The drupa, international flagship fair of the printing and media industry, responds to the challenges of the changing market and provides pioneering solutions for the future. The is highlighted by the new marketing and communication strategy developed by a consortium from Düsseldorf. The drupa claims its position as “No.1 for Print & Crossmedia Solutions“ with the slogan “touch the future”. The issues of “package printing”, “multichannel”, “green printing”, “3D printing” and “functional printing” will become increasingly important to the overall communication strategy.



The changed marketing and communication strategy was developed by a consortium comprised of marketing specialists from “Niehaus Knüwer and friends” and digital consultancy experts from “kpunktnull”. The two Düsseldorf-based companies impressed the panel with their pitch featuring an integrated multichannel campaign, which was favoured against four other agencies. “The drupa 2016 stands for cutting-edge technologies that vastly exceed the areas of printing and paper. Our market value analysis showed that the drupa is known for innovation, digitalisation, networking, integration, versatility, emotion and fascination. It is about a lot more than just printing machines and not just an exercise in navel-gazing by the industry. Emotions always play a major role. Visitors and exhibitors have always felt a strong emotional bond with the drupa. The drupa community is very vibrant and its members are committed to it,” Nicola Knüwer, Managing Director of Niehaus Knüwer and friends describes how she found the situation when they started with their concept. “Therefore, the drupa needs a tailored campaign, which emphasizes brand values as well as conveying that this is the beginning of something new, a fresh take of the concept. This event presents the future, this is where the future is already happening – and it addresses completely different target groups. In addition to printing experts, this group consists of designers, key executives from the packaging segment, R&D experts, purchasers from publishing companies or agencies as well as IT experts,” Knüwer explains. “It was important to endorse the drupa’s strong emotional appeal in order to touch the people. Therefore, we also focused on emotionality in the B2B segment. We touch the heart to reach the brain,“ Nicola Knüwer says. “The new slogan “touch the future” will be represented by a strong key signifier, which highlights the innovative strength of this industry and the drupa’s position as the industry’s flagship fair, while visualising the focus on the future and the beginning of a new era.“

The drupa 2016 intends to publicize its service range not only in classic printed media, brochures for potential exhibitor and visitor target groups and far-reaching international visitor campaigns, but also in an image film, which is to become an integral part of all communication activities “One is printing, the other is being printed. Our image film wants to touch the audience’s heart by conveying the drupa’s fascination. With emotional images and music, we give our viewers the following message: At the drupa, innovation can be touched,“ Silke Niehaus, Founder and Creative Director of Niehaus Knüwer and friends explains.

Another element of the communication concept is a visual system. The “highlight fan” represents the drupa’s six main topical highlights (printing, package production, multichannel, green printing, 3D printing and functional printing) which are depicted in different colours and provides a system that introduces a clear structure for easy orientation. Moreover, a corporate design manual ensures the consistent and systematic use of design elements by exhibitors, international representatives, Messe Düsseldorf subsidiaries and all cooperating partners.



“The first presentations in front of important key account representatives have shown: the concept is working. The scope of reactions ranges from confirmation to enthusiasm. In first meetings, we have received clear signals from key account customers that they will participate, which is definite proof that our strategy is right,“ Sabine Geldermann, drupa Director confirms the success of the new strategy. As part of a digital content strategy, the drupa will also position itself as a global news aggregator and trend filter of the printing industry. In addition to social web activities, the core of this strategy is a new, English-language drupa blog, which will go on-line in the Summer of 2015.

Niehaus Knüwer and friends / kpunktnull

The marketing specialist Niehaus Knüwer and friends develops ideas for brands, people and markets in a global network. Its service portfolio ranges from individual projects right through to 360° multichannel campaigns. The agency has been successful in the market for more than twenty years. The main focus is on the special areas of strategy, corporate design, PR, finance communication and digital.

The digital strategic consultancy agency kpunktnull develops strategies and strategic concepts for all digital areas from content marketing, mobile applications right through to social media and assists customers them with the implementation. Founded in 2009, kpunktnull works for major players such as Henkel, Deutsche Post or Janssen Cilag. The agency also designed the homepage strategy for the Schwarzkopf brand, which is considered as a trend-setting example of successful content marketing.

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