German Print and Media Day again a strong meeting place

On 30 June 2022, punctually at 1.30 pm, Wolfgang Poppen, president of the German Printing and Media Industries Federation, opened the seventh German Printing and Media Day. The welcoming of the guests was followed by a presentation on the German Sustainability Code (DNK). Svenja Battermann, Christian Hamann (DNK) and Mareike Ahrens (Bundesdruckerei) presented to the auditorium the way to prepare a DNK declaration. They explained what even small and medium-sized companies can do with the free support of the German Sustainability Code Office. At the same time, they motivated the participants to become active in this sense, as legislators, customers and credit institutions increasingly demand verifiable sustainable action. With success: Immediately after the presentation, the DNK office received the first written expressions of intent. "This response shows that printing companies have a great interest in sustainability - it just must not be thwarted by bureaucratic requirements," is how Wolfgang Poppen, president of the bvdm, assesses the situation.

Frank Fülle, CEO of Briefodruck Fülle KG, gave an insight into the possibilities for print and media companies to integrate corporate communication as a success factor in business processes. Prof. Dr. Klemens Skibicki, economic historian and management consultant, pointed out the necessity for the printing industry to present itself digitally to its customers and partners in order to remain competitive.

At the event, bvdm chief executive Dr Paul Albert Deimel sharply rebuked the behaviour of DIY chain OBI and others who are turning away from printed advertising inserts to save money but justify this with sustainability - "fake news and green washers", said Deimel.

The evening event of the German Printing Industry took place in the former main post office above the roofs of Leipzig in the Felix restaurant. At the beginning, former civil rights activist Gesine Oltmanns gave a moving review of the peaceful revolution of 1989, which took its course with the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. Among other things, the contemporary witness described how the civil rights activists succeeded in printing leaflets despite great difficulties and thus attracted even more participants to the demonstrations. Without the committed work of the civil rights activists in Leipzig, German unification would certainly not have happened so quickly.

The German Print and Media Day 2022 was jointly organised by the bvdm and its regional associations of Central Germany and North East.