UFI Gives 2007 Awards to Zagreb, MIDEM
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 7/9/2007
UFI, the Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry, has presented awards to Zagreb Fair and Reed MIDEM.
Croatia's Zagreb Fair won the grand prize in UFI's Intl. Fair Poster Competition for its Zagreb Transport Show 2005 poster. UFI's international competition jury will present the 11th annual award at the 74th UFI Annual Congress in Versailles, Paris, Oct. 24–27.
France's Reed MIDEM received the 2007 UFI Marketing Trophy at the UFI Open Summer Seminar in Bilbao, Spain, for its MidemNet Forum. The two-day forum is a pre-show event supporting the annual music-industry trade fair MIDEM in Cannes, France.
Katja Luka Kovacic, Zagreb Fair director general, said designers Sanja Ris and Velimir Santel used animal characters depicting strength and perseverance, and that the winning poster's simplicity and original use of heavy transport technology told an interesting and inspiring story.
Kovacic added, for such competitions, a poster must creatively promote an exhibition, pay special attention to the concept and design to stand out from other posters, and provide clear information on fair dates.
"A poster's design has always played a significant part in communicating with the public. Today its role is even greater, especially in the exhibition industry, because we need to make a strong visual impression on our potential clients within a very short time," she said.
Reed launched its forum seven years ago to address the music industry's shift to digitalization and the Internet, issues of file sharing, and the creation of new revenue streams. Jane Garton, press manager for Reed MIDEM, said the forum has attracted new clients from the technology sector.
"The Reed MidemNet Forum shows how our exhibition industry can respond quickly and successfully to changing industry demands. No other marketing media can provide such rapid face-to-face opportunities for marketing new ideas and concepts," UFI Managing Director Vincent Gerard said.
The poster competition aims to encourage creative and effective graphic design in promoting exhibitions, said Lili Eigl, jury chair and UFI spokeswoman. The contest attracted 104 entries from 24 countries.
