|
Bottled Up
Eco-friendly business practices are important to many
consumers, and The Coca-Cola Co. wanted attendees at
the Food Marketing Institute show in Las Vegas
to know they're also important to the worldfamous
beverage manufacturer. So to educate
attendees on its various eco-friendly efforts,
Coca-Cola devoted a side wall in its exhibit
to telling the story of its $40 million investment
in the world's largest bottle-to-bottle
recycling plant. Text on the wall noted
the company's new line of apparel and
consumer products made from 100-percent-
recycled PET bottles, and its new
PlantBottle, which is up to 30-percent
plant based and 100-percent recyclable.
At the center of the display stood an oversized
Coke bottle full of crushed plastic
atop a pedestal that read, "This carpet
is made from 100-percent post-recycled
plastic bottles." It ain't easy being Green,
but this display made sure FMI attendees
knew Coca-Cola was doing its part, one
plastic bottle at a time.
Nice Package
Packaging a press kit is a little like wrapping a present. You
want your kit to stand out, but you don't want to spend more
on the wrapping than you did on what's inside. Atattooed, a
division of Randall S. Corp. USA, mastered this dilemma by
repurposing its product's packaging
for the Magic Marketplace show.
The company placed two press
releases, a product onesheet,
and a page
printed with the
company's URL and
email address inside
cardboard packaging
typically used for its
Commandhose hosiery.
Atattooed then slid a
final sheet inside the
package printed with
the text "Randy's Commandhose Press Pack," which was
visible through an oval cutout in the envelope that is usually
intended to give consumers a glimpse of the product inside.
Simple, cost-effective, and unique, this little press kit was
the perfect package – wrapper and all.
Out of the Box
To display its wares at
the National Stationery
Show, Minneapolis-based
Russell+Hazel placed its
office supplies and accessories
atop the wooden crates
it used to ship them to the
Jacob K. Javits Convention
Center in New York. Rather
than storing the crates after
setup and waiting for them
to be returned after the
show to complete dismantle,
Russell+Hazel placed a
sheet of Plexiglas atop each
crate, effectively turning it
into a display table. Then,
after the show ended,
staffers simply removed the
products, packed them –
along with the other exhibit
elements – back inside the
wooden crates, and headed
home. Talk about an easy,
out-of-the-box solution.
|
Aerial Display
How do you infuse the raw, adrenaline-pumping
excitement of a Supercross event into a static exhibit
on a show floor? Live-action productions company
Feld Motor Sports did it at the Licensing International
Expo by dangling a pair of motorbikes from the ceiling of the
Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The bikes, each straddled by a
mannequin dressed in full racing regalia, seemed frozen in midair.
But thanks to the position of the bikes and their riders – which were posed like they'd been caught mid-stunt – the
display possessed an undeniable momentum, as if at any moment the riders might spring to life. The overhead element
caught attendees' eyes and gave staffers the perfect opportunity to discuss potential licensing opportunities.
Match Play
Monster Worldwide Inc. put a new twist
on the game "Memory" at the Society for
Human Resource Management show,
where it invited attendees to play the
"Monster Match." Featuring a stage for
the host, an electronic leader board, and
12 touchscreen monitors for the contestants,
the game was held every 30 minutes
throughout the show. Designed to promote
the company's 6Sense search technology
(which delivers precision matching for job seekers and employers), the game challenged
12 attendees at a time to match six pairs of job seekers. After the host explained the game
and the technology, players "flipped" over an on-screen card by touching it to reveal the
image of a job seeker. However, only two cards could be revealed at one time, testing attendees'
memory of which job seekers were positioned where. And in case they got stuck,
attendees could hit the 6Sense button on the bottom of the screen, which revealed one
pair for them, but could only be used once per player. At the end of the game, the player
with the highest number of matched pairs won one of the show's most coveted prizes –
a stuffed Monster mascot. Meanwhile, all players walked away with a mini version of the
mascot, a memorable Monster experience, and a brief intro to the 6Sense technology.
|
The Igloo
Exhibit
To give its "Ice Age: Ice Breaker" arcade game a suitable
context at the International Association of Amusement Parks
and Attractions Expo, Innovative Concepts in Entertainment
Inc. erected an inflatable igloo. Flanked by signs and twodimensional
cutouts featuring characters from the popular
animated "Ice Age" films, the igloo housed three of the
"Ice Breaker" gaming stations, allowing interested prospects
to enter the exhibit and go head to head with other
attendees.
While the games proved an almost irresistible
lure in and of themselves, the lightweight igloo helped to
grab attention from the aisle and pull people inside for a
closer look at the company's new game.
A Knight's Tale
Once upon a time, steel
encasement was the only
way to protect data stored
on small devices, such as
radio-frequency identification
(RFID) chips. Enter
Revere Security, which engineered
a data-encryption
code that negates the need
for the clunky metal armor.
So to tout its technology
and illustrate its tagline,
"Don't bring old armor to
a hacker fight" at the RSA
Conference, Revere created
a series of webisodes
that followed a knight in
armor attempting everyday
tasks. The webisodes,
which were uploaded to
YouTube and emailed to
attendees before the show,
depicted the knight doing
everything from awkwardly
frolicking on the beach to
getting into a cab. Restricted
by his suit of armor
(meant to represent the
metal encasement used to
protect small devices), the
knight failed at everything
he tried. The webisodes
were amusing and successful,
garnering more than
1,600 views and driving
traffic to Revere's exhibit.
|
