FEATURE
Capturing the imagination
In September 2019, Faversham
House will be launching
Imagine – a new kind of design
event. EN catches up with
event director Jenny Matthew
to learn more
A
udiences are changing. Whereas
previously they might have been happy
to meet in a standard exhibition hall to
talk business, increasingly some industries are
beginning to demand more.
It’s this changing landscape that has inspired
Imagine, a new design event from Faversham
House, set to come to Tobacco Dock in
September 2019 as part of London Design
Festival.
Imagine will serve as a creative companion to
the organiser’s production-focused event Sign
& Digital UK, which takes place annually at
the NEC. Sign & Digital is a production show,
showcasing the equipment used for signage and
visual communications solutions, with a show
floor full of wide format printers and different
processes used to create signage.
“The idea for Imagine actually came from
the team that work on that show,” event
director Jenny Matthew tells EN. “They
spotted a gap in the market. Some exhibitors
wanted to see more end user buyers – retailers,
visual merchandisers, people who would
actually specify signage. A visual merchandiser
doesn’t want to go to an event and see a piece
of machinery, they want to see what could be
done for their window display.”
The team spent the summer of 2018 carrying
out a comprehensive research project to see
whether there was an appetite for an event that
could showcase the output from Sign & Digital
– and it turned out there was.
“When we did the research with the visitor
audience it became really apparent that the
traditional exhibition model wouldn’t work,”
continues Matthew. “They’re very creative.
They’re hungry for new ideas and inspiration
on social media. They are always looking at
things that they could then bring into their
design. A traditional exhibition – with shell
scheme and seminar theatres – is just not going
to work for these guys.”
The solution, says Matthew, was a change of
perspective. Rather than exhibitors, the event
will have visual partners; rather than floor
“When we did research
with the visitor
audience it became
apparent that the
traditional exhibition
model wouldn’t work”
space or shell scheme, the team will be selling
pitches.
“There will be a free-flowing feel to the
event, like going to an art gallery,” Matthew
continues. “Visitors looking for innovation
and inspiration want to feel wowed. We
want them to come to the event and think,
‘I’ve got to take a picture of that and post it
on Instagram’. It became really apparent that
Imagine needed to be an experiential and
immersive event. That’s why we’re doing things
slightly differently.”
The venue – Tobacco Dock in East London –
will also play an important part in the look and
feel of the show.
“We wanted a venue that was iconic in
its own right and an interesting venue to
go to,” says Matthew. “It lends itself really
nicely to having areas where companies can
display visual communication solutions in an
innovative way and in a way that suits what it
is they’re actually showing.”
The Imagine team has brought on a creative
director to curate the content at the show, bring
together the vision and branding for the event,
and help all the visual partners work together
to create a consistent theme.
The show will feature different areas entitled
‘I’m learning’, ‘I’m exploring’ ‘I’m discovering’
and ‘I’m creating’, with the creative director
working with each visual partner in each area
to make sure they have links to the theme.
21
The team will also be working with visual
partners to make sure that their pitches offer an
immersive experience. Imagine, says Matthew,
will be an informal event where visitors and
visual partners can still do business.
Finally, there will also be content at
the event. While the Imagine team is still
conducting audience research on exactly
what this might look like, Matthew envisions
something quite different to traditional
conference-style seminars.
As the trend of festivalisation was making
headlines and dividing opinion throughout
2018, it will be interesting to see how Imagine
develops as a different type of trade event. EN
exhibitionnews.co.uk | February 2019