After a rushed journey to the airport (up at 04:00, at Gatwick by 5:30, flight delayed by half an hour and cracks about what does the 0 stand for – Oh my god its early!) I arrived in Amsterdam.
As is traditional (and many other people have commented on it), it is raining but the forecast has it that this will pass hopefully. I came prepared however with a previous IBC freebie from 10 years ago – a Columbine JDS umbrella. The company may long ago have been swallowed by Harris but it is standing me in good stead again this year.
First impressions about the show? They are STILL building around the Rai, oh when are they going to finish? At least this year, they have shown some progress through the erection of a large tower between the two main segments so there is some hope that within a couple of years the construction will have completed.
Oh, the show, that is what I should comment about. My first impression is that this year is that it is quieter than usual, although evidence from some stands is pointing towards a growth in numbers. We shall see how the official numbers come out.
In terms of products, I have only the earliest of impressions since my modus operandi is to spend the first day getting the bearings on which products to dig into, so I will keep that for another post. I will say though that there are a couple of ‘future’ pieces coming through in the way of 3D – 3D video shown on the Philips stand 1A.81a and also in terms of a 3D EPG shown on the Eventis stand 4C.50, both of which will get a return visit over the coming days. Now at the moment, I do not expect these to be mainstream or even close to mainstream but they are certainly dynamic approaches to providing the customer with something obviously different – something that HD has failed to do after all the hype.
Until the next post
