• Special Show "Showing Apps"
• Sustainability Theme Park
• Infect 2011 taking place at digi:media

digi:media 2011, the trade fair for commercial publishing & digital printing is generating very positive feedback from the industry. Taking interim stock roughly one year before the trade fair debut, Manuel Mataré, Director of digi:media, says: “It is the fair’s consistent focus on the interests of the various target visitor groups in particular that is explicitly welcomed by the industry.” digi:media is designed as a platform for print-based, networked marketing and addresses in addition to the classic group of visitors – print service providers – as well as new target groups such as the operators of copy shops, lettershops and data processing centres, marketing decision-makers and in-house print shops. The three-day trade fair (7 to 9 April 2011) will correspondingly focus on technology applications and the resulting new business opportunities. Nine themed worlds oriented towards the production chain provide the different visitor target groups with optimum access and ease the overview. The motto “Content meets Technology meets Business” ideally summarises this approach.

The positive feedback from the industry is also reflected in current registration figures: a four-digit area of square metres has already been rented out. Exhibitors of the “first hour” include the global players in digital printing (HP, Xeikon) as well as the big names in post processing (Kolbus, Horizon) as well as creative firms (MoreWin) and software suppliers (ComCard, Direct Smile, Esko Artwork, Kinetik). Quite a number of other companies from various product segments are also about to sign up. “With these interim results we are right on track,” comments Mataré on the current state of play, adding “And I am not only refering to purely quantitative results here. The key to the success of digi:media is its balanced presentation of the nine different themed worlds. Or to sum it up with a catchy equation: if nine times 20 exhibitors register for the premiere, we have achieved our goal.”

digi:media feat.: “Showing Apps” and Sustainability Theme Park
Theme parks, special shows and concurrent conferences round off the ranges at digi:media. In cooperation with the Munich publishing house IDG Magazine Media, Messe Düsseldorf will organise the Special Show “Showing Apps”. Just under 20 exhibitors will present their applications here for mobile applications. Workshops as well as a “Best-of-Show” Award presented to the manufacturer with the best apps of the Theme Park add the finishing touches to the Special Show.

The sustainability aspect also plays a role at digi:media 2011 – namely in a dedicated Theme Park organised by the Munich climate protection consultancy Climate Partner. The heart and soul of the Theme Park expected to encompass 36 firms is the Communication Forum. Here visitors can gather information on all aspects of sustainable media production (paper, printing inks, energy, etc.) in lectures, presentations or interactive events. It is also planned to map this Theme Park in Web 2.0.

Infect 2011 in parallel with digi:media
Infect, the conference for social media and viral marketing, will be held in parallel with digi:media at the Exhibition Centre in 2011. This year Infect, which is organised by Wunderknaben Kommunikation GmbH, exceeded all expectations attracting over 260 visitors and presenting 16 hours of programme with 29 speakers www.infect-now.de.

Strong Network of Cooperations
Just as successful are the results obtained from talking to potential cooperation partners in the various visitor target groups. “Our aim is to involve and network with partners in the truest sense of the word and incorporate them in the outlining of content for digi:media,” says Ralph Scholz, Account Manager Print Technology Fairs, describing the un-derlying idea. “This cooperation is the best way to ensure the various visitor target groups are taken into consideration.” The following net-works are already part of the game:

• Climate Partner
• Deutscher Dialogmarketing Verband
• Fachverband Medienproduktioner
• Forum Corporate Publishing
• Gesamtverband Kommunikationsagenturen

Other partnerships are in the coordination stage. The conceptual sponsor of digi:media is the VDMA Industry Association for Printing and Paper. Likewise, the stakeholder community Digitaldruck digicom fully backs up digi:media. Verband Druck und Medien NRW is the regional partner.

XING, Twitter & Co: Social Media Communication of digi:media
As with the long-establsiished invetsment goods trade fairs drupa, K and interpack all marketing communication tools are deployed as part of visitor marketing: from billboarding and adverts to direct marketing and online advertising – consistently considering the relevant target group interests and needs. The latter are also crucial for the social media activities of digi:media 2011. “Even companies are now extending their print-based, networked marketing activities to include social media. Add to this the fact that many of our potential visitors are already surfing these online networks. Against this background it was an absolute must for us to also leverage social media in the visitor marketing framework of digi:media,” says Ralph Scholz explaining the intention of this strategy. The strategy is implemented by the Schweizer Degen Media & Publishing Consulting, Munich. The backbone being a blog moderated by Johannes F. Woll and Christoph Sahner (starting in summer 2010), which picks up on and discusses issues of the relevant communities. Furthermore, these industry networks are also meant to actively participate at the fair. Therefore, linking to the digi:media portal and Twitter is just as self-evident as presence on Facebook or the accompaying online live stream on digi:media 2011 with images and sound.