Trends and Takeaways from PRINTING United Expo Take 1

It was three years in the making, but we're finally on the show floor at PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas. To say it's overwhelming would be an understatement.

For one, we're pretty happy to be here, having not experienced a show like this in a few years. For another thing, this show is freakin' massive. We're vets at this point, and we're still pretty blown away by the scale of the show floor and everything on display.

So, needless to say, it's pretty easy to sink a few hours into wandering around the show floor and looking at all of the things decorators, printers, manufacturers and the like have to show.

We spent a little time on Wednesday doing our favorite show floor activity: wandering aimlessly and trying to get a feel for larger narratives that show where the promotional products and print industries are right now: What are people interested in? What's new? What's exciting? Here are a few takeaways from day one of the PRINTING United Expo show floor.

1. The Only Limit is Your Imagination

Just because everyone has told you your whole life that business cards are shaped like little rectangles and need to be made of paper does not mean it's true. Patrick Bateman might take issue, but we've seen some creative business cards out here in Vegas. If you can tap into your customer's main focus as a business, and use a business "card" to reflect that, you stand out, which is the most important thing for a business card to do. Eggshell white is nice and all, but we can get a little more creative than that.

2. Who Says Food Doesn't Belong in Print?

It's a good rule not to play with your food, but this is business. A lot of people might think that food and print are two wholly separate aspects of the greater industry umbrella, but there's room for overlap where you might not expect it. We got a look at one decorator who put logos on macaroons! Unfortunately, these were just demonstration macaroons. Decoy macaroons, if you will. Therefore, we couldn't sample them. Fake or not, they looked delicious. That's how you get eyes on a promo.

Even if you aren't slapping a logo on a piece of food itself, there's always the possibility of packaging. Good packaging is just as important as how good the food tastes.

3. Sometimes Nothing Beats a Good T-shirt

The show floor is full of innovative ideas and boundary-pushing technology. But, there's still an abundance of screen printed T-shirts. If you get a good T-shirt, one that customers will want to wear over and over again, and you decorate it well, it's still an S-tier promotional product. The printing process is crucial here, too. You can get the most comfortable T-shirt known to man, but if you use inks that make it feel chunky and uncomfortable, the end-user won't want to hang onto it for long.

4. The Time for Environmentalism is Now

They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now. James McCall, chief sustainability officer at HP, delivered a keynote address on the importance of sustainable practices in print. That covers environmentalism, human rights awareness and more. While younger generations certainly are vocal about their commitment to sustainability, McCall said that it's a misconception that older buyers don't care. They do, and they often have enough disposable income to actually spend on companies that make sustainability a focus.

Plus, those Gen-Zers will become buyers one day. That's when that tree you planted today will really come in handy, won't it?

Stay tuned for more updates from the PRINTING United Expo throughout the week.