The ‘Print Buyer Drupa’ —Sherburne

By 2004, we were seeing significant advances in ink-jet on a number of fronts, not the least of which was Kodak’s very high speed Versamark ink-jet production press. Perhaps from a trends perspective, we should think of Drupa 2004 as the ink-jet Drupa.

So where does that leave Drupa 2008? And what does that have to do with 1984? In addition to the expansion of the Drupa innovation parc in 2008, the show organizers also invested significant dollars in attracting print buyers and specifiers to this exhibition. In fact, they even built a separate, two-story building, the DrupaCube, to host these new attendees, including agency staff, designers and corporate marketing folks. The first floor was set up in a club-like environment, with displays of ways that major brands are effectively using print as part of their communications mix, while upstairs featured a series of educational seminars presented by industry experts.