Bigger, all business and full of good ideas for advertisers: PSI is still booming. An exhibitor increase of eight per cent, a trade visitor increase of 3.7 per cent and a share of international visitors that’s climbed to 55 per cent mark the best result in six years for Europe’s largest trade show of the promotional products industry. Organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland recorded a total of 932 exhibitors (prior year: 878) and 16,810 visitors (prior year: 16,218).
One look around the four exhibition halls sufficed to realise that lots has changed since PSI embarked on its path of renewal. Visitors and exhibitors alike can feel that PSI is on a new trajectory – rejuvenating itself, highlighting trends and taking up the hot topics of the industry.
Take, for example, the Catwalk, the venue inside the Textile Area where exhibitors effectively showcased fashion and accessories as advertising media. Or the Gusto tasting pavilion, which revealed how indulgent advertising can be. Another example: the PSI Institute Best Practice Forum, whose presentation programme provided promotional products consultants with real-life support for their daily business. “The path toward new growth is paying off; the industry’s self-confidence is on the rise”, said a delighted PSI Director Michael Freter at the conclusion of PSI.
Exhibiting companies are going along with the changes: international market leaders such as PF Concept, Mid Oceans Brands, Xidao and Macma, which were all on board again displaying their promotional products in ways both representative and original; renowned “returners” such as Falk&Ross and Kariban; and nearly 100 new “shooting stars”, many of them at the inventors’ area in Hall 12. They all stood as beacons of the new momentum in the promotional products market and the sector’s changing self-image.
German advertising market
With total industry sales of €3.48 billion in the last fiscal year, the promotional products industry stood its ground as a stable fixture in the German advertising market. The sector managed to repeat last year’s record-setting result of €3.48 billion. Nearly one in two companies are deploying promotional products in marketing campaigns now, according to the findings of the Promotional Products Monitor, which the GWW, the umbrella association of the German promotional products industry, traditionally releases at PSI. “If it wasn’t for tax discrimination and unnecessary irritations due to self-imposed compliance guidelines at individual companies – which in some cases go far beyond those stipulated by law – the industry would be in an even better positon”, said GWW President Patrick Politze at the PSI press conference.
Upward trend
The outlook remains positive, as reflected in the Europe-wide PSI Industry Barometer, the representative survey of more than 1,500 companies presented at PSI. According to the study, 62 per cent of suppliers and 60 per cent of promotional products consultants in Europe recorded sales increases over the year before. Only 24 per cent of suppliers and 22 per cent of distributors noted declining sales. In the medium term, more than 80 per cent of suppliers and promotional products consultants forecast sales to increase over the next five years, half of them pegging the number at above 10 per cent. The automotive, food, financial and insurance, construction, retail, and tourism industries are considered the most important advertising-consuming sectors with the highest growth potential.
PSI 2017
The concept to widen PSI’s target groups from 2017 onward was well received all around. Starting with the upcoming PSI, the idea is to give promotional products consultants the option of inviting their customers to attend the show on the last day of the event. The task force unites representatives of advertising-media consultants and wholesalers, suppliers, brand-name manufacturers, and the PSI Network.
All customers visiting PSI as distributor invitees will be qualified and accredited ahead of the show. They’ll also receive specially marked admission tickets. Suppliers will still be obligated to adhere to the indirect distributorship model. To accommodate these plans, the PSI’s event days will be changed so the show will run from Tuesday to Thursday starting in 2017. The 55th PSI will take place in Düsseldorf from 10 to 12 January 2017.
