remember is that when I sit down with printers, and I do that a lot, and ask them if they’re still going to be coming even though X, Y or Z has pulled out, they look at me like I’ve insulted their intelligence and say ‘yes, of course I’m going to come. I have to go to shows like Ipex’. And that’s why we commissioned the research last year, to get a better understanding of what they need from us; and what they need is insight and help grasping opportunities to grow their business. It’s not just about coming to the show and opening up their cheque books...

…that would be nice for the exhibitors.

Of course, and it will still happen. But we have to be about more than that, it has got to be about the takeaways that benefit their [the visitors’] businesses. I think 2014 will be the most engaging show we’ve ever done, because we’re going to have to work extremely hard on getting the content programme right and I think we’re doing that.

But balancing customer and exhibitor needs is incredibly difficult.

It’s a fine balance, but it still has to come down to delivering a show that meets the visitors’ needs first and foremost. When you strip it down, the events business is about getting buyers and sellers together, and you can engage the visitors by working with the exhibitors to inspire them, help create new ideas, give them to tools to identify new opportunities, and I think we can do that. In fact, I know we can do that. It has been a difficult time, but I really believe that we will come out of this stronger, certainly in the value we offer to visitors.

Is this all a reaction to the withdrawals though, or was this always planned?

I think we probably would have made the changes anyway; we would have had to evolve at some point, but perhaps not in 2014, if I’m honest. Before last summer we had been talking about the show being more content-driven for 2018 anyway. We’ve reached a point where there’s been a change in mood from the major manufacturers and they can’t sustain spending tens of millions on the big shows. I don’t know if building those massive ‘gin palaces’ at a show necessarily goes down awfully well with customers either, in the present climate. Possibly not.

That’s an interesting point, why haven’t the big boys just scaled back their spend rather than opting for the nuclear option of withdrawing completely?

I think some have; we’re in a position now where the exhibitors have right-sized their stands, they’ve right-sized their investments and their mythical return on investment is there.

Mythical ROI?

I don’t think it’s ever been about ROI, it’s a convenient term that people turn to. If you actually start digging into the ROI story, then you quickly realise that no one really understands it. I don’t think shows are about ROI at all.

I guess it is impossible to track, I mean would an exhibitor really track back a deal that might have been 12 months in the making to that first demo at a show?

Precisely. We run 120 shows worldwide, and if you look at them you won’t ever hear ROI mentioned apart from in print. Ever. What you’ll hear is ‘I need to be there, I need to be seen as part of this industry, I want to demonstrate our investment in R&D, I want to sell things and I want to be seen to be supporting my customers’. But equally, you won’t have people spending millions of pounds to be at those shows. Don’t get me wrong, we were happy to take that money at the time – but I think there has been a big wake-up call to exhibitors and to us to be fair. It doesn’t mean that these shows aren’t important; it’s just that how exhibitors engage has to be different.

Based on what you’ve said though, would Ipex have a better chance of long-term survival as a UK, perhaps biennial, show?

We’ll survive whatever. The business of print is global. And even if some manufacturers fund Ipex as if it were a UK or European show, that’s certainly not how we feel. Even though it’s going to be a smaller show, footprint-wise, we’re spending more money on promoting the show and have devoted more resources and money to putting together a great content programme because I still know that going forward the show will deliver on an international stage. If some people approach it as a UK show, then that’s fine, we’ll deliver that audience, but we’ll also deliver an international audience – I’m confident of that.

What about the international shows, like Ipex India and the Serigrafia show Informa bought in Brazil, how are they fairing?

We’ve put our international shows, with the exception of Serigrafia, on hold so that we can focus our efforts and funding purely on Ipex 2014, because it’s too important. Serigrafia is a colossus, it is an amazing show and I think the biggest show for the wide-format, screen-printing and sign industries in the world. It’s the only show I’ve ever been to where visitors queue up every morning and when the doors open the exhibitors applaud them. It’s incredible, you really should go.

Can I borrow the Informa jet?

There’s isn’t one unfortunately, unless you count Ryanair.

The big question is, though: will there definitely be an Ipex 2014?

Of course. Without question. It makes me smile when anyone asks that question, and they’re asking it a lot less these days. We’ve got a large tenancy with Excel and I have the backing of Informa, which is a massive PLC and Ipex is incredibly important to them. We’ve already got 200 exhibitors on the show floor.

What footprint are you on now?

15,000sqm net, not including aisles or Ipex areas, that puts us on about 70% of our new budget, the overall footprint of the show will be 46,000sqm gross. So by any standards, this is still a very big show.

Have you slimmed your budgets in terms of what you’re spending though?

No, in fact we’ve increased our spend in every area.

Really?

Yes. We haven’t penalised people for down-sizing, but for those that have withdrawn and were liable for cancellation fees, we’re reinvesting that into the show. Of course, if those exhibitors come back, that money’s there for them, we’re not closing any doors. We’re boxing clever in other areas too.

How so?

We’ve also reduced our rates by 25% to all the original exhibitors that signed up and are showing faith in the show, which is a massive amount. We’re also offering free lifting, free internet, we’re giving half-price stand power and free exhibitor catering off stand, a free lead-retrieval system and a £250 furniture allowance. This represents a big hit for us, but it shows how serious we are about making this show work for exhibitors and visitors.

So do you think the past year has made you, I mean Informa, listen a bit more?

I think it will have a positive impact, I think we’ve always listened, though, as a business. I think when Ipex delivers next year, a lot of European heads will go back to their HQs and say ‘hey guys, we now need you to support us and Ipex, because they delivered’. And we will deliver. We’ve got a critical mass and I’m much more confident today then I have been at any time in the past year. Of course there are still concerns, but that will just make us work all the harder to make Ipex 2014 a massive success for exhibitors and visitors alike.

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