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American Beverage Marketers' Custom Exhibit
The lighter, faster pop-up
Quality prospects still go to shows
Staff Spotlight: Robert Bruns
Tech Tip: Competing for Bandwidth
There are many things to consider when selecting and preparing a team to attend events. You must first choose your team carefully, based on their excellent knowledge of the company’s products or services and their ability to interact well with the customers and prospects you expect to visit the exhibit. Preparing your staff for the demanding time they all spend on the show floor is essential. Use an employee with trade show experience to help you train, or hire a specialist to guarantee your people have the skills they need for the job. Keep your staff motivated through the entire event, particularly during slow traffic periods. This is a prime time for serious buyers to swoop in.
You know your exhibit is in good hands when in the care of D&M field supervisor and exhibit craftsman, Robert Bruns. Before joining D&M Robert worked at Box Art, an east coast company which specializes in designing and producing custom crates for priceless works of art.
Box Art did work for MOMA, the Guggenheim and Sotheby's, and Robert says he dealt with Picassos on a daily basis. Some of the most memorable pieces were Monet's Water Lilies and an 18' x 18' Francesco Clemente canvas.
Nightmare scenario: You've spent months planning out every detail of your company's new interactive demos complete with streaming video, but at the show you find out your internet connection is slowing everything down to a crawl.
In recent years, bandwidth use at conferences and trade shows has spiked with more and more use of streaming video and online interactivity. In addition to exhibitors, bandwidth is being used by those running meetings, attendees and hotel guests for videoconferencing, media downloads, and accessing social networking sites. Before the show, check with the venue or hotel management to see if they have sufficient bandwidth to accommodate the event's needs, or if they are planning to partition a portion for exclusive use.
If you have any questions, about what you have seen here, or if you want to learn more about us, visit our website or call 888-501-SHOW (7469).
At American Beverage Marketers, makers of premium cocktail mixes, it was time for a major upgrade of their presence in two national shows. That meant a new 20’ inline exhibit complete with a sampling bar outfitted with a functional sink, a unique backlit product display, integrated flat-screen monitor and ample storage. In the early stages of the design process, D&M reviewed various design options available from system kits, but because of ABM’s need for extensive customization, use of system components was deemed impractical.
The overall look of the exhibit is sophisticated with a simple yet bold black and gold palette, multiple lighting and graphic applications, and an efficient floor plan. The custom product display showcases ABM’s extensive product line on glass shelves indirectly lit from the sides, top and bottom, as well as through frosted plexiglas from the rear. The flat-screen monitor adds an element of eye-catching motion to the booth along with newfound flexibility for messaging. The upscale design is completed with beautiful Brumark flooring, adding the appeal of hardwood with the ease of rollable vinyl.
To craft the finished exhibit, D&M constructed foam-filled panels, reducing the weight of the exhibit by nearly 30% compared with conventional custom construction. Although the custom shipping cases were somewhat larger and heavier than those of a system, the exhibit has fewer pieces resulting in a simpler setup than a system exhibit. The resulting lower labor costs help offset the additional shipping and drayage costs.
A recent report released by the Trade Show Exhibitors Assn. (TSEA) shows that while overall show traffic is down, the number of qualified leads collected by exhibitors has remained steady. Because travel budgets today are tighter than ever, many companies are sending only key decision-makers to shows. This means a higher density of high-quality prospects for you, and fewer attendees who are just browsing and collecting freebies.
Sometimes, exhibitors’ first reaction to reduced traffic is to cut back their trade show marketing program when this may be the perfect time to refocus the effort. Instead, consider reducing costs by scaling back your booth size and the number of booth staff then investing the savings to improve your overall program. Fine-tune your message and revamp your booth to best appeal to your potential customers, train your booth personnel on how to achieve show goals, and drive traffic to your booth with increased pre-show promotions.
For decades the classic pop-up has been a trade show standard for its portability, ease of use and professional presentation. Until now, graphics were either applied as detachable pieces mounted to fabric panels via velcro, or made into rollable exhibit panels themselves and mounted directly to the pop-up frame.
Now Fabrimural is the latest generation of pop-up from Nomadic Display. This modern exhibit features tension fabric graphics, sets up in seconds, weighs a fraction of a traditional exhibit and can cost up to 60% less.
The frame of the Fabrimural is similar to a traditional self-locking pop-up, but the new fabric graphic stays mounted directly to the frame even when packed in its case, eliminating cost and weight of additional hardware. Since the graphic stays mounted at all times, setup and tear-down are as simple as popping the frame up and down.
The graphic replacement cost for the dye-sublimated fabric is also substantially less than traditional graphics. This is ideal if you have different marketing messages for each show, or if you have multiple products or divisions.
To see how the Fabrimural could help you get more from your trade show marketing investment, call us at 888.501.7469.
- Wyatt Earp (1848 - 1929) American lawman
Copyright 2009 Deckel & Moneypenny Exhibits
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