With a total of 1,084 exhibiting companies, the new trade show network consisting of PSI, PromoTex Expo and viscom underscored its ambition of becoming Europe’s largest combined event for promo advertising and selling, said Michael Freter, managing director of Reed Exhibitions Deutschland, noting that more than half of the exhibitors came from outside Germany, representing a total of 38 countries.

“This was an outstanding result that makes a clear statement on the international level,” Freter said. “A real power pack that represents virtually all the key players across all areas of visual, textile and haptic advertising – the trendsetters and innovators of the market.”

John Lynch (left), the American-born owner of Krakow, Poland-based award-winning apparel and decorating company Lynka, shown here with Jeff Smith, vice president/corporate for Perry Ellis International on the PSI show floor.

Held last week from January 8-10 and contained under one roof within six halls at the Messe Convention Center in Dusseldorf, the show consisted of PSI, the leading European insider event for the promotional products industry; a repositioned viscom, Europe’s top trade fair for visual communication; and the newly created PromoTex Expo, conceived as the international trade show for promotion, sports and workwear.

“The time was ripe to create a new, central hotspot for all things advertising and selling, without losing sight of the independent existence and identity of each of the respective industries,” said Petra Lassahn, the director of the three shows.

“The show was very positive for us,” said Ralf Oster, CEO of PF Concept, the European arm of Counselor Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA). “We had lots of customers at our stand and received excellent feedback. Holding the three trade shows concurrently is an asset for visitors from the printing segment, since it enables them to learn about the selections and new products in the different industries.”

In the viscom trade show hall, which featured manufacturing and decorating equipment, as well as exhibitors of visual communications, the company Dseelab (www.dseelab.com) offered personalized 3D hologram fans that were the height of techy cool – and all for under $1,000 USD.

PSI counted 772 exhibitors, down from 925 in 2018. Combined with PromoTex Expo (127 exhibitors) – partially a PSI spin-off – 899 exhibitors participated in total, with an additional 185 exhibitors taking part in this year’s viscom event.

“The topics of sustainability, short distances and ‘Made in Germany’ are current market trends,” said Marcus Sperber, managing director, elasto form KG. “The fact that we covered these at our stand was very well received. A great mood prevails, despite recent ‘warning lights’ in the global economy. The level of internationality was very high again: we had numerous visitors from both Europe and overseas. In our opinion, staging PromoTex Expo and viscom concurrently with PSI is a good approach. We’re hoping this will lead to even more synergies in future.”

“Beer, Brats & Fun”
Attracting 17,602 visitors, PSI experienced an increase of 1.5% over 2018’s attendance number of 17,342. Among them were 1,012 end-buyers (down from 1,200 in 2018) who, upon being invited by distributors, had a chance to visit PSI on the last event day.

Marcus Sperber is managing director/owner of Bavaria-based Elasto Form KG, which each year has a booth that’s designed like a Bavarian ski lodge, complete with kegs of beer brought in from their hometown, fresh sausage, bratwurst and sauerkraut and even a pig – roasted in the parking lot of the convention center – served to the delight of their clients. Without question, the gracious hospitality of Marcus and his team knows no bounds. Here, he welcomes American supplier LeAnn Jellinek with Threadless.

Truly an international show, 58% of visitors traveled from outside Germany – one in seven of them from overseas. California-based Jeff Smith, vice president/corporate of U.S. supplier Perry Ellis International (asi/77715) was a first-time attendee who spent the show working his company’s booth. “The PSI show more than surpassed my expectations in terms of pure size, energy and professionalism of the distributor attendees,” Smith said. “I knew if people were going to fly into Dusseldorf in January, they were here to work and were serious about their business. As a U.S. supplier trying to figure out how to grow and service their promo business internationally, the meetings I had were encouraging and confirmed my belief that more and more global corporations are seeking those manufacturers and distributors that can service them consistently throughout all their regions in a one-stop shop. As a premium apparel supplier selling Callaway, Original Penguin and Jack Nicklaus, it was encouraging to see the distributors responses to our high-performance technical fabrics that already dominate the U.S. market. We truly believe we can be on the front end of a possible European corporate apparel trend shift. For me, the PSI and PromoTex show were a perfect combination of professionalism, class and high-level networking mixed with the right amount of beer, brats and fun.”

