In days of yore, the only common ground held by particular industries in the UK was a trade association with the ethos being its members and their needs. In our sectors we had what was then the British Sign Association (BSA) and, for screen-printers it was the role of the DPSPA, which stood for Display Producers and Screen Printers Association. Time passed, and this one became known as the SPA and, latterly, changed completely to become the oddly named prism, whilst the BSA added a G to include graphics in its title.

Back then it was easy to separate the different industry segments with sign-makers doing one thing, screen-printers doing another and manufacturers of specialist equipment having its own association, ESMA, to care for its needs. The idea of forming FESPA, back in 1961, was made with the intention of bringing a common platform to all the European screen-printing associations and, although today we have other graphics arts related options, FESPA, ESMA, prism and the BSGA are probably the four most recognised in the display sector, with POPAI representing the point-of-sale side of things.

You don't need to go back many years to work out the commonality that all these local associations brought to their members. But, as technologies have developed and the internet is now the most favoured tool for someone needing information, so the value of a national trade association has declined. It's not made easier by the fact that the boundaries between display segments have gone, and that these organisations no longer sit in their own, unique patch.

So what value does an association bring to its members today? Although benefits of membership can be useful when needing to find out more about legislation or business support, there doesn't seem to be a rush of companies wanting to sign up.

Surely the purpose of a trade association is to unite its members and bring something novel and worthwhile to the table which can't be found elsewhere. It needs small businesses to juxtapose with the larger companies and it should offer human networking. But now that we have a plethora of other ways to find relevant information, many of the traditional objectives of an association are no longer valid and it's hardly surprising to discover that such organisations the world over are declining as their members apparently can go elsewhere for facts which, once, were unique to their own specific club.

What can national trade associations do to continue to function in our digital age where their core objectives no longer seem essential? It's up to the industry to decide what they want them to deliver, but is there sufficient interest for this to happen?