I N T E G R A T E D  P R O G R A M
	Exhibitor: Blue Telescope Creative/Production: Blue Telescope, New York, 212-675-7702, www.blue-telescope.com Show: EXHIBITOR2007 Budget: $20,000 Goals: Increase booth traffic and gather 148 sales leads. Collect 36 qualified leads. Generate two media mentions. Results: Swiped 310 badges, a 319-percent increase over EXHIBITOR2006. Collected 50 highly qualified sales leads, a 317-percent increase over 2006. Generated press coverage in seven media outlets.

o some, space is the final frontier. To others, it’s an award-winning booth theme with the potential to more than triple qualified sales leads.

Blue Telescope, a New York-based multimedia firm that specializes in interactive media for exhibits, wanted to unearth a plan to get EXHIBITOR2007 attendees to go where almost no man (or woman) has gone before — its booth. Though it experienced moderate booth traffic and collected a fair amount of qualified leads at EXHIBITOR2006, Blue Telescope wasn’t among the most well-known exhibits on the show floor. The company wanted to pique attendees’ interest and get them to its booth where it could showcase its new product, StarMap.

Heading into space seemed like a natural move for Blue Telescope, which has other multimedia products with names such as Constellation, Telstar, and Supernova, and has done space-themed giveaways — think small blue telescopes — in the past. For this year’s show, however, Blue Telescope kicked its marketing efforts up a stratospheric notch or two. The company hoped that a single, cohesive theme with multiple elements would increase brand awareness and double the number of qualified leads it received in 2006, while at the same time introducing its newest product and attracting attendees to its booth for a product demo.

But instead of sticking with HTML messages and boring presentations, Patrick Snee, Blue Telescope’s creative director, decided to take the space theme and fly with it. The creative team came up with two alien characters — Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus — to act as on-screen hosts. The aliens appeared in each step of the integrated program, which Blue Telescope hoped would draw attendees to its booth like trekkies to a tractor beam.

Close Encounters

The pre-show teaser postcard featured an illustrated “StarMap” of Las Vegas that highlighted some of Vegas’ otherworldly attractions, including star performer Celine Dion. The postcard served as an invitation to “experience StarMap and take away an Intergalactic Care Package and a chance to win a portable GPS.” It also provided a first glimpse of Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus, along with their message, “Take us to your interactive leader.”

In addition to the postcard, a rich-text e-mail that included a survey with a chance to win a $100 Amazon.com gift card was sent to the entire list of show registrants. As soon as recipients opened the e-mail, Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus zoomed onto the screen. The aliens “abducted” the would-be survey respondents and charged them with a secret mission to be carried out at EXHIBITOR2007: Visit the Blue Telescope booth, investigate StarMap, participate in the in-booth demo, and report findings back to the aliens. The aliens disappeared from the screen, and the recipients were given the opportunity to complete a brief three-question survey. Upon completion of the survey, respondents entered their e-mail addresses to register for the gift card.

The e-mail’s spacey animation was a fun way for Blue Telescope to share crucial show information and encourage people to check out the StarMap demo during the show. More importantly, through the survey, Blue Telescope discovered that while a staggering 73 percent of the respondents were not familiar with the company, 75 percent had used or were planning to use multimedia in their upcoming exhibits.

To promote the release of its new product, StarMap, Blue Telescope developed an integrated program around two space aliens and an out-of-this-world theme.

We Come in Peace

When attendees checked in at EXHIBITOR2007, they received a bag drop in the form of a small, silver Mylar pouch containing a Milky Way candy bar and another interstellar message from Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus. A sticker on the outside of the pouch instructed attendees to “explore Blue Telescope’s interactive experiences” and visit the company’s booth, where they could register to win the portable GPS.

The company’s pre-show efforts were enough to bring hundreds of attendees to its spacey 10-by-20-foot booth — complete with a star-littered backdrop and carpet in the company’s signature blue — where they got their first look at StarMap. The program is customizable to meet various exhibitors’ needs, but Blue Telescope used a four-person kiosk for its booth. In this setup, there was one large, flat, central display screen, surrounded by four smaller screens for up to four StarMap users, who could manipulate color-coded track balls to select on-screen objects.

Staff invited attendees to step up to the kiosk to view an on-screen presentation. As soon as the presentation started, Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus invaded the screen and assigned more tasks. This time, four assignments were designed to get visitors to interact with StarMap, each demonstrating a different feature of the software.

After attendees explored a virtual map of the stars, investigated the inner workings of a spacecraft, and “beamed-up” rival aliens during an interactive game, they also completed a live on-screen survey that relayed their findings to Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus. Blue Telescope’s presentation concluded with several earth-bound examples of StarMap’s capabilities, including interactive maps, product demos, branded games, and educational quizzes, all of which can be custom tailored to meet specific exhibit goals. At the conclusion of each presentation, staffers answered questions, qualified leads, and distributed giveaways.

Solar-System Swag

As a thank-you for successful completion of the secret mission, Blue Telescope gave demo participants a spacey Intergalactic Care Package. “We looked at more traditional giveaways, but wanted to tie the items in with Blue Telescope and the space theme,” says Trent Oliver, CEO of Blue Telescope.

Oliver scoured the galaxy to find items that reinforced the spacey theme of the integrated campaign. The resulting care packages comprised a silver Mylar bag with a note from Professor Dworp and Mr. Pinkus explaining the bag’s contents: an alien toy (which was “adorable” according to the aliens), alien playing cards (“to help pass the light years”), freeze-dried alien ice cream (“from the tundras of Planet Zot”), Sun Chips (“in honor of your nearest star”), and Reese’s Pieces (“recommended by our colleague, E.T.”).

In addition to the galactic goody bag, Blue Telescope registered booth visitors via badge swipes for a chance to win a GPS, chosen to complement StarMap’s interactive mapping capabilities showcased during the demonstrations.

After the show, booth visitors received an animated e-mail message — complete with a final note from the alien duo and an inside peak at other aliens using StarMap at the fictitious Intergalactic Gizmo Expo. The e-mail also included a link to a StarMap product-information sheet along with a Flash animation that revealed the winners of the Amazon.com gift card and the GPS.

According to one Sizzle Awards judge, “The individual concepts are simple, but together, they’re truly effective.” Another commented, “For a small exhibitor with a relatively small budget, they created a one-off program that covered all of the bases and tied to the product they were trying to promote.”

Mission Accomplished

Blue Telescope hoped to double the amount of booth traffic from the previous year, but much to its surprise, the alien storyline helped the company realize an astronomical 319-percent increase in booth visitors, swiping 310 badges vs. the previous year’s paltry 74. The Saturn-sized increase in visitors was matched by an equally impressive 317-percent increase in the number of highly qualified leads — 50 vs. the 12 collected at the 2006 show. In addition, the campaign garnered seven press mentions and six RFPs.

With results light years beyond what Blue Telescope had hoped to experience, its journey to the final frontier proved space-tacularly successful. e

Attendees that participated in the StarMap presentation received an Intergalactic Care Package containing space-related items and explanations.