Inkjet & Digital Printing

Konica Minolta is withdrawing from Drupa 2021 while it engages with customers in new ways

Friday 09. October 2020 - Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe today announced its decision to withdraw from its participation in Drupa 2021. The company is focusing on new, customised formats in its collaboration with customers. The market leader in production printing for more than a decade (InfoSource) today announced its withdrawal from Drupa 2021.

The company is already using new, customised and digital or hybrid formats in exchange with its target groups and will continue to pursue this new type of engagement.
Olaf Lorenz, General Manager International Marketing Division Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe says: “We still believe very strongly in the power of personal relationships, and of course in the power of experiencing our portfolio and touching the printed products from our presses. That is why we are evaluating the possible combinations of virtual and real concepts. However, given the current global uncertainty it makes no sense for us to exhibit at Drupa or any other trade fair. The developments are too unpredictable. Our top priority is always to ensure that our employees, customers and all their families remain safe and sound. And while the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause disruption on a global scale, we have decided to end our physical presence at Drupa and other trade fairs for the foreseeable future.”
Since Drupa was postponed in June, the company’s rules had to be adjusted and it had to rethink what was possible for its customers and prospects. For example, Konica Minolta has set up a virtual showroom with many features for interactive exploration of its diverse product range in the print sector. At Konica Minolta’s Inkjet Competence Center in Bratislava, the company offers virtual live demonstrations, where products can be experienced with a two-way camera and interaction with Konica Minolta experts is possible.
Konica Minolta is also exploring opportunities for customised local events that leverage the best of two worlds: for customers to come and experience the new solutions and opportunities Konica Minolta has in store for them, while being safely embedded in their own country with no travel restrictions, and behind the scenes receiving the full power of a world leader in printing solutions – with global innovation, technology and expertise.
Olaf Lorenz concludes: “Our primary objective has always been and will always be to help shape ideas for our customers in a partnership-based approach – regardless of the ‘communication channel’, whether face-to-face or virtual. We are fully convinced that print will endure as a communication medium, even with the perceived threats from digital, mobile and virtual channels, which many people thought were the death sentence for our medium. In fact, despite the pandemic and the less predictable environment in which we all live today, print is flourishing and finding new ways to create impact and value, often alongside these other media channels. We will continue to explore these new ways of creating value with and for our customers and look forward to what lies ahead.
And he adds: “We have taken this decision with a heavy heart and with regret and wish the organisers every success for all future trade fairs. Drupa has always been one of the best events for the global print media industry. For me personally it would have been my fifth Drupa. It was always a highlight on the calendar, and I look forward to returning to future events when the time is right.