Direct Marketing Show To Major On Digital Print

Digital print will be a key focus of The International Direct Marketing Fair (IDMF) 2005, as the event launches its first-ever digital print pavillion.

Digital print will be a key focus of The International Direct Marketing Fair (IDMF) 2005, as the event launches its first-ever digital print pavillion in association with the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF).

Variable data digital print, where each mail piece can be personalised to the individual recipient, is having a major impact on direct marketing.

Response rates to personalised and creative direct mail pieces are soaring to around 40 per cent on a regular basis, with waste levels reducing by up to 80 per cent said the show's organisers, Reed Exhibitions.

The pavillion will form part of The IDMF at Earls Court, London on 22, 23 and 24 February 2005.

It will encompass a 60-delegate theatre with eight speakers per day including keynote sessions.

There will also be a surrounding display area offering free advice on products and services directly related to digital print including: print supply, database management, design, and logistics.

Reed Exhibitions, and the BPIF are shortly expected to announce sponsors of the pavillion.

Despite predictions that direct marketing would become increasingly email-based and web-based, that has not proved to be the case, as spam filters, overflowing inboxes and heavy use of the delete key have reduced its impact.

Research indicates that direct mail is the preferred method of targeting marketing communications among 75 per cent of agency workers and 60 per cent on the client side.

Although print has always been an important aspect of the IDMF, which attracts more than 10,000 visitors annually, this is the first time that there has been a major focus on digital print.

Exhibition director Darren Whitehead said: "The effective use of digital print has the potential to increase response, reduce wastage, and improve customer relationships.

In doing so, it significantly improves return on investment.

Direct marketing industry leaders are already acknowledging the power of digital print and next years show will bring it to the mainstream." Cicely Brown, BPIF director of corporate and external affairs, said: "In recent years I've been seeing inspirational case studies of how digital printing can significantly improve the direct marketing process and its role in business.

We're tremendously keen to bring this story to as wide an audience as possible and we are convinced that the digital print pavilion at IDMF will provide a major boost to this objective.".

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