Late last week, the Association for PRINT Technologies (APTech) announced that it has joined forces with Tarsus Group, the owner and organizer of the Labelexpo and Brand Print Global trade shows, to launch a new show called Brand Print Americas, which will be held September 15 to 17, 2020, co-located with Labelexpo Americas at the Donald E Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Il. Brand Print Americas will replace PRINT 20 and will become a biennial event.

“We wanted to really create a better, more unique, and higher-value event,” says Thayer Long, president of APTech. “We have long been open to working with another event organizer. Tarsus and the Labelexpo show fit the bill. First the markets are right for each other in that commercial printing and label and packaging have a nice overlap. Second, they’re in Chicago every other year, we’re in Chicago every year, and both shows are usually right on top of one another. So, we said, ‘Is there an opportunity for us to collaborate here?’”

The co-located events give PRINT’s traditional commercial printer base exposure to other aspects of the print industry—namely, labels and packaging—and, likewise, gives label and packaging printers and converters exposure to commercial print applications. “Labels and package printing are clearly growth areas for the industry that commercial printers really need to be educated about,” says Long.