CH – The Umwelt Arena in Spreitenbach was transformed into the centre of the Swiss promotional products world for two days: This is namely where the industry association, PromoSwiss, organised the PromoSwiss Forum (PSF), the award ceremony of the PromoSwiss Awards in the scope of a gala dinner and the trade fair Touch on September 25 and 26.
The large crowds meant the hall was already full just after the Touch had opened.
As the prelude, the PSF gave the promotional products distributors the opportunity to inform themselves about the line-ups of the exhibiting suppliers, before the trade fair opened its doors up to end users the next day under the name Touch.
The Chairman of PromoSwiss, Urs Germann, welcomed the guests to the Gala Dinner.
On the evening of September 25, the PromoSwiss Chairman, Urs Germann and the Vice Chairman, Ina Klingele, invited industry representatives to the Award Dinner. In addition to a three-course meal and a comedy performance, the agenda included the award ceremony in four categories.
The Prodir ballpoint pen, the QS50 Stone, won in the category Upcycling/Recycling, the Oshibori Wellness & Refreshing Tissue by Coolike-Regnery was elected Advertising Novelty of the Year, the SBB ReMake Notebook by Pandinavia received the prize for the best unique item and comTeam AG Lacoray convinced the jury in the category Advertising Campaigns with an ugly sweater for Rivella as part of a Christmas Bake-off campaign.
On the next day, long queues formed in front of the Umwelt Arena. The rush of 952 visitors (2023: 860), who travelled to the Touch from all over Switzerland, pleased both the organiser and the 75 exhibitors (2023: 70). “We hardly had time to catch our breath and the quality of the discussions was really good,” explained Tamara Beister from Richartz. Joachim Schäfer, CEO of Schäfer Promotion, confirmed: “It is our first time here and we are overwhelmed. We will definitely come back next year.” Germann was satisfied all-round too: “The location fits in nicely with the important topic of sustainability, and we are observing that the products are continually being further optimised and that the quality is increasing. The customers want high-quality products, which they can use for storytelling. We want to impress them here and motivate them to touch the items.
The award winners of the PromoSwiss Awards and the distinguished products.
Using illuminated displays at the individual stands, touch-points were quite literally created that placed the spotlight on selected products. “The illuminated pillars work well. They attract the attention of the visitors,” commented Salvatore Sangiorgio from reisenthel. Furthermore, the visitors were targetedly guided through one aisle, which meant everybody had to pass by each stand. The overall concept was successful so the conclusion of Fabian Hugelshofer, Head Key Account at Pandinavia, one of the twelve sponsoring agencies, is not surprising: “The event is colourful, modern and inspiring. It is important that the Swiss market presents itself at such a high level.” Hugelshofer considered it to be one of the best Touch shows so far and this was probably also the positive impression the majority of the participants took home with them. //Andreas J. Haller
Photos: Andreas J. Haller, © WA Media
