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A la Carte Display
At the 2012 Food Marketing Institute show in Dallas, Gatekeeper Systems Inc., a provider of shopping-cart theft-prevention technology that disables cart wheels when a cart is transported beyond its shopping-center's pre-established perimeters, crafted an unusual, albeit effective, display. Meant to depict an environment void of the technology and therefore brimming with stolen carts, the display held an overturned shopping cart along with two supposedly stolen carts that were transformed into chairs.
A sign reading "Caution! Gatekeeper Solutions are not utilized in this area" was positioned nearby; meanwhile, cardboard signage propped up in the "cart chairs" offered clever text such as "Word on the parking lot is that Gatekeeper Systems could have saved me." A far cry from the traditional cart displays littering the show floor, this out-of-the-box option captured attendees' attention and communicated the product's benefits without uttering a word.
Go Big or
Go Home
Hands-on product demonstrations are about as common as flight delays at the 2012 World of Concrete show. But to make its demo area stand out amid the demo deluge in the show's outdoor exhibiting area, Hilti Inc. supersized two iconic exhibit elements. One end of the company's outdoor booth featured a roughly 25-foot-tall wall. What appeared to be a giant Hilti saw blade protruded out of the top edge of the wall. The other two-thirds of the booth featured a faux construction site built from hidden truss. The roughly 30-foot-tall structure was covered in graphics
scrim, transforming the truss into a cutaway view of a
building under construc-
tion. Complete with
images of Hilti staffers
at work, the scrim
wrapped the sides
of the structure,
making it a key
focal point of
the outdoor
exhibit space.
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Paws for a Cause
Given restrictions regarding giveaways, philanthropic donations abound at health-care related exhibitions like the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association show. However, Access TCA Inc. created a philanthropic donation with a twist. As attendees approached its 10-by-20-foot booth, they discovered a gorgeous black lab and her trainer at one end of the space. Meanwhile, a poster board explained that Access would make a donation to the National Education for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS) organization. The donation via the Name-a-Puppy program would allow one booth visitor — drawn from the leads taken in the booth — the chance to name a NEADS puppy. After entering the NEADS program, the eight-week-old puppy would be trained as a service dog for the deaf and physically disabled. In addition, the lucky attendee would later received photos of the puppy's training, updates on his or her progress, and an invitation to the dog's training graduation. Now that's a donation with legs — four to be exact.
Just in Case
When Case Mate decided to erect its largest exhibit ever at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show, the maker of protective cases for smartphones wanted to keep the spotlight on its products. So to ensure that everyone at CES 2012 knew exactly what Case Mate had to offer, the company clad an aisle-side wall in a rainbow-bright array of roughly 2,000 "Barely There" cases. The Technicolor tactic left no attendee uncertain about what Case Mate was selling, while the exhibit's textural exterior had passersby running their hands along the rubbery cases and whipping out their cellphones to snap photos — giving staffers just enough time to swoop in and extol the product's virtues.
Retired Wire
Sometimes creating a quirky visual elevates an otherwise mundane marketing message to memorable new heights. That's the approach Schlage (a subsidiary of Ingersoll-Rand plc) took at the Door and Hardware International (DHI) Expo in New York. The company's AD Series Wireless System allows commercial buildings to have individual access control for up to 16 doors per one panel-interface module; whereas other systems require costly wired hubs at each individual entry. So along a side wall of its exhibit, Schlage erected what it called "A Farewell to Wires." An orb of jumbled cords was
suspended inside a circular cutout, while a small podium
held a memorial-type inscription that read like a eulogy:
"In 2011, Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies
expanded its offering of wireless access solutions.
In the years that followed, wires themselves moved
closer and closer to obsolescence. The piece
before you was commissioned to symbolize the end
of an era, a reminder of what we left behind and
the freedom that lies ahead." The cheeky memorial
and provocative visual metaphor not only helped to
solidify Schlage's key message into attendees' minds
— but it also put another nail into the collective coffin of
competitors' wired wares.
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Shock Talk
Exhibitors can make
outlandish claims until
the cows come home, but it's all just talk unless they prove it. So to demonstrate its industrial, hydraulic shock absorbers at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo, Enertrols Inc. rigged a 100-pound weight inside a clear-
acrylic case. A glass of red wine was placed atop the weight, which slowly rose to the top of the case before freefalling to the bottom,
where an Enertrols
shock absorber
brought it to a
safe-and-sound
stop — without a
single drop of red
wine spilling.
Training Day
To draw attendees to its exhibit and introduce
them to its equipment-training software at the ConExpo-Con/Agg show in Las Vegas, heavy-equipment manufacturer John Deere and Co. challenged visitors to play its custom-made video game, known as the Excavator Challenge. The game incorporates a real John Deere training program to test heavy-equipment drivers on their skills with the company's backhoes. Comprising three playing stations that mimicked
the inside of a bulldozer
or backhoe, the gaming area featured a leader board that displayed the names of the top drivers throughout the day. To play, attendees swiped their badges, providing
Deere with contact info
so it could notify daily
winners and reward them with real training sessions. Staffers also
were on hand to answer
questions, and drivers
returned throughout the show to see how their scores had held up.
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