THE BRIEF
Like the rest of the world, FESPA was severely affected by the pandemic and its global exhibitions were cancelled during this period. Since 2020, FESPA – and the specialty print sector as a whole – has demonstrated resilience and worked hard to rebuild.
By Spring 2025, FESPA had successfully navigated and emerged from that challenging period, with its global exhibition portfolio back to strength and new events making their debut. However, the determined focus on event recovery meant that FESPA’s wider community-oriented mission had lost visibility and momentum, despite being a significant competitive differentiator.
THE STRATEGY
As FESPA’s long-standing communications partner, AD Communications recognised that FESPA needed to solidify its position as a driver of the industry’s future, not just a host of events.
We identified a clear opportunity to leverage the moment, five years on from the start of the pandemic to rebuild awareness of FESPA’s continued activities as a global business support organisation for speciality printers and elevate the brand narrative to reflect FESPA’s total proposition to its stakeholders.
We proposed a strategic communications initiative under the banner ‘FESPA Future’ to articulate FESPA’s wider mission and activity programme to its various stakeholders – the established member community, prospective members, exhibitors, media and industry commentators, and the speciality print sector at large.
The FESPA Future narrative sets out an updated vision of FESPA’s Corporate activity. It positions FESPA as a forward-facing, agenda-setting organisation with a confident view of its leadership role for its evolving community, while also explaining how FESPA continues to contribute proactively to the growth of stakeholders’ businesses.
FESPA Future would provide a structured messaging and content framework for FESPA’s Corporate communications going forward. The central themes would provide multiple platforms for the continued profiling of senior FESPA spokespeople, such as CEO Neil Felton, and would also provide concrete talking points for the new FESPA President, Daniel Sunderland, being inaugurated at the Berlin show.
THE TACTICS
In collaboration with the FESPA team, AD Communications delivered ‘FESPA Future’ as a manifesto-style document launched at FESPA Global Print Expo 2025 in Berlin, Germany. With key audiences and media physically present, the event provided a strategic platform for high-impact on-site press engagement.
We developed the manifesto to consolidate and reframe FESPA’s full community offering in a single, compelling narrative – from knowledge-sharing and youth engagement to trend insight and emerging market opportunities – clearly evidencing its value to members and the wider industry.
Together with FESPA, we aligned the initiative with the refreshed branding and new strapline ‘Connect, Inspire, Support’ to position the document as a flagship ‘hero’ asset. We shaped the content through in-depth interviews with stakeholders across FESPA’s network, including national Associations, leadership, and its charitable Foundation, surfacing initiatives spanning training, networking, and ‘Print for Good’.
The resulting report brought together the breadth of FESPA’s corporate activity into a cohesive, forward-facing narrative, reinforcing its position as a community-driven organisation while creating a structured platform for ongoing communications.
Following launch, we established the manifesto as a central website asset and developed a programme of digital and editorial activity to amplify its themes, and ensure consistent messaging across all corporate communications.
THE OUTCOMES
- Clearly articulated FESPA’s Corporate vision, which aligns with its new messaging pillars.
- FESPA Future Phase One (the manifesto) was published in 34 publications, across 9 countries.
- Social posts on FESPA’s platforms, announcing FESPA Future, performed highly.
Our role as a community organisation is a key differentiator for FESPA, but the positive initiatives we fund globally from our events’ profits are often overshadowed by their scale. We’re delighted to have FESPA Future as a platform to highlight what we do for our community beyond our exhibitions. AD Communications has helped us to clearly define our vision and showcase these highlights more proactively.
Neil Felton
CEO
FESPA
