March 2022 saw the post-covid return of the Sign & Digital UK exhibition, at the NEC in Birmingham. For over 25 years, Sign & Digital UK has been an important event for sign making, display solutions and digital printing; providing a perfect platform for businesses and professionals to network, showcase the latest products and innovations, whilst at the same time celebrating the industry.
In 2019, Premier chose to launch their new Display Graphics division and dedicated portfolio of products at Sign & Digital UK. Since then, things have gone from strength to strength for Premier and their Display Graphics team, as they have developed their portfolio further to include products such as Ultraboard (the 100% recyclable honeycomb centred board – manufactured here in the UK), as well as improving their service offering with a dedicated conversion facility and joining associations such as ISA UK and FESPA UK.
There was a degree of concern in the build up to the 2022 Sign & Digital UK event, the industry’s first largescale exhibition since the Covid-19 pandemic, Brad Goldsmith Premier’s Marketing Services Manager reflects, “Naturally there was a degree of uncertainty before the start of the exhibition. I spent a lot of time going through everything, every piece of artwork and every little detail, asking ‘had we done enough’ and ‘what would the uptake be’; ultimately these were questions that the team and I had addressed months prior, but the pressure of an imminent exhibition in a post covid setting, raised these questions again.” As it transpires, Premier’s concerns were short lived as they had one of the busiest stands at the 2022 event."
Premier’s stand at the 2019 event took on a movie set theme, an apt choice given that it was Premier’s ‘premiere’, but for the 2022 exhibition they had something slightly different planned. Goldsmith remarks, “The team sat down in 2021 to establish our preliminary objectives for the SDUK exhibition. Given the disruption and the negative impact that the previous years had had on everybody, we felt that conveying a positive message was an important aspect of what we wanted to achieve; Sign and Digital for Premier, was about getting back to the future and that is where the core elements behind our stand design and message began.”
Premier’s stand took inspiration from the town square movie set of the 1985 cult classic ‘Back to the Future’. Complete with a courthouse mall and a movie spec Delorean DMC-12, the stand featured a 3.9m tall courthouse showing off an array of printed graphics as well as backlit Plexiglas windows. eTEC PVC-free leaves littered the grass around the base of each seven-foot tall Ultra Board tree, whilst FloorShark flames kicked out from beneath the Delorean’s back tyres.
Premier included a back-lit Contra Vision display unit as well as two demonstration zones, each with a Plexiglas window, to help showcase products including Neschen Solvoprint Window Grip Ultra Clear, KernowJet MetaliK and eTEC PVC-Free.
The combination of these different elements helped to ensure that Premier had a busy and engaging stand, the finishing touch however was actor Dean Taylor, who provided an energetic performance as Back to the Future’s Doc Brown. Goldsmith continues, “Sign and Digital UK exceeded our expectations; the footfall was better than we thought it would be and we captured almost 300 quality leads! It was great to see so many faces from the industry, along with some incredible stands and exhibitors. We’re already looking forward to seeing everyone again in 2023!”.
