Planning the run-up to any exhibition can often be sheer hard work with little fun but those chaps from FESPA believe in doing things a little differently. As a result, the announcement of this year's Wrap Rally from London to Barcelona really didn't come as a great surprise. Four of the team (Chris Rimer, Rob Older, Richard Kensett and new recruit, Jack Sutton) packed themselves into a motorhome and set off across Europe, taking in Belgium, France and Switzerland before pitching up at the Fira, Barcelona.
What was the motive behind this 2,400km drive which took in eleven cities and four countries? The idea was to use the journey to seek out some good examples of applications produced using digital print, as well as being a highly visible and much publicised vehicle. Sponsored by HP and Hexis, the motorhome was wrapped by Hemel Hempstead's Master Wrapping on material printed on a Designjet L25500 in a design chosen by the public.
On the journey to Barcelona, which was filmed, Tweeted and also featured in regular Facebook updates, the intrepid FESPA team called in on a variety of companies en route. All of these described their specialist application strengths, with visits made to Symeta, Comptoir de l'Image, Gober Product, ATC Group, Hexis, Cunicode and HP.
There's plenty of video online, taken at each port of call, with highlights here, to the perhaps, apt karaoke version of Coldplay's Paradise. So there's no excuse not to sing along during the viewing experience. Included are James Deacon providing wrap training at the start, a good example of sustainable opportunities at Gobet in Geneva, and how Lyons-based LightAir uses its HP Scitex printers for signs, light-boxes and branding campaigns with its five machines.
At the end of the road, of course, was FESPA Digital itself where the technology used in the wrapping was available for all to see, along with many of the machines viewed during the road trip. But there's nothing like a novel experience to whet the appetite before an exhibition and to serve as a reminder of the mix of education and entertainment pre-show which is pushed along with the help of social media channels.
The Wrap Rally motorhome stood up remarkably well to its journey, and I joined others from FESPA to welcome it when it arrived at its final destination. The exterior looked just as good as it did when the team set out from the UK. On the other hand, a quick peek inside the van was more than enough to see the travelling quartet's accommodation during their excursion, and to beat a hasty retreat back outside to view the graphics.