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For its 2008 edition, the Viscom-Sign España show has decided to go with a poster campaign in which colour plays a key role, with a graphic design based on silhouettes of hands making universal and easily recognisable signs. In one of the versions, the hands are shown making the victory sign. This sign is made even more powerful with an added meaning: although the first mental association is with the concept of a winning event, the fingers also represent V for Viscom.

The messages which have been developed for the rest of the exhibition’s campaign make reference to the many uses of hands, which are a tool for achieving a variety of goals. They are an instrument for controlling technology, which has an increasingly greater presence in the products and services offered by the companies exhibiting at the Viscom-Sign España show. But they are also a medium for expressing emotion: we shake hands to close a deal or to greet someone, a hug expresses more than many words, etc. In short, the sense of touch is fundamental.

The new Viscom-Sign España 2008 campaign shows that hands work to lead the way, that the important thing is what you ‘have a hand in’. In addition, the image on the main poster – in which the fingers are making the victory sign – provides a coherent link to a variety of possibilities along the same lines. And so the other posters for the event recreate other symbols which can also be made with the hands, such as the ‘OK’ sign (with the thumb and index finger forming a circle) and the ‘thumbs up’ sign.

‘Take the lead’ in everything

Together with the symbolism of the hands, and the signs they are able make, the slogan ‘Take the lead’ clearly establishes a position for the Viscom-Sign España 2008 show. There are few people who succeed in taking the lead: it is a mission reserved for visionaries and trailblazers, in sum, those who have a special talent for innovation and developing new models, doing something out of the ordinary and guiding others.

‘Take the lead’: over the course of history progress has been made by humanity’s great personalities, people such as Wassily Kandinsky, who in the figurative world discovered the power of the abstract. He developed an entire theory on those who ‘take the lead’ at the top of the pyramid (Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1911).

Similarly, ‘Take the lead’ describes Ludwig Mies van de Rohe designing the German Pavilion for the Barcelona International Exposition in 1929. It was surrounded by other immense buildings which, unlike his, were determined to display majesty without adapting to new materials, habits and trends.

And ‘Take the lead’ also most definitely describes the Viscom-Sign España show. Because for two decades now, it has succeeded in providing a timely advance look at where the sector has been headed at any given time: presenting numerous business opportunities and opening up minds to new ideas which have paved the way for great advances.

Reed Exhibitions, the organisers

Reed Exhibitions Iberia is the subsidiary for Spain and Portugal of Reed Exhibitions, the leading trade fair organiser in the world, with over 2,600 employees and offices in 39 countries worldwide. In 2007, Reed Exhibitions brought together more than 6 million industry professionals at more than 500 conferences, trade fairs and exhibitions – covering 47 industrial sectors – which the group holds in 38 countries throughout the world. Reed Exhibitions is the leading private organiser of exhibitions in the Iberian Peninsula, where it has business agreements with Fira Barcelona (through the joint venture Alimentaria Exhibitions) and Feira Internacional de Lisboa (FIL). Other venues where the company usually holds its trade exhibitions are the Institución Ferial de Madrid (Ifema) and Feria Valencia.

In Spain, Reed Exhibitions Iberia organises exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, such as Alimentaria Barcelona (food and beverages), BTA (food technology) and Barcelona Degusta (all about eating), Expo Reclam (advertising and promotional gifts), Hygienalia (industrial hygiene), Infosecurity / Storage Expo / Documation (data security systems, electronic storage solutions and document management), IT Partners Iberia (the Distribution Business Club), Medpi Iberia (the Multimedia and Telephony Business Club), Sports Unlimited Valencia (sport facilities and equipment) and Viscom/Sign España (visual communication and graphic design).

With regard to Portugal, Reed Exhibitions Iberia organises the exhibitions Alimentaria Lisboa (food and beverages) and Horexpo (hotel, catering and vending). Furthermore, Alimentaria Exhibitions co-organises Alimentaria México and Alimentaria Mercosur (in Argentine Republic).