At the 2007 All Things Organic show in Chicago, Econscious, an organic and sustainable apparel manufacturer, used an innovative and amusing way to display the company’s organic-cotton clothing. While shirts and sweatshirts were folded and placed on wooden shelves, hats and caps got a different treatment: six organic-cotton mops were turned upside down to become “models” for the various head wear. The shaggy heads not only showed off the merchandise, they caused people to stop for a second look, giving staffers a chance to chat up the attendees. Now that’s using your mop head.
Saying that your product is strong and durable isn’t enough. You’ve got to prove it. That’s exactly what Bertolini Inc. did with its high-strength Impressions 7 Series chairs at the 2007 Hospitality Design Expo. First, the company displayed one of its chairs with 600 pounds of barbell weights sitting on it. Then, to show how well the chair holds up under pressure, Bertolini rigged up a hoist mechanism above a second chair. Once an hour, the hoist dropped a 10-pound metal weight into the chair, not only demonstrating the chair’s strength, but drawing curious attendees to see what the hourly “Clang!” was all about.
To show potential franchise owners how its car-wash facility functions at the 2007 Car Care World Expo, Cactus Car Wash Franchise Co. LLC created a tabletop model of its typical store, including parking lots, drive-through lanes, and building interiors. Moveable toy cars and a lift-off roof allowed attendees to follow the car-wash process as cars entered the facility, proceeded through the wash, and exited into the parking area. It gave a whole new meaning to the drive-through experience.
Displaying a product that’s hidden from view was the challenge facing Caroma USA Inc. at the 2007 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show & Conference. Caroma makes a “tankless” toilet, with a tank behind a wall. To show the product, Caroma created a rotating display split by a wall, with toilet and tank on either side, letting attendees see it in one turn.
|
|
If business can’t come to you, it makes sense to go to it. Many of Upper Lakes Foods Inc.’s restaurant customers are in rural areas, so the food-service distributor built a custom-equipped bus with a full kitchen and six tables to take to clients. To show this key service point, it brought the bus to the Upper Midwest Foodservice and Lodging show and parked it in its 20-by-50-foot booth. At the show, staffers gave attendees tours of the bus and conducted meetings in it, demonstrating Upper Lakes’ services. Staffers also cooked treats in the kitchen for booth visitors.
Countless hours of walking around the trade show floor can leave attendees dehydrated and drooping. So Globotech Displays USA found a way to increase both its visibility and attendees’ energy at EXHIBITOR2007 in Las Vegas. Globotech plastered its exhibit theme and key message, “Boost your creative power,” on branded cans of caffeinated energy drinks, offering potential clients a shot of pick-me-up as they drank in the company’s key message.
How do you lure attendees into your booth? At the Electrical Apparatus Service Association show in Minneapolis, the PosiLock Puller Inc. Co. took the literal route: It used live bait — a minnow-racing contest that filled its booth with schools of attendees. It’s a favorite bar game in the company’s home state of North Dakota, so the automobile-tools manufacturer used two rain gutters as the track and created a NASCAR-racing theme in its booth. Two attendees each chose an itty-bitty fish from a bucket, and staffers placed each minnow in one of two rain gutters. A booth staffer called “Ready, set, go!” and attendees blew air through a straw at their fish to send them toward the finish line. While winners earned bragging rights and everyone got a checkered flag, the attention PosiLock received was no fish tale.
Almost all exhibitors display products in their booths. But an unusual display vehicle can put your product head and shoulders above the crowd. At the Coverings 2007 show in Chicago, Los Angeles-based tile manufacturer Raffi Glass took that idea literally — a sleek, jet-black mannequin clad in a dress made of the company’s signature glass tiles stood on a shelf above the in-booth bar. That’s dressing for success.
|