European Promo Market Shows Growth, Albeit Slower Than U.S.
According to data presented at the opening press conference by the GWW, the umbrella association of the German promotional products industry, the German promotional industry grew 2%, up from €3.5 billion in 2017 to €3.58 billion ($4.1 billion USD) in 2018. That result cements the pole position of promotional products as the advertising medium with the strongest reach, said GWW President Frank Dangmann: “Promotional products reach 89% of the German population over the age of 14 – more than any other medium. With this kind of reach, promotional products are the undisputed leader.”

Freter noted the trend, led by millennials, of embracing brand experiences. “Zeros and ones alone don’t make marketing,” he said during PSI’s opening press conference. “What we’re currently experiencing is something of a haptic revolution. These days, in the age of digital reproducibility and arbitrariness, people are looking for brand experiences that are real and multisensory. This is a megatrend which of course has a positive impact on the promotional products industry. Trending right now are promotional products that are sustainable and high-quality, as well as those that merge the digital and analogue worlds.”

Of the many creative and innovative booths at the PSI Show – which can often look like high-end retail stores – this one looks like Airstream Trailer and was tricked so the inside was the perfect meeting room for sales consults.

This development matches the findings of the first market analysis designed to capture Europe-wide trends, according to which the promotional products industry turns over €14.9 billion ($17 billion USD) in Europe annually. That’s the finding of the Techconsult study “Industry Structure Analysis 2017-19,” which was conducted in cooperation with PSI and supported by a total of 13 partners and associations. The study shows that more than a third of total European sales are generated by micro-enterprises with less than 10 employees, making them the industry’s main source of revenue alongside large companies with over 250 employees. Together, both account for more than half of all sales.

Next year’s PSI, viscom and PromoTex Expo will take place in Düsseldorf from January 7-9, 2020. For more information, go to www.psi-messe.com.

More Photos

Eco and sustainable items are popular in the European market, especially among Millennial promo buyers, and this note pad, made from by-products of citrus fruit peels, corn, olives, coffee grinds and nuts is a perfect example.

PSI’s Opening Press Conference, held on January 8^th, featured the following VIPs: (From left): Petra Lassahn (Event Director); Stefan Roller-Aßfalg (Project Manager PromoTex Expo); Marco Schmitz, (Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia); Frank Dangmann (Chairman of the General Association of the Promotional Products Industry); Markus Herbrand (Member of the Bundestag, Full Member of the Finance Committee of the German Bundestag); and Michael Freter (Managing Director Reed Exhibitions Deutschland).

Celebrating another great PSI Show, as always, in the Elasto-Form booth with ASI’s president/CEO Tim Andrews, Elasto-Form’s Tobias Roesch and Magnet’s Dan Jellinek, a first-time visitor to the show.

ASI’s Tim Andrews with Ralf Oster, CEO of PF Concept, the European arm of Counselor Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA).

Another example of the great booth design at PSI, this one constructed with a beachy VW van to emulate a summer’s day enjoying the surf.

A clever way to display catalogs, in the Xindao booth.

New from PFConcept, the Squiddy is a flexible rubber device holder that can suction on to any glass service for convenient, hands-free viewing.

ASI’s Tim Andrews (center left) and PSI’s Michael Freter (center right) hosted the 4^th annual PromoAlliance international cocktail reception on the show floor, which welcomed members from PSI, ASI and UK-based Sourcing City. Each of the three promo entities work together in a strategic partnership to promote awareness, education and networking opportunities for the global promo industry. PromoAlliance’s next cocktail event will be at the Hong Kong Gift & Premium Fair on April 28^th. For more information, email Michele Bell at mbell@asicentral.com.