Bringing our strategy to life at the world’s leading trade fair for the print industry

June, 2024

Author:

Emma Townend, Content Strategist 

How it started

drupa is the world’s leading trade fair for the printing industry and the Emota team were asked by Ricoh to bring their vision to life. This project touched so many departments: originating in the Exhibitions team, it included experiential strategy, concept, stand design, production, graphic design, 3D animation, film, content strategy, and delivery.  

The team, led by Project Director Oliver Rogers, built and produced an immersive theatre show, edited 18 different product and service films, crafted 8 interactive touch screens and created hundreds of pieces of print and artwork, all within a beautifully designed 1200 sqm exhibition stand. 

On this project, as Content Strategist, it was my role to bring all the film, interactive, printed and comms content together, ensuring the overall strategy was followed and that we created a cohesive delegate experience.  

Just some of the amazing team who helped deliver the job. 

Our very impressive entrance, which has an amazing echo if you stand in just the right spot! 

How it went

When I finally arrived in Dusseldorf, it was amazing to see the scale. On the opening day, we couldn’t have been prouder of what everyone had achieved. There was a lot of hard work involved, but the team were incredible and a lot of laughs were had along the way. 

Hearing such positive feedback from our clients across Ricoh was probably the most rewarding moment in my career to date. Snippets I heard that will hopefully be captured in the case study to follow included:  

“It’s just amazing to see people walking on here with their mouths open”,  

“What you’ve created isn’t just an exhibition stand; it’s a destination”,  

“The content you’ve created has helped so much with conversations on the stand”. 

Uchida, the incredibly talented manga artist, in action and a showcase of some of the beautiful graphics we created.

A teaser of what’s inside The House of HENKAKAU  

Once everything was running smoothly with Ricoh, I did get a chance to do some exploring of the other halls. Chris Edwards – Creative Director on the project – and I had a great time checking out the competition. It was amazing to see what others had (and hadn’t done). We both have different focuses overall, but there were some key themes I’m sure we’ll want to reflect on further in due course: 

• Considering your audience is important. As a Creative and Content Strategist, we weren’t the target market for these printers, as we’re not going to make a purchase. However, we could be the end user, needing the right technology to enhance our designs and content  
• Good architecture and design is always where you need to start. If a stand looks interesting from the outside, you want to find out more 
• An attractor is important to keep you there and make you engage. It might be some interactive content/a big show/cool tech or in the case of a print show – a really cool bit of print/design 
• It’s all well and good having a great attractor, but if the messaging isn’t there, or isn’t right, it isn’t worth it. You shouldn’t just include something for the sake of it – if I can’t work out how I can apply what you’re selling to my world, it’s of limited interest  
• Finally, NEVER underestimate the importance of good booth staff. Passing one booth, we were drawn in by some beautiful print embellishments and ended up chatting for 20 minutes. Considering the tight timescales we were on, that was a significant investment of time! 

As I headed home, I was physically exhausted, but mentally so inspired – both by what we’d achieved and where we might be able to take it next time.