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ammunition
Ideas That Work
 Humdrum, uninspired product displays do little to elevate your company's offerings. So to take its display to the next level at Interbike Marketweek 2018, Melon World GmbH compelled one of its bike helmets to float in midair. It wasn't black magic that enabled the product to defy gravity, but rather a system of carefully hidden magnets that made the helmet seem to hover while slowly rotating inside a branded, circular frame with the message "no brain, no game" stenciled onto it. The surreal display caused more than a few attendees to do a double take and, more often than not, stop long enough for staffers to swoop in and strike up a conversation – proving that when it comes to exhibit marketing, Melon World has both brains and game. 
 Most exhibit marketers hope that booth visitors will grab a business card or flyer on their way out of the exhibit. But at EuroShop 2017, where exhibit artistry borders on museum quality, Formfactory GmbH & Co. KG didn't settle for displaying a tired old stack of contact-information cards. Rather, the window-dressing and interior-design firm positioned three bright-pink mailboxes along an exterior exhibit wall and filled them and the floor beneath them with attractive contact cards. The simple yet eye-catching display lured attendees for a closer look and then offered them a little memento to remember the experience.
 International exhibit house Chritto/Punch LLC snagged a second glance from passersby at EXHIBITORLIVE by creating a whimsical exhibit with all the comforts of home. A mattress, miniature nightstands, lamps, bedding, pillows, and even a pair of slippers were affixed to the back wall in a display resembling a cozy bedroom that had been tipped vertically. Text on a pair of decorative throw pillows read "Rest easy, we've got you covered" and "Go international." Their interest thoroughly piqued, clients and prospects were invited to take a seat at any of four stools positioned around an L-shaped bar, chat with booth staffers, and find out how Chritto/Punch can keep them from losing sleep when exhibiting overseas.
 Sometimes creating an effective traffic builder is about using your head – other times, it's about using your feet. Volkswagen of America Inc. (working with George P. Johnson, a Project Worldwide agency) used both at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where it targeted soccer-oriented buyers. To ensure the auto company scored a winning goal, it partnered with Futboleros, an entertainment company that's the Harlem Globetrotters of the soccer world. Throughout the show, staffer emcees dazzled attendees with impressive footwork, games, and chances to win Volkswagen- branded soccer swag. In one game, staffers instructed players to do the opposite of what was called out as a staffer tossed a miniature soccer ball in their direction. For example, if the emcee said "Catch it," the attendee had to hit the ball back to the leader using his or her head. If the staffer said "Head it," the participant had to catch the ball and toss it back. Mess up, and you were out. Rounds of elimination left one champion who received a branded soccer ball. The high-energy games spiked dwell time, providing