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PSI – The International Network of the Promotional Products Industry
PSI 2015 – The Leading European Trade Fair of the Promotional Products Industry
7 to 9 January 2015, Exhibition Centre Düsseldorf
9January 2015
Final report
Promotional products industry on the up and up
Dynamic launch into the new year for PSI
Düsseldorf. A small increase that hints at major hidden developments and a stable visitor count – that’s the best way to summarise the outcome of this year’s PSI. That’s because there’s a lot more to the 2% increase than is immediately apparent: for the first time in two years, nearly all the top international companies attended PSI again. They helped to define the show’s look and feel across the four exhibition halls. Adding an equally impactful breath of fresh air were the PSI newcomers and the new special areas – like the CATWALK inside the TEXTILE AREA, which provided a fashionable stage for promotional products. One thing was felt throughout the event above all: it’s been a long time since the atmosphere was as positive as this year.
“The PSI Showputs a human face on the market and gives a voice to the industry. This year’s PSI underscored that point in an impressive way”, said PSI Director Michael Freter as the three-dayexhibition came to a close. With a total of 873 exhibitors (prior year 852 – plus 2.4%) from 38 nationsand 16,290visitors (prior year 16,234 – plus 0.3%), PSI cemented its status as Europe’s most important industry meeting place. Major “returners”, including international market leaders such as PF Concept, Mid Oceans Brands, MACMA, SENATOR, Klio-Eterna Schreibgeräte, New Wave and Promodoro Fashion, as well asnearly 100 new “shooting stars” served as unmistakable beacons for the new momentumthat’s propelling the international promotional products market forward. Also underscoring this trend is the representative PSI Industry Barometer, which from now on will be used to gauge the sector’s mood throughout the year, as well.
Industry barometer shows upward trend
The analysis shows that more than half (51%) of the altogether736 surveyed promotional products suppliers and distributors organised in the PSI considered last year’s business trajectory as “trending upwards”, with one in three companies (30%) expecting at least stable development and only 19% noting declining business performance. This industry trend is in line with overall market data from the German-speaking countries: reaching EUR 3.48 billion (prior year 3.44 billion – plus 1.25%), turnover in the promotional products sector set a new record last year, according to the results of the industry monitor traditionally presented at PSI by GWW, the General Association of the German Promotional Products Industry.
Promotional products industry still trending up
What’s more, the outlook remains positive.Some 61% of companies expect further increases in the just-launched business year; only 9% fear sales declines, with the remainder anticipatinga steady economic trajectory. “This”, says Michael Freter, “reinforces a trend, namely that, after some difficult years recently, the mood change we started noticingat last year’s PSI is further picking up speed, including internationally.” Apart from the classic sales markets in Western Europe and overseas, many suppliers are forecasting strong medium-termincreases in cross-border trade with Poland and Russia.
Fresh, young promotional ideas in high demand
Regardless of whether it’s a trendy canvas bag with an organic solar cell integrated into the “skin” that feedsits energy into a rechargeable battery system serving as a charging device and sending out promotional messagesvia NFC code – the so-called “Sunbag” – or an acoustic amplifier made from mouth-blown glass: the sky’s the limit when for the ingenuity and creativity of the promotional products industry. Confirming this notion were the awards presented at the 53rd PSI for the PSI FIRST Club and the PSI Campaign of the Year. For detailed information on the awardwinningproducts and people, please visit
New: PSI Sustainability Award
Sustainability is an issue that’s front and centre in the contemporarypromotional products industry. With numerous suppliers presenting CSR-certified products, that reality was also reflected at this year’s PSI. By now, nearly 60% of suppliers consider sustainability a topic of utmost importance, according to one result of the PSI Industry Barometer. “The promotional products sector knows how to deliver sustainability. What’s missing right now is a common standard and a road map to navigate the jungle of certificates”, says Michael Freter. Against this backdrop, PSI will invite submissions for the first-ever PSI Sustainability Award, which from now onwill recognise companies, products and campaigns in a total of eight categories.
Compliance initiative
PSI, together with the GWW, has set out to enhance its educational efforts on compliance, announced GWW Chairman Patrick Politze at the PSI opening press conference. Experts estimate that the industry loses tens of millions of euros in sales every year because of excessive compliance rules. “Often it’s because companies are tying their own hands, well beyond what the law requires”, says Düsseldorf-basedlawyer and compliance expert Andreas Riegel. Many of the measures practiced by individual companies aren’t necessary, he adds. “There’s considerable leeway here, and we have to start using it through proactive education”, says Michael Freter.
The 54th PSI will take place in Düsseldorf from 13 to 15 January 2016.
Up-to-date image material from PSI for editorial use is available at
Note: PSI’s visitor, exhibitor and floor space figures are calculated and certified according to the uniform definitions published by FKM – German Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics.
Exhibitor statements:
“PSI 2015 was a very, very huge success. We were absent for two years, so we are very happy to be back on the PSI. It was very busy, very crowdie, lots of customers. During the first two days we had more than thousand companies visiting our booth. Also the quality of the meetings we had was extremely high. The atmosphere is a very positive, so we believe that our customers are totally motivated and positive for the new future.”
Serge Mertens, Director, BENELUX PF Concept International B.V.
“We’ve been in business for over 50 years and are one of the oldest companies in the market. Over the last two years, we’ve reorganised our company under new leadership, and we own the industry’s largest and most innovative print and logistics centre in Europe. That’s what we now wanted to show to the visitors of the trade fair. PSI is the right platform because it’s Europe’s largest trade fair in this segment. We’re glad to be back again.”
Christof Achhammer, Country Manager, Mid Ocean Germany GmbH
“We’re satisfied.We already saw lots of visitors at our standright on the first day. Both our regular customers and new customers showed up. We also perceived the atmosphere at the trade fair as very positive because important key players were there and because many competitorsalso returned along with us. That means things are on the up and up. Looking ahead, we see compliance emerging as an important but also difficult topic that will require a more intense industry focus.”
Christian Huff, CEO, MACMA
“PSI offers the perfect platform for anyone kicking off the year with a relaunch. We received fantastic feedback for our brand relaunch and our new product range. The 50 new, brilliant colours for our new Liberty, the new Challenger eco and the new senator(r) Magic Flow Mine received a particularly enthusiastic response. We also saw extremely high traffic at our stand, with both national and international customers. We felt that the mood across the industry as a whole was also very positive. In our opinion, the degree of professionalism is going up, which is a good development for the sector. We felt great about our return to PSI and are very satisfied with this year’s trade fair.”
Beate Anniés, Chief Marketing Officer, SENATOR GmbH
“The number of visitors attending this year’s PSI was highly satisfactory. We had great conversations and received excellent feedback for our products. The big international market players were all here. We’re correspondingly satisfied. We’ll be back again in 2016.”
Alexander Slemp, Marketing & Sales Director, Klio-Eterna Schreibgeräte GmbH & Co KG
“It was an awesome PSI with lots of visitors and interesting contacts. The event is important for us so we can present technology to the market, because lots of people don’t even realise all the things technology can do. A trend we’ve noticed is that customers are honing in specifically on customisation. Of course we’ll be back next year.”
Mike Horsten, General Manager Marketing, EMEA Mimaki Europe B.V.
“It was a terrific and successful trade fair with lots of familiar as well as new contacts. The second day was particularly turbulent, with crowds of customers from around the world. It’s nice to see that former exhibitors have found their way back to PSI. The Technology Forum this year is very attractive, and it’s awesome how large it is. Maybe this segment will grow even further in future. We’ve been participating for a long time, and we’ve already booked for 2016, too.”
Birgit Maier-Jäckle, Marketing, Teca-Print AG
“PSI was another great trade fairfor us. Wednesday was a fantastic dayalready, but of course Thursday was the main day, which went really well for us. That’s why the trade fair was really successful for us. The industry is on the way up again. We look forward to next year and will definitely take part again.”
Kai Gminder, Managing Director, Gustav Daiber GmbH
“The mood in the sector is once again great right now. One can feel that people have started the year very positively and have high expectations for the new year. We consider sustainability a very important future topic that’s getting more and more traction.”
Melanie Schuster, Head of Sales, Promodoro Fashion GmbH
“PSI is one of the most important trade fairs in the promotional products market, and it’s very well regarded internationally, too. We aim to reflect this internationalism at our stand by welcoming representatives from many different countries onsite. Visitor traffic at our stand was very high in general. We also felt that the overall mood this year was really positive. A topic that’s gaining steadily in importance is sustainability. We believe it’s important that we return to valuing the product itself more.”
Götz Hofmann, Sales Manager, New Wave GmbH
“We see more the aim for quality, more service and more innovation in the industry. This year SOL`s is focusing with its new collection “Anywear”, Multispecialist for all needs, categories, promotional, prowear, sportwear, “fashion”, with this the Designed in Paris’ touch and best value For Money. To guarantee the best quality, we are from years into the best certification (The Fair Wear Foundation, Exotech, Reach, ISO 9001, and so in), significant stock availability and an efficient supply chain for Customer Satisfaction.”
Laurent Ostrowsky, Managing Director, SOL’s
“We’ve seen much higher visitor numbers and demand at our stand. It was incredibly busy. We only had enough catalogues for the first two days. We’re very satisfied with the way the trade fair went.”
Franz Bernhard, Operations Manager, Bartl GmbH
“PSI exceeded our expectations this year. We saw lots of interested visitors as well as new contacts. The high degree of internationality we noticed was particularly positive. Among our visitors were many customers from Poland, from Eastern Europe in general and from Scandinavia. We had two strong first days and hope to have great talks on the third day, too. What we especially noticed in 2015 from a distributor perspective was the new attractive look of the show. The CATWALK, in particular, but also the special areas stand out as gorgeous eye-catchers. We’re really satisfied.”
Frederik Grill, Brand Ambassador, Retap Office Germany
“We were very satisfied. We received excellent feedback, especially because we’re a company that’s focussed on innovations. Those were very well received. Our contacts – among them lots of high-value new ones – also included many international visitors, all of whom were thrilled by our products. We’re equally thrilled. We’ll be happy to return again next year.”
Liron Gormanns, Sales Manager, OPTAMIT GmbH
“The trade fair was highlyprofitable for us becausewe saw an incredibly high number of visitors, especially when taking into account the size of our exhibition area. In particular, we made lots of new and international contacts. Moreover, we perceived visitor quality to be really good.”
Oliver Gothe, Managing Director, Fair Squared GmbH