Target Report: The Continued Evolution of Printing Businesses

Printing companies in all segments, including label, package, commercial, wide-format, and promotional, are increasingly seeing the benefits of transforming their businesses from transactional manufacturers to brand-building partners. For example, there was a time when signage and event graphics were primarily viewed as an extension of commercial print. The business was transactional, deadline-driven, and rooted in production. That time has passed.

March’s M&A activity provides further evidence that event graphics have fully crossed into a new category: a hybrid of visual communications, logistics, experience design, and brand execution. Two acquisitions — Wasserman’s purchase of bluemedia and Impact XM’s acquisition of Touch Associates — mark the continued evolution of this space and the growing sophistication of what was once simply called “signage.”

The Super Bowl of Wide Format

Wasserman, a global sports marketing and talent management agency, acquired Arizona-based bluemedia, a firm well known for transforming environments through large-format printing, installation, and branding. Bluemedia was founded in 1997 as a consulting company that provided signage and merchandising for small golf charity events. While bluemedia’s capabilities now span building wraps, experiential displays, and innovative architectural graphics, the company is perhaps best recognized for its work with major sporting events, national sponsorships, and iconic outdoor productions. The company has come a long way from its humble beginning: in addition to brand activations for major national brands, bluemedia’s work was all over New Orleans as they wrapped up the company’s eleventh year as the main décor contractor for the Super Bowl, probably the best and most demanding showcase for high-impact, high-stakes graphic branding! This is print that’s meant to be seen, photographed, and shared—where the physical presence of graphics serves both brand visibility and emotional engagement.

Founded in 2002 by Casey Wasserman, grandson of media mogul and super talent agent Lew Wasserman, the firm started as a boutique agency focused on talent representation in sports and entertainment. Over time, Wasserman expanded its portfolio through acquisitions and organic growth to include brand marketing, sponsorship activation, media strategy, and analytics. The company became a major force in Olympic and global sports marketing, notably playing a role in bringing the 2028 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles. The firm’s strategic positioning is built around influencing audiences at the intersection of media, athletes, and brands. Its acquisition of bluemedia is consistent with this broader vision: enabling the live experience where branding happens in real time, in full scale, and in full view.

Wasserman’s move signals an intent to further embed production and environmental branding directly into its service stack. This is less about reducing outsourcing costs and more about control—controlling the outcome, the quality, and the delivery of high-stakes, high-visibility installations. The plan is to integrate and merge the bluemedia company into the Wasserman Live division, which provides branding, signage, custom fabrication, and live event production across sports, music, entertainment, and cultural events. The merger is a great opportunity for the bluemedia team to expand and build on its huge success with US-based sporting events; Wasserman has a global presence, with operations in more than 70 cities, in 28 countries, on 6 continents.

The acquisition also suggests something else: that the ability to produce graphics is often no longer enough and must be accompanied by the ability to activate a brand in a space. For sports venues, live events, and consumer-facing pop-ups, the print is the experience. As such, bluemedia doesn’t just print banners and wrap buildings, it creates temporary environments that reflect the philosophy and character of the event, thereby enhancing the perceived value of the brand itself.

Impact XM Expands Range

Impact XM, a New Jersey-based company focused on experiential marketing and trade show activations, announced its acquisition of UK-based Touch Associates. The transaction adds a layer of international reach and event logistics expertise, reinforcing Impact XM’s capacity to serve global clients with complex, multi-region event needs. With backing by PE firm The Riverside Company, Impact XM layers this latest expansion on top of its acquisition in October 2024 of Illinois-based environmental design and fabrication company Matrex Exhibits.

Originally founded in 1973 as Impact Unlimited, a small exhibit house, the company went through several evolutions and ownership changes before becoming Impact XM in 2015 when it merged with Canadian experiential agency Aura XM (See The Target Report: Impact XM Adds Gamification to Exhibits & Events – January 2018.) Today, the company serves clients in the pharmaceutical, financial, and technology sectors with services that range from exhibit design and fabrication to strategy, content development, and digital integration. Over the past decade, the company has positioned itself at the intersection of physical and digital experiences, developing in-house capabilities for hybrid events, immersive spaces, and turnkey experiential campaigns.

Touch Associates brings a reputation for content development, live event production, and a consultative approach. The deal appears to be less about redundancy or consolidation and more about extending the range of what Impact XM can offer and increasing the company’s presence in the UK and European markets.

The experiential event market, especially as it relates to brand activations and awareness, has grown significantly more demanding in recent years. Clients expect consistent branding, technical precision, and a seamless experience across print, digital, and environmental touchpoints. Impact XM’s acquisition of Touch Associates responds to that complexity by bringing more of the puzzle under one roof.

From Production to Experience

These two deals align with a broader trend we’ve noted in previous reports: wide-format and display graphics companies that succeed are doing so not by simply printing better, but by serving a much broader range of branding services that create a visual and even total sensory immersive experience. In last month’s edition of The Target Report, we highlighted Moss, another firm that built its growth strategy not just on equipment investment in wide-format printed products but rather on its ability to offer integrated solutions across events, retail environments, and branded interiors. (See The Target Report: Think Outside the Rectilinear – February 2025.)

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this transformation. When trade shows and live events halted, the firms that survived were those that could pivot—offering virtual exhibit support, temporary signage for shifting regulations, or branded environments for hybrid workspaces. Those that adapted came out stronger, and they did so by embracing the idea that graphics are part of a much larger experience framework.

What we’re now seeing in M&A activity is the formal recognition of that evolution. Strategic buyers and investors are looking beyond print capacity. They want organizations that can consult, design, manage, and deliver. Firms like bluemedia and Touch Associates are attractive acquisition candidates not just because of what they can print but because of what they can plan and execute.

Graphics companies that can handle full environmental transformations—including, but not limited to, wayfinding, exhibit design, sponsorship placements, and personalized graphics—are commanding a different kind of relationship with clients. They’re not quoting against a commodity printer down the road; they are building long-term relationships that support national rollouts or a multi-market activation. That shift elevates the conversation, and the margin structure follows.

We’ve seen this model play out in the growing role of private equity in related sectors. Companies like Circle Graphics, Vomela, and others have been built out as platforms that straddle production and creative services. In each case, growth has come not just from acquiring output capabilities but from integrating service offerings that push the value chain further upstream into product development, data management, and branding strategies, as well as downstream to installation and deinstallation. (See Print Everything Everywhere All at One Place – January 2025 .)

The impact of this trend reaches beyond event graphics. It points to the diminishing utility of purely transactional print models, particularly in large-format segments where physical production is no longer the differentiator. It also reflects client expectations; brands increasingly want fewer vendors, broader capabilities, and the assurance that delivery will match the vision.

For independent print service providers still focused on hardware and throughput, this shift presents a challenge. Competing on production specs is no longer sufficient in a market where the client is buying an outcome, not a substrate. The companies gaining attention and investment via an acquisition from private equity firms or global players such as Wasserman, are those that bring print into the context of experience. For an industry long defined by mechanical capability, this is a cultural shift, and one that’s beginning to reshape how the core wide-format segment grows, invests, and competes.

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View The Target Report online, complete with deal logs and source links for March 2025

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