May 2010

ammunition

Anybody can claim their carpet is stain resistant. But Mohawk Industries Inc. proved that its SmartStrand carpet can go the distance with its one-of-a-kind SmartStrand Challenge. During August 2009, six months before Surfaces 2010 opened its doors, Mohawk carpeted the inside of "Ricko's" room with SmartStrand. But Ricko isn't your average pre-pubescent male; he's a 2,800-pound black rhino at the Birmingham Zoo. After Ricko rolled and strolled and snored and, well, pooped, on his carpet for the better part of two weeks, Mohawk removed and cleaned the carpet, which, of course, turned out as good as new. So to draw attention to this rhino-defying challenge at Surfaces 2010, Mohawk displayed two swatches of Ricko's carpet, one post poo and one post cleaning, in a side-by-side comparison. Text above and below the Plexiglas-enclosed carpet swatches explained the challenge and proclaimed, "It handled this wildlife. It will handle your customers' wild life." Booth staffers also handed out 4-by-2-inch cardboard boxes resembling wooden crates. Inside, attendees found a pamphlet featuring the story of the SmartStrand Challenge and a foam rhino standing atop a small sample of SmartStrand carpet. That'll teach people to poo-poo Mohawk's stain-resistant claims. To promote its books at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, Eichborn AG decided to make a pest of itself. Known for its fly logo, the Frankfurt-based publisher gathered 200 live flies. Then, using a dab of wax and a dental-floss-like filament, the company attached a red, wax banner featuring Eichborn's name and booth number to each fly. Eichborn then released the flies on the show floor where, flying lower than usual because of the banners' weight, they dive-bombed attendees and exhibits alike. But it wasn't until the company posted videos on YouTube that the stunt really took off. Within three months on the site, the video (which can be seen here) was viewed more than 900,000 times. By using a guerrilla marketing tactic linked to its logo, Eichborn left the highly competitive show, well, flying high. When your exhibit is intended to send a message about sustainability, you better go as Green as you can. That's why for the 2009 Swift International Banking Operations Seminar (SIBOS) in Hong Kong, Deutsche Bank AG didn't merely use a host of durable, Green materials such as FSC-certified Topan MDF, 100-percent recyclable High-Sign felt, and 100-percent emission-free Proterra and Thermopal. It also donated roughly 90 percent of the exhibit - including appliances, computers, and more - to the Christian Zheng Sheng College near Hong Kong, aiding Mother Nature while sidestepping return-shipping costs. Talk about a strategy that's both smart and sustainable. Rather than printing cases of product catalogs - and then paying for shipping and drayage to get them to the 2009 International Contemporary Furniture Fair - Shimna put its product catalog online at www.Shimna.net. Then the contemporary wood-furniture provider turned the raw material it works with into a clever in-booth giveaway that pointed prospects in the direction of its online catalog. Shimna distributed small blocks of wood with Shimna.net stamped atop one side. The Lincoln Log-like tchotchkes were stored and displayed inside one of Shimna's own wood chests, where they created an aisle-side eye catcher and product display to boot.		Black Lion Productions hoped to promote "Off the Beaten Path" - an online travel show - to cable-network buyers at the 2009 National Association of Broadcasters Show. So it created a rugged little booth that looked more like the great outdoors than a 10-by- 10-foot exhibit inside a convention center. Complete with a faux-stone cliff face, a back-wall mountain graphic, outdoor chairs, and various camping and hiking gear, the space evoked a cross between The Travel Channel and an REI retail store. In keeping with the travel theme, Black Lion also distributed postcards with a message from Teri Wallace, the show's host. When it comes to small booths, this brand-appropriate beauty proves that going off the beaten path can make for a memorable experience. It can be tricky to keep track of your booth staffers at a show. Even knowing who's on break or in a meeting can be harder than herding cats. That's one of the many reasons Dolby Laboratories Inc. requires its staffers to travel with handheld smart phones, which they must have charged and on hand throughout the show. Staffers at the booth's reception desk are armed with handheld devices themselves, along with a list of everyone's contact information. That way, whenever an attendee stops by and requests a certain staffer, they're only a text message away. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its wildly popular game show, Sony Corp., which owns the rights to "Jeopardy," filmed 11 episodes of the show from a specially designed theater inside its exhibit at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show. The episodes - including the last round of its popular "Tournament of Champions" and a "Celebrity Jeopardy" episode featuring TV host Tom Bergeron, comedian Aisha Tyler, and actress Elizabeth Perkins - attracted star-struck attendees and members of the media like paparazzi to a Brangelina citing. In-booth viewers could watch the episode tapings, ask host Alex Trebeck questions, and take home branded "Jeopardy" seat cushions. The "Jeopardy" party continued inside Sony's booth, where attendees who thought they could hold court with the contestants were invited to begin the show's multistep audition process by taking a quiz on Sony Vaio computers. I'll take traffic builders for a thousand, Alex. What's The Big Idea? Do you have a clever exhibit-related tip? Did your last exhibit have an über-cool traffic builder? Contact Travis Stanton at tstanton@exhibitormagazine.com.