This Demo's
on Fire
Every exhibitor wants to have the hottest demo on the show floor. But at the 2013 International Builders' Show, Roxul Inc., a subsidiary of Rockwool International A/S and maker of a thermal home insulation that it purports is completely fire resistant, wanted to prove its impressive product claims. So to put its money where its flame-resistant insulation is, Roxul rigged an in-booth demo that pit its products against actual flames. A small acrylic cube held a sample of its insulation in place, while a staffer lit a butane torch and positioned it to emit a continuous flame directed toward the product sample. Despite the ongoing inferno, the sample never erupted into flames. And after a hot-hot-hot demo like that, it was pretty much impossible for clients and prospects to deny the company's fire-resistant claims.
Lights Illustrated
When is a booth more than a booth? The answer is: when it's a booth for Touche Lighting Control. At Lightfair International, Touche's island exhibit bypassed traditional to become more of an illustrated diagram. Instead of same-old product displays and presentations, the booth featured various switches, components, product images, arrows, and text attached to the walls, all of which showed how the company's controlled-lighting services and products work together in countless configurations. While attendees could grasp Touche's offerings and understand the diagrams with little assistance, staffers could also point out one part of the exhibit or another to further answer attendees' questions. The highly effective, not to mention eye-catching, exhibit was an invaluable tool that stopped attendees in their tracks and gave salespeople a conversation starter and technical presentation to boot.
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Business Casual
At a show like Magic Market Week, mannequins are a dime a dozen. To differentiate its faux fellas from the crowd, Haggar Clothing Co. positioned them atop stacked wooden pallets in the center of its booth space. Paired with a flatscreen monitor on which a video promoting the company's LK Life Khaki clothing line appeared, the four mannequins struck relaxed poses that fell in line with LK's casual aesthetic. To further emphasize the brand, portions of each of the pallets were painted bright green, blue, or yellow â?" three colors seen throughout the rest of the space and in back wall graphics that featured the tagline, "Your life. Your khaki. Your way." The creative display not only intrigued passersby, but also reinforced LK's laid-back brand identity.
Drippy Display
The best displays not only put products in the best light, but also communicate their superiority. At the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Pelican Products Inc. checked both boxes with a demo/display hybrid for its watertight cases. A simple tabletop water feature held five Pelican cases, which are made to protect expensive electronic gadgets. The faux-stone water feature kept a steady stream of water dripping down on the cases for the duration of the four-day show, proving the company's claims, as closer inspection revealed bone-dry interior enclosures, and communicating the product's water-resistant feature with nary a single word or photo.
Say "Cheese!"
When it comes to your social-media profiles, a photo of Fido is perfect for personal use. But when posts to your social-media accounts are seen by business associates as well, a professional head shot is a much more appropriate option. So to offer attendees a valuable takeaway they likely wouldn't have time for otherwise, i.e., a professional headshot, 3-D marketing firm Group Delphi set up a photography studio in its booth at the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association Annual Meeting. Throughout the three-day show, a professional photographer snapped attendees' pictures via a short in-booth photo shoot. While the photographer downloaded the images to a USB drive for attendees, staffers talked shop with participants and explained Group Delphi's offerings. Now that's a picture-perfect way to attract some attention.
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In-Booth
Bulldozer
Topcon Positioning Systems Inc. usually offers in-exhibit presentations to demonstrate its GPS systems. But its 12-seat theater, which took the form of a yellow bulldozer, stole the show at the World of Concrete. Accessible by a set of steps at the rear of the bulldozer,
 the theater floor was elevated roughly 3 feet off the ground and featured a presentation screen and podium near the bucket end of the dozer. Meanwhile, comfortable chairs were positioned at the back of the machine. Branded on all four sides with Topcon's logo, the dozer theater offered attendees key product information and dug up aisle-side interest to boot.
Hang Time
You don't typically see demos for products as mundane as self-adhesive felt on the show floor. That didn't stop Innovation Engineering Group (IEG) from devising a demo for its Flexi-Felt disks at the Surfaces show. IEG claims the product's adhesive backing is virtually impossible to remove. To prove it, IEG placed a Flexi-Felt disk on the bottom of a wooden stool's leg, then hung the stool upside down by the felt. The disk's adhesive stayed strong throughout the three-day show, making IEG's marketing message nearly as sticky as its product.
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