o make sure attendees at the Food Marketing Institute Show 2006 (FMI) walked away with a Coke and a smile, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola North America tabbed Derse Exhibits Inc. to create an exhibit to introduce Coca-Cola’s new products, and to position it as a total non-alcoholic beverage provider.

It was easy for FMI attendees to locate the 60-by-70-foot double-deck booth in Chicago’s McCormick Place: A 360-degree video sign towered above the show floor. Constructed of 12 curved screens that continually looped marketing messages for Coca-Cola products, the 22-foot-diameter sign also maximized the 120-year-old company’s messaging flexibility, unlike static signage that can’t be changed on the fly. Sixty acrylic bubbles hung from the sign and in various locations, suggesting the frothy bubbles inside Coca-Cola products.

Allowing visitors to access the booth from any angle, the open floor plan included six main sections, made of four beverage categories and two topic areas such as “Energy” and “Shopper Insights,” respectively. Twisting through the exhibit, the category sections were designated by Gatorfoam “bottles” 4- to 8-feet high, and graphics positioned on flexible graphic-carrier systems. Fifteen of Coca-Cola’s 30 staffers offered product samples from a 20-foot-long station and from five mobile kiosks.

Upstairs, a catwalk shaped like Coca-Cola’s hallmark Dynamic Ribbon logo connected two decks, one large and one small. Coca-Cola reps met clients inside two enclosed conference rooms, on and under the small deck, and in four semi-enclosed casual settings below the large deck. Along the catwalk, a video-“ribbon” wall of 14 50-inch plasma screens fizzed with TV-commercial ticklers, educating customers about Coca-Cola’s retailer programs, shopper behavior, and more — ensuring that, like its 1939 slogan, Coca-Cola is still “The drink everybody knows.”e