To tout its customized exhibits, Access TCA went a little psycho. The Whitinsville, MA-based exhibit house created an in-booth Rorschach test that entertained visitors while collecting information about them and their tastes. Touchscreens featuring different inkblots asked attendees seven questions, such as “What does this inkblot convey to you?” Based on their answers, a personality-profile software assigned the participants a personality type, such as a thrill seeker or Zen master. The color of the exhibit’s lighting and images on overhead screens were then customized according to each test participant’s responses, mimicking how Access TCA tailors exhibits for its clients.

Any exhibitor can say its products are waterproof, but Sanyo Electric Co. proved it at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show. Sanyo placed its waterproof Xacti digital camcorders into miniature branded inner tubes and floated them on an in-booth pond. Attendees dunked, splashed, and submerged the floating cameras, getting up-close-and-personal proof of the company’s claims.






For many laundry and dry-cleaning companies, the key to removing stains and wrinkles while keeping electric bills low is a mystery. So at Clean ’07, commercial laundry-product manufacturer Ecolab Inc. used a CSI-themed strategy to reveal how its products can solve that mystery. To drive people to the booth to learn about Ecolab’s products and meet its CSI team — the Complete Solutions Investigators — the company sent a pre-show mailer with Polaroid shots of a utility bill and stained and wrinkled fabrics on the cover. Images of sticky notes with arrows pointed to individual stains and wrinkles and prompted recipients to look inside for an explanation. Inside, it read, “The Ecolab CSI Squad — no one knows laundry better.” Also inside the card was a color-encoded clue and the message: “Bring this card to Booth 1857; it holds the clue to your secret prize.” At the booth, Ecolab investigators, wearing shirts with a CSI logo and magnifying glass embroidered on the sleeve, greeted attendees and explained Ecolab’s products. When an attendee returned the mailer, a staffer held a decoder-style magnifying glass over the color-encoded clue to reveal which prize, such as a mini flashlight or cooler, the attendee won. Since attendees returned roughly 2,000 of the 3,000 mailers, this promotion’s only crime was success in the first degree.

Trade show floors and serenity don’t often go hand in hand. But to create a distraction-free setting for its new Lounge22EX line of event furnishings, Lounge22 built an oasis of serenity at Event Solutions ‘07. The company created a cocoon-like effect with 30-foot-tall translucent fabric panels suspended around the perimeter of its 20-by-30-foot space, and anchored the interior space with low-slung furniture in soothing neutral colors. Meanwhile, a kimono-clad Japanese calligrapher painted Japanese symbols related to design and space on the white-fabric walls, crafting an ever-changing piece of in-booth performance art.