Printwear & Promotion The Total Promotional Package
P&P Live and Sign & Digital event director, Tony Gardner, outlines the huge opportunities for the printwear and promotion industry, as we look ahead to the co-location of the two events in February 2024.
It was fabulous to see the industry reunite at our 2023 exhibition! Our first event since the Covid-19 pandemic in our traditional February event, was proof of the immense appetite for good old fashioned faced to face networking and conducting business in person. In fact there were 110 exhibitors and more than 5,000 garment decorators, clothing retailers and print service providers attended the show – a 15% increase on 2022.
The 2024 show is already well on course to be a bigger event, with the majority of the industry’s major suppliers having committed to exhibiting, including the return of a couple of the big names that were absent this year.
Time for co-location
For the announcement earlier this year that our parent company, Datateam Business Media Ltd, had acquired the exhibition Sign & Digital UK, from Faversham House Ltd., the positive response received to a proposed co-location with P&P Live has been fantastic.
We appreciate that keep an eye on costs and expenses is important, so to bring these two stellar events under one roof is a real benefit for the industry.
The co-location will be a first for the UK’s sign, display and garment decoration markets. There is a real synergy between the two shows with around 1,000 of the 5,000 visitors to Printwear also attending Sign & Digital, and several exhibitors traditionally exhibiting at both shows. We are very excited about the opportunity that the co-location creates to enhance the two events. Visitors will have more compelling reasons to attend, with the added benefits that a two-show experience brings.
As a result, there will a slight alteration of dates for Sign & Digital, from the original 27-29 February. This will see Sign & Digital open on a Sunday for the first time, and opens up the opportunity for the many buyers who are unable to attend on a traditional working day! The Sunday at P&P LIVE is always the busiest day, with well over 2,000 visiting regularly in attendance.
How will the co-location work?
The two shows will maintain their own identities with separate promotion, online registrations and entrances, however, visitors to each will be encouraged both pre and at show to attend the other event. A link will be opened between the two halls to allow for easy access from one into the other, without the need to exit and re-enter by way of the two entrances. Around 10% of visitors attend both shows yearly, however, the co-location will present a greater opportunity for each audience to explore the other market!
Keep on eye on the website for further updates and news on the 2024 exhibition. Visitor registration for both events is due to open in the autumn. We look forward to seeing you in the Autumn!
www.printwearandpromotionlive.co.uk
