ICE Barcelona 2027: B2B merch for Italian teams at Fira Gran Via

B2B merchandising for ICE Barcelona 2027 exhibitors

Dates

18–20 January 2027

Venue

Fira Barcelona Gran Via, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain (hall, loading lane and stand number to be verified against the latest exhibitor manual)

Organiser

Clarion Gaming

ICE Barcelona — moved from ExCeL London to Fira Gran Via starting with the 2025 edition — is the world’s largest B2B gaming fair, and every January it gathers 600+ platforms, providers, content studios, affiliate networks, regulatory consultancies and compliance service providers under the Gran Via roof. For Italian teams — ADM-licensed operators, slot and live-casino studios, platform integrators, regulatory agencies, payment processors, content studios and compliance suppliers — ICE is the moment of the year when the whole EMEA supply chain converges in a single location, with a tight calendar of pitches, contract renewals and the activation of new regulated markets.

For these delegations the merchandising programme on the booth and in the meeting rooms matters as much as the quality of the pitch deck: the kits left at the booth and the ones handed to an executive with whom a deal has just been closed become part of the follow-up that stays in the partner’s hands after the fair is over. That is why the production cycle has to be closed before the opening, not after, and the on-site delivery has to be coordinated with the booth lead and the Fira’s logistics window.

Four audience tiers, four distinct kits

The ICE Barcelona audience falls into clearly recognisable tiers and each receives a calibrated kit. The affiliate manager, the ad-ops team and the booth staff for three days need branded apparel that is comfortable for Barcelona in January (mild during the day, cool in the evening, with travel between Gran Via, hotels and the city centre), split by size and role: polo and T-shirt in GOTS-certified organic cotton, a light layer for the meeting rooms, a branded access badge. The advertiser and the buyer who stops at the booth for a qualified conversation receive a mid-value lead gift (power bank, charging cable, coordinated drinkware) paired with a bilingual product sheet. A delegation from a major operator or a key network expects a compact and discreet VIP kit: premium notebook, drinkware, gift box, nominative labelling. A speaker or panellist taking part in one of the tracks is entitled to a personalised kit delivered in advance by production.

Production on Italian and European supply chains

For a merchandising programme around ICE Barcelona, our operations hub coordinates the full chain. We receive the operator or network master artwork (AI, EPS, PDF/X-4 with CMYK at 300 dpi, FOGRA39 colour profile) and adapt it to the different personalisation techniques: water-based screen printing on GOTS-certified organic cotton for T-shirts and polos, embroidery on knit fabrics for sweatshirts and caps, laser marking on Maniago stainless steel for keychains and small metal accessories, hot foil on FSC-certified paper for bilingual product sheets and meeting invitations. The physical pre-production sample with a Pantone colour map and a technical sheet runs through Italian and European districts (textile Como, knit Bergamo, steel Maniago, paper Fabriano, glass Murano) and the delivery lands at a central Barcelona hotel (Eixample, Diagonal, Marina), the client’s local office, or a consolidation warehouse.

For programmes that serve multiple operators or multiple brands we separate into batches labelled by end client and by addressee, with distinct delivery addresses if the delegation is based in Rome, Milan or another EMEA market. For clients subject to CSRD reporting (Italian D.Lgs. 125/2024, transposing Directive (EU) 2022/2464) we attach a per-order sustainability sheet with a Scope 3 CO₂e estimate under the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain on the Italy–Spain leg and on the manufacturing supply chains, with a per-material and per-leg breakdown useful for the client’s sustainability statement.

Why the Milan or Rome production hub matters

Most Italian teams that handle a merch programme around ICE Barcelona coordinate their operations from Milan, Rome, or another EMEA operational seat. The Italian hub — with consolidation warehouses in the Milan-Bicocca, Milan hinterland and Tiburtina areas in Rome — lets us receive the artwork files with the operator’s team, run the pre-production sample through the Italian supply chains (textile Como, knit Bergamo, steel Maniago, paper Fabriano) and ship the batch to the Fira, the delegation’s hotel or the client’s local office within a 24–48 hour courier window. For programmes that combine an Italian operator and a European co-producer we manage bilingual material (Italian and English at minimum) and, on request, full Spanish localisation with ISO 17100-aligned translations. For programmes that combine ICE Barcelona with other gaming-calendar stops (SIGMA Europe Malta, i-Con Limassol) we replicate the logistics on both dates with a single point of contact.

Calendar for the event week

The ICE Barcelona window — three fair days plus setup, satellite meetings and evening networking — is tight but the merch programme has to be planned against a calendar that includes setup days, a Monday and Tuesday pitch session, a Monday and Tuesday evening networking block, and a Wednesday closing day. For operators and networks coming from Italy or other EMEA markets the gap between confirming the participation plan and the fair opening is often shorter than eight weeks. Any object that has to be at the booth, in the meeting room or at the delegation’s hotel on day one has to be closed and shipped at least one week before the opening. We work backwards from that moment: the product list closes six–eight weeks before; the courier slot is booked for the Wednesday or Thursday of the preceding week; the addressee list is finalised together with the confirmation of the pitch and meeting calendar.

Production, logistics and invoicing for Fira Gran Via

Before kicking off production the master artwork files, the quantities per audience tier, the packaging and the nominative addressee have to be closed. The final delivery address is locked against the operator’s marketing director calendar or the network’s logistics lead: the Fira Gran Via, the delegation’s hotel (Eixample, Diagonal, Marina), the client’s local office or a consolidation warehouse. Venue access constraints and stand numbers have to be verified against the latest exhibitor manual; the venue is never treated as an uncontrolled parcel-reception address.

For an Italy-routed programme deliveries are consolidated at the hub and shipped to Barcelona overland (Barcelona is reachable in 24–36 hours with express courier), by air with DHL Express, FedEx International Priority or consolidated cargo, or by sea for non-urgent batches. For programmes above 1,000 pieces we propose appointment-based delivery with prior phone notice and, on request, on-site setup by our staff at the booth or meeting space. For materials that need controlled environmental conditions (FSC-certified paper, small leather goods, Maniago steel) we coordinate temperature-controlled transport with specialised partners. For kits destined to international delegations we handle multilingual labelling (Italian, English, Spanish, Russian, French, German) and tamper-evident bagging with a bilingual packing list addressed to the addressee. For clients subject to CSRD reporting we attach a per-order sustainability sheet with a Scope 3 CO₂e estimate under the GHG Protocol on the Italy–Spain leg.

All Italian B2B orders are invoiced in EUR at the standard 22% VAT rate (with reduced rates of 4%, 5% and 10% applied where the product category allows: publishing, art objects, denomination-of-origin products) and routed through the Italian Revenue Agency’s Sistema di Interscambio (SdI) to the recipient code or the buyer’s PEC address. Corp-Merch.IT is an Italian VAT-registered entity, listed on VIES for intra-EU operations, and handles reverse charge, split payment and self-invoicing for the public administration under current Italian regulations. For deliveries to Spain the Italian invoice in EUR is issued against the client’s EU VAT number where available, or under intra-EU export regime with origin declaration.

Frequently asked questions