Augmented Reality
Panasonic Marketing Group Europe GmbH had attendees at Integrated Systems Europe questioning reality with a multimedia presentation along one corner of the company's 3,000-square-foot stand. At various times each day, a live presenter took booth visitors on a journey through several scenes enhanced with a mix of traditional projection and cutting-edge technology. Projectors tracked and reacted to the movements of a number of 3-D props, turning them from mundane to mind-blowing. For example, at one point a simple white panel became a digital dashboard from a futuristic spaceship, while a flying, drone-like orb was projection-mapped with moving imagery that rendered it a hovering heavenly body. By mixing a variety of its projection technologies with a live presenter, Panasonic succeeded in demonstrating the endless options made possible by its offerings and attracted a massive crowd of onlookers for every showing. Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Offshore drilling platforms aren't always smooth operators, and the constant movement and jostling can wreak havoc on high-tech equipment. So at the Offshore Technology Conference, Corvalent Corp. found a unique way to demo the durability of its motherboards. Marketers used springs to suspend one of the circuit boards inside a waist-high, glass-enclosed kiosk. The back of the container offered a small monitor displaying content coming from the motherboard. To simulate the constant movement industrial motherboards must withstand, the base of the kiosk continually vibrated, causing the board to shake and twist violently. Nevertheless, the device's content appeared continuously on the kiosk's monitor. Table Talk
Highway 85 Creative LLC took to the metaphorical airwaves at EXHIBITORLIVE by setting up a mock radio booth in its exhibit. After donning headphones, guests ranging from industry influencers to show management joined staffer emcees at a large wooden table to talk shop.The company streamed the conversations, which were captured via professional-grade microphones, through Facebook Live, spreading its message to online followers not in attendance. Because the radio setup was unenclosed, the nearby aisle was often congested with curious passersby leaning in to listen to the chin-wagging, allowing staffers time to sidle up next to the onlookers and vet them in private discussions. It just goes to show that it often pays to talk things out. Band Aid
Giving away sweet swag is a reliable means of building booth traffic. At the WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference and Exhibition, Payfactors Group LLC, a provider of compensation data management tools, gave attendees PixMob LED wristbands with its "Join the Revolution" messaging printed on the face. To ensure the keepsakes remained in sight, staffers informed recipients that the wristbands would flash at one unannounced time each day of the show. Wearers would then have three minutes to hustle to the booth for chances to win big-ticket prizes. The activation guaranteed the company's message was visible on the show floor and that its booth was trampled by traffic.
The Pot Pit
Sometimes all it takes to get attendees to step inside your space is a clever back-wall graphic. Other times, you need an in-booth pit filled with marijuana leaves. ShowGrow, a chain of marijuana dispensaries, hoped to attract visitors at the Marijuana Business Conference and Expo (MJBizCon), convey the company's corporate ethos, and offer attendees an Instagram-worthy photo op. So to check all those boxes, the company built a hot-tub-like element into its in-line exhibit, filled it with logo-adorned foam leaves, staffed it with spokesmodels clad in branded attire, and invited passersby to take a proverbial dip. Hundreds of attendees accepted the invitation, waded into the makeshift weed pond, and struck a pose. The whimsical activity put booth visitors at ease, enabling staffers to swoop in and segue into conversations about the attendees' entrepreneurial objectives. Pinball Wizard
Most overhead elements brand the stands below but do little to convey the exhibitors' offerings. Stern Pinball Inc., however, used a kinetic ceiling structure to instantly communicate its product category at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Towering 18 feet above the stand, a rotating, branded sign was positioned atop an internally lit element representing a pinball bumper. Meanwhile, a metal track and supersized silver pinball circled around a central pillar and out toward a corner of the space. Paired with carpeting printed with game-inspired graphics, the exhibit was like a massive pinball machine that attracted attendees like teenagers to an arcade and left no doubt as to the company's offerings. Hanging Out
Repetition can be a powerful design principle, and at Euro- Shop 2017, Hooks Creative BV wielded that tenet with bravado, creating an aisle-side display that helped the firm capture attendee interest and quickly explain its offerings. Hooks, a provider of premium clothing hangers, bags, and point-of-sale displays, crafted a clever exterior wall that ran almost the entire length of its in-line footprint, an estimated 40 feet broken only by the main entrance to the space. The wall comprised a black outer frame into which roughly 45 vertical, evenly spaced rods were inserted. Attached to each rod, then, were 19 metal hangers placed with equal precision. Behind the total of more than 850 hangers, designers situated a semitransparent white fabric. Combined, the elements created a product-display wall that attendees surely couldn't miss – and one that immediately communicated the firm's wares.