Innovations continue driving the industry
World Publishing Expo 2012 concludes highlighting the key challenges newspaper establishments need to address with effective innovations, identifying ways to monetize their assets comprehensively. India stands among the top twenty visitor countries (from outside Germany).
With over 7,000 visitors from more than 83 countries, the World Publishing Expo, the world’s largest exhibition for the news publishing and media industries concluded in Frankfurt, Germany. Organised by WAN-IFRA during October 29-31, the 42nd annual exhibition witnessed 261 exhibitors from 30 countries, including printing press manufacturers, editorial and advertising system providers, new media providers and other suppliers to the newspaper industry.
Fifty-five percent of visitors came from outside of Germany, underlining the international scope of the event. Top twenty visitor countries (from outside Germany), included: Norway (328), Netherlands (300), France (271), Finland (259), Italy (242), United Kingdom (242), Switzerland (212), Sweden (210), Belgium (167), Austria (154), Denmark (115), Russian Federation (88), Spain (78), India (70), USA (62), Turkey (60), Japan (58), Poland (47), Czech Republic (43), and China (33). The Publishing Expo also offered a series of conferences and seminars on print production, tablets and apps, social media, paid content and other subjects crucial to the future of news publishing. A number of major orders were signed by production supplier companies during the Expo, including Eidos Media, Wifag, ppi Media, Saxotech, 5 fifteen, Digital Collections, DCOS and others.
“By all accounts, the Expo was productive for both exhibitors and visitors alike,” said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO of WAN-IFRA. “The unique value of the World Publishing Expo comes from WAN-IFRA’s global approach of integrating it into a strong mix of events, workshops and research programmes, held over the course of the year around the world. The Expo is just the tip of the iceberg.” “Given the economic climate and the technological transformation of news publishing, these exchanges between publishers and their partners in the supplier community come at a crucial time,” he said. “It is clear that many of the innovations that power the news publishing business originate with these suppliers. This year’s Expo offered much that holds great promise for the future of publishing.”
Convergence of innovations...
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The expo witnessed the successful launch of ABB’s MPS DistributionDataPlanner. The company also announced the first order from the Druckzentrum Rhein Main in Ruesselsheim, Germany, for this new system for handling distribution data for third party orders. The scope of supply also includes ABB’s MPS DeliveryPlanner for the handling of the transport and logistics of both in-house and third-party products. MPS DistributionDataPlanner is a solution for the global importing, entry and processing of various forms of distribution data for the production of third-party products. It eliminates the need for expensive interfaces or changes to existing systems. It cuts through the complexity and simplifies the whole process, increasing transparency, eliminating errors, and gives additional flexibility to meet the needs of customers. The system converts any CSV-based input data format (with addresses, drop points etc.) into a standard format suitable for the production systems and handles all common forms of packing and distribution.
Agfa Graphics showed the newest features of :Arkitex Eversify, its Software as a Service solution for automating publications’ print content for mobile devices. :Arkitex Eversify’s innovative approach allows publishers to bring their brand to their tablet and smartphone readers while taking advantage of a mobile device’s ability to offer the great interactive reader experience they are looking for. Agfa Graphics also showed brand-new cloud based solutions dedicated to newspaper production workflows. Managed services and dedicated cloud infrastructure enable newspaper publishers and printers to streamline their production flows whether for paper or mobile devices. :Arkitex Cloud from Agfa Graphics is such a service. Besides, the company announced that it has improved its world’s leading violet chem-free plate solution for newspapers.
Sharing their point of views, Peter G Marsh, senior vice president sales & marketing, Atex Group, conveyed, "It's been a fantastic show for us - not only from our current customers, but we've generated more new leads from prospective customers than any time that I can recall coming to WAN-IFRA. People are especially interested in our OneView product suite."
As per Kim Svendsen, marketing manager, CCI Europe, “At the World Publishing Expo, we certainly feel that we met the right decision makers and got the chance to introduce ourselves to people and organizations we wouldn't have met at other conferences or events. Media companies look globally for new ideas and suppliers, and the opportunity to meet hundreds of qualified decision makers and other suppliers from literally all over the globe over these three days is absolutely great.”
Ferag demonstrated their new inserting machine MiniSert at the World Publishing Expo 2012 in Frankfurt. MiniSert is aimed at newspaper markets that have until now inserted manually, although their volume of inserts would justify a change to the automatic process. With MiniSert, newspaper printers now have the option to make an inexpensive change to automatic inserting. At a comparatively low operating cost and a disproportionately high degree of production security, the inserting process can be brought to a new performance level.
The FlexLiner met with great interest among trade fair visitors at Muller Martini’s stand during the World Publishing Expo.
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manroland web systems’ focused topics at World Publishing Expo 2012 included: the new manroland web systems - COLORMAN e:line, and CROMOMAN 4-1; new Operating Concept with new functions; digital printing in cooperation with Océ; and Service Secures Future. At press conference during the event, Peter Kuisle executive vice president, manroland web systems also presented a success story of their first nine months. “Our order backlog is secured; new orders have been placed (manroland web systems – order intake 2012: 22 newspaper presses including fourteen COLORMAN, three GEOMAN, three REGIOMAN, two UNISET, and two CROMOMAN; twelve commercial presses including nine LITHOMAN, two EUROMAN, and one ROTOMAN; and two digital presses - JetStream 4300 with VPF-211 folder); drupa was a success with considerable orders; our new operating concept creates a lot of interest; processes in manufacturing, engineering and project execution are stable; the service business is stabilized; the co-operation with Océ is being continued; and we target a positive result in our first year with our new owner Possehl,” he explained.
Muller Martini also demonstrated the advantages
of its MMServices programme in Frankfurt.
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After proving to be a major draw when it was first unveiled at drupa in Dusseldorf last May, the new FlexLiner newspaper inserting system from Muller Martini also attracted a large number of visitors at Muller Martini’s stand during the World Publishing Expo for the newspaper industry in Frankfurt. The numerous visitors were clearly impressed by Muller Martini’s power to innovate at a time that is far from easy for newspaper producers and system manufacturers. Muller Martini gave demonstrations both of the high performance and flexibility of the FlexLiner (the FlexLiner comes into its own particularly when used to process advertising magazines with a large number of inserts and many delivery zones), as well as the new feeder technology, which ensures high product quality. Muller Martini also showed how the FlexLiner offers new opportunities for product design and innovative insert marketing thanks to selective main section feeding and the adhesion of inserts as FlexAds to the front or back page of main jackets. In addition to the FlexLiner, Muller Martini also showed the advantages of its MMServices programme at the Expo. “The World Publishing Expo confirmed our experience in recent years that many customers have expressed growing interest in services, retrofits, updates and upgrades,” said Daniel Langenegger, member of the board of directors of Muller Martini, “With our MMService Programme we ensure that newspaper producers are able to increase the life span of their mailroom through manageable investments.”
At the expo 2012, ppi Media presented itself as a multi-channel service provider of cross-media solutions. “We are very happy with the outcome of the World Publishing Expo 2012. Our expectations were even surpassed,” said Norbert Ohl, managing director of ppi Media, summing up the results of the leading trade fair for newspaper technology from the Hamburg software producer’s point of view, which is based on three contracts, an extremely popular booth that was highly frequented throughout the entire trade fair, and productive discussions with potential and existing customers, both domestic and foreign. “In the past, ppi Media was seen purely as a print expert. This point of view has changed, certainly since this year’s trade fair. The market now sees us as a provider for web, mobile and tablet services,” said Norbert. The new solutions, such as the editorial system Content-X, Ditto Publisher for publishing on tablets and mobile devices, and AdX for ad solutions, now pave the way for customers to offer cross-media publishing. The positive feedback it has received confirms that ppi Media is right on track since merging with the Evers-Frank Group and the Bertsch Innovation Group.
For Protecmedia, the trade fair was undoubtedly a success. And this was due to the large number of people attending the stand, which meant a large number of demos carried out for many people interested in its solutions and ideas. Much attention also focused on two clinics which were given at the stand during IFRA Expo, carried out by the technical directors of the Spanish group Unidad Editorial and of the Swiss group ESH Management, Alex Palomo and Frederic Gris, respectively. The former explained the experience of Orbyt, the pay platform for the group's contents and everything related to the new business model, while the latter explained the present situation of ESH Management's four newspapers in iPad format. Protecmedia was also fantastically represented at the IFRA Expo, the space at the trade fair reserved for new technological trends and the most interesting case studies. There, Pedro Madrid, head of Protecmedia's pre-sales area, spoke about advertising on tablets and the vast range of possibilities which they offer. In addition, Alex Palomo presented the Orbyt case study at the Media Port.
Hans Janssen, CEO, WoodWing Software: "We're positively surprised. Entering the booth on Sunday and looking at the size of the hall and the amount of exhibitors was a bit shaky for us – of course we saw the plans and it was not a complete surprise – but then it started Monday morning and it went on until now, I mean it’s now Wednesday – what is it two o’clock? – and it has been great. I mean we’ve been booked full for two and a half days, and have been having discussions … and it looks like people are searching and are buying so far, in order to help them make money and cut costs. So things are happening. The industry is more dynamic than ever—that’s what we’ve experienced.”
How to control costs in publishing workflows and how to monetize media assets and new channels, are some of the key challenges publishers worldwide need to address. The high number of visitors at WoodWing's booth showed there is huge interest in how WoodWing's solutions address these issues. The company exhibited the new version 8 of its multi-channel publishing system Enterprise and its editorial management application Content Station at the World Publishing Expo. Another highlight was Elvis DAM, the new generation digital asset management solution WoodWing acquired in October.
The next Expo…
The 2013 World Publishing Expo will be held in Berlin, Germany, during October 7-9, 2013. With the vibrant ecosystem of innovators located in the area, Berlin will bring a unique opportunity to strengthen the new personality of the World Publishing Expo in 2013.
The coinciding event…
Twelve news publishers have been designated ‘Social Media Stars’ in the 2012 XMA Cross Media Awards, presented at a ceremony during the World Publishing Expo in Frankfurt, honouring news media companies that make the best use of social media. “These winners demonstrate just how quickly newspapers have mastered the art of social media, and how quickly they are adapting to the rapid changes in technology, audience preferences, and multimedia news delivery,” said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO of WAN-IFRA. “XMA shows again in 2012 that the mission for news publishers is, and has always been, about engaging audience." The annual awards from WAN-IFRA honour those publishers who have mastered audience engagement and gained large followings on Twitter, Facebook, or on other social media platforms.
Notably, like last year, no Indian newspaper could win any of the 2012 XMA Cross Media Awards. Previously, it was Malayala Manorama who made India proud winning the 2010 XMA Cross Media Award for ‘Ente Naadu’. Also, in XMA Cross Media Awards 2009 competition, all awards went to publishing houses from five European countries. For ‘IFRA XMA Cross Media Awards 08, four projects were entered from India in which three – ‘Bollywood lunch contest’, ‘Fosters presents MiD DAY happy hours at work’ and ‘ZING! Style @work’ - were from Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd, and remaining one ‘customers-the apple way’ was from Malayala Manorama; but the winner was only the ‘Bollywood lunch contest’ project. While for 2007 and 2006 editions of these awards, there was no winner from India.
