IMEX America
Refresh and recharge
AT IMEX AMERICA CATIE OWEN FOLLOWED UP WITH ANNA GYSEMAN , HEAD OF DESIGN AT IMEX , ABOUT THE BRAND REFRESH ’ S EVOLUTION AFTER ITS REVEAL AT THE FRANKFURT SHOW IN MAY
Catie Owen : IMEX ’ s refreshed branding debuted at the Frankfurt show in May , but as not everyone can attend both shows , can you explain the drive and vision behind it for attendees seeing it for the first time in Las Vegas ? Anna Gyseman : The ‘ heritage logo ’, as we call it , had been in the marketplace for 20 years and we did not feel like it reflected who we were as a company anymore . The world had changed , and the logo needed to reflect who we ’ d become . The branding needed to work across all of the platforms we were exploring and to work well .
We had ended up with so many variations of the old logo ( such as different designs for the two shows ) that we wanted to develop a cross-platform , generic , solid IMEX instead that encompasses everything . Regarding physical branding , our sustainability goals are important to us . You ’ ll see that branding on the show floors is evergreen ; it won ’ t be dated so they can be reused and will stay in storage at the venue until the following year .
CO : Following Frankfurt , what has feedback been like to the refresh ? AG : It ’ s been fantastic ! The feedback has been wonderful . As you know , the goal was to create a refresh rather than a rebrand . We wanted to nod to our old personality while also modernising it , which has been very well received . We ’ ve heard from some people that seeing the old logo now just feels
Above : Anna Gyseman , head of design , IMEX wrong after how embedded the new logo has become , and that was heaven to hear . It ’ s been brilliant that long-time IMEX attendees who loved the heritage logo are thrilled with the new design .
I always wanted to capture something very unique to IMEX . All good logos , like ‘ I Love New York ’ say exactly who they are and what the company is about . The handshake of the M in our logo is unique to us , so it ’ s been great to keep that part .
Have there been any updates or changes to the refresh since we saw it last ? While I wouldn ’ t say that the Frankfurt show was a guinea pig by any stretch of the imagination , we could certainly see what worked well – it was fantastic research . In Frankfurt , we had to do what we call ‘ interim branding ’ in places , but here in Las Vegas , we were able to make sure that absolutely everything was in the refreshed branding .
We learned an awful lot from the
56 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 127