Core values of news media focused at
World Publishing Expo 2015
World Publishing Expo, the largest global trade exhibition for the newspaper and news
publishing industry, organised by WAN-IFRA, recently concluded its 45th edition in a
successful note at Hamburg with a call for strengthening the core values of independent
news media and taking ‘the long view’ for developing news media companies in the digital
age. ALL ABOUT NEWSPAPERS captures here a brief account of the expo.
Organised in the seaport city of
Hamburg, WAN-IFRA’s World
Publishing Expo 2015 was structured
as it usually did into different sections of
programmes: Newsroom Summit, Mobile
News Summit and World Printers Forum.
It was the third time that the expo ‘docked’
in Hamburg. The trade show included more
than 200 exhibitors, representing some of the
major suppliers to the publishing industry,
alongside dozens of newcomers and startups
that brought new ideas into the media
industry. Among the new features at the expo
this year was a dedicated ‘Start-Up Area’.
Fresh values
Opening of the expo was marked with a
welcome remark from Olaf Scholz, the first
mayor of the city of Hamburg, conveying
his message of news media’s essential
position in the society, “The (news media)
sector plays a key role in creating a wellorganised
social and cultural life, making
it an essential component of Hamburg’s
self-perception.” He continued, “Now, it’s
about making sure that the structure of the
media and creative business, which has
developed over decades, successfully takes
the leap into the digital future—a process
that holds numerous challenges, but is also
rich in opportunities.”
The expo also offered a Color Quality
Workshop and a Wearables Workshop, as
well as Innovation Tours to leading media
companies in Hamburg. “We are here to
learn how to take advantage of the amazing
tools that are in our hands today. We are
also here to take the long view, to consider
what the future of journalism will hold in 10
to 20 years,” said Marcelo Rech, president,
World Editors Forum, at the 14th Annual
International Newsroom Summit, one of the
conferences that took place during the expo.
“We are here to preserve the journalistic
integrity of our newsrooms and freedom
of expression,” he added.
World Publishing Expo 2015 brought together
suppliers to the industry with its thought
leaders and decision makers. In addition
to the exhibition, which showcased the
latest technologies, the event featured 200
speakers sharing their success stories in a
variety of conferences and forums.
Some showstoppers
A collectively tremendous showcase it
was, a league of machine and technology
manufacturers as well as suppliers in
the news media industry put up their
latest marvels on display, be it printers,
mechanisms, software, and others. Among
them, manroland web systems and its
customers had been high flyers. The
company spent the customer evening above
the city roofs of the hanseatic city. But
also during the daytime at their exhibition
booth the atmosphere was great—the expo
as a communication platform has again
been a success this year for the company.
Valued visitors from all over the world
held business talks with the manroland web
systems professionals. The leading topic was
of a future proof integration of print rooms
in times of decreasing new investments.
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The experts from manroland web systems
shared their views and solutions for high
volume newspaper presses as well as for
digital workflows and retrofits. Everybody
was particularly pleased about the signing
of a long-term service contract with Kenya’s
leading newspaper printer Nation Media.
‘Feeling at home’ – this is what ppiMedia
nostalgically termed this year’s World
Publishing Expo organised in its home
port Gutenberg. Major showcase this
software developer brought to display at
their booth this year comprised Content
X, a revolutionary cross media editorial
solution system and AdX, its cross channel
ad reservation system. In addition to the
showcase of these products at their booth,
ppiMedia led visitors to the editorial offices
of Impulse, one of the leading magazines
in Germany, where visitors experienced
live demo of the software. The visitors
were astounded to the demonstrations of
the fascinating insights into the magazine’s
productive utilisation of Content X, which
has made advantages into data analysis,
semantic search functions and connection
to social media allowing the software to
recognise and the customers to capitalise
on stories trending on social media.
On the other side, AdX is a new ad
booking system with full of advantages.
By using this integration system, media
consultants can use their tablets to view
available ad space and book it for digital
and print directly onsite at the customers’
offices. ppiMedia has installed this software
to Gutenberg Rechenzentrum’s ad booking
system VI&VA and productively running.
This year, Lineup, ppMedia’s ad partner
in ad solutions, was also a crowd-pulling
exhibitor at the show.
As Q.I. Press Controls and EAE closed
million deals last year during the World
Publishing Expo in Amsterdam, the
partners gathered success again this year
in Hamburg. This year, for QIPC – EAE
the show was dedicated to networking and
synergy. Many interested people visited
the joint stand with a variety of questions
where QIPC–EAE’s products could be
of help. Bernhard Schmiedeberg, sales
manager, EAE, said, “There was plenty of
opportunity to talk to our customers and
listen to them. The released information
is very valuable for QIPC – EAE. In the
upcoming period, we will work together
with many different customers in order
to optimise our products and services to
them and perhaps to generalise to other
customers.”
QIPC – EAE concluded the show with
a handful of orders. Picking up one
among others, Funke, one of the largest
media groups in Germany with printing
facilities in Hagen, Essen, Braunschweig
and Erfurt, placed an order at QIPC –
EAE for thirteen towers on their Hagen
site. Q.I. Press Controls will deliver the
IDS-3D colour register and control and the
mRC-3D for cut-off and side-lay control.
In addition, the IQM (Intelligent Quality
Management) will be delivered what, in
combination with EAE’s VIP Link, will
provide the quality reporting for Funke.
The reason the large media group has
chosen for Q.I. Press Controls is the
experience, the reference base and the
confidence in the combination of QIPC
– EAE as partners.
At the end, World Publishing Expo 2015
revealed the core values of how the news
media industry would glide own the future
lane. In an overall development, the expo
contributed to the motivation that pushed the
industry to a new direction of ‘digital era’.
