THE BRIEF
AD Communications has proudly supported FESPA for more than 20 years, delivering strategic support, integrated communications and marketing strategies for both its flagship FESPA Global Print Expo and its wider corporate business activity.
In 2025, FESPA approached us with a new challenge.
Determined to reduce the waste generated by printing at exhibitions – and starting with its very own FESPA Global Print Expo 2025 – FESPA wanted to encourage its exhibitors to repurpose their printed samples from the event into educational resources. These resources would be sent to schools in underserved communities in the developing world to facilitate students’ education and create a positive impact.
This vision and initiative led to the official launch of the FESPA Foundation, FESPA’s charitable initiative, which operates under the slogan ‘Print For Good’.
THE STRATEGY
To maximise stakeholder engagement with the Foundation, FESPA needed a compelling narrative and a strategic communications approach to ensure its credibility, raise awareness and rally community support for the initiative.
It was important that the sustainability element of the initiative would be clearly understood, as evidence of FESPA’s wider commitment to environmentally responsible practices.
Equally, we needed to clearly position the launch of the Foundation as part of a comprehensive community-led philosophy which differentiates FESPA from most commercial event organisers.
To build momentum, attract donations and secure sponsorships, FESPA approached AD Communications for PR support, web content, social media activation and community engagement.
Reflecting our long partnership with FESPA, we were happy to provide these services on a pro bono basis for such a positive cause.
We suggested building on existing foundations by leveraging FESPA’s audience to ensure that the Foundation’s messages achieved immediate visibility with the relevant target audience, with an initial focus on exhibitors at FESPA Global Print Expo, and visitors to the show. This was vital to raise awareness of the FESPA Foundation’s presence (on stand) at FESPA Global Print Expo 2025, where in-kind and cash donations could be made.
After this, to maintain momentum, we proposed a regular flow of fresh content to showcase exciting updates from the newly-formed organisation – including milestones, success stories and testimonials from the schools benefitting from the Foundation’s work. This would be critical to keep the audience engaged and informed, with a view to secure a sustained influx of donations and longer term financial and in-kind commitments. With FESPA already having an established following across Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram, sharing on these platforms would be an effective way to drive engagement. We ensured that the content we created was relevant to each platform by using Linkedin for professional engagement and Instagram for a more visual storytelling approach, taking advantage of compelling emotional video content captured by the teams on the ground in South Africa.
THE TACTICS
With our established knowledge of the speciality print sector and FESPA’s audiences, we were well positioned to set the wheels in motion for the FESPA Foundation.
Launch moment
Our priority was to generate awareness around the launch of the FESPA Foundation ahead of FESPA Global Print Expo. We crafted a compelling launch story that outlined the vision behind the new organisation and its core mission by explaining how the FESPA community had already contributed and could continue to get involved.
We then used the platform of a press event onsite at the FESPA event in Berlin for FESPA’s CEO to share the Foundation’s story with an audience of influential editors, as part of a wider narrative about FESPA’s strategic mission. His passionate delivery ensured that this vital audience fully understood the potential impact of the initiative and ultimately resulted in significant media coverage and publisher offers to collaborate with the Foundation.
A continual flow of content
Following the launch, our focus shifted to maintaining momentum through regular, relevant and exciting updates. As key milestones were reached, such as the transformation of the first school, we developed a series of web articles for the FESPA Foundation web page. Theses illustrated the positive impact of the organisation and demonstrated how ongoing community support, both in terms of material and financial donations, are helping the FESPA Foundation to reduce waste from exhibitions and enhance educational environments for students in Africa.
Social activation
We provided end-to-end social media management to maximise both awareness and visibility of the FESPA Foundation. Our efforts included strategic content planning, and drafting and scheduling posts across Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram. We used targeted messaging to directly engage with the FESPA community, as well as social media reporting to track posts’ progress.
The goal was, and still is, to build visibility, credibility and sustained interest to maximise donations for the FESPA Foundation.
THE OUTCOMES
- Donations: We maximised visibility of the organisation, which facilitated £40,000 in monetary donations.
- Coverage: Since its launch, the FESPA Foundation has achieved over 200 pieces of coverage in 22 countries.
- Project expansion: The FESPA Foundation has transformed five schools in South Africa and one in Brazil, as it looks to support schools in Mexico too.
We were absolutely delighted to find out that we had Team AD on board with the FESPA Foundation. Having the opportunity to collaborate on such a heartwarming and positive project, with the support of our communications agency, has been an absolute pleasure. We look forward to continuing this journey with them by our side. Thank you, AD Communications.
Neil Felton
CEO
FESPA
