International travel is great as it allows you to get your finger on the pulse of what different countries, clients and industries are going through. There were a couple of stark highlights that stood out to me this time around.

Globalisation is the first of them. From the exhibition floors of Euroshop to meetings with clients in the US and Austria, there was increased interest in global solutions with local expertise. Just like consumers shopping online, companies are looking further afield for smart POP solutions that help them achieve a point of difference and increased ROI. There is a strong movement towards suppliers that have a global footprint and can deliver products that showcase the brand, are easy to use and assemble in any retail environment and deliver cost efficiencies across to different countries. The phrase ‘think global, act local’ has never felt stronger.  

The second trend that has been gathering pace for a while is integration and extension. Euroshop was flooded with interactive and integrated technologies, shop fittings and heaps of other groovy stuff. Everywhere you looked, there were examples of how you could extend your brand across different platforms and maximize on marketing spend. 

An increased request for product adaptability was something I noticed from my client meetings. As marketers get more discerning, they are looking for products that have multiple uses over a longer period of time. And this is where semi-permanent trumps everything else as it allows you to own the space and shuffle seasonal products and do so for much longer than cardboard. Simple and easy to use, snap together units – Bingo!  

There is a palpable sense of excitement at CIS and we look forward doing more great work that will help our clients sell more products this year and drive our global awards tally.

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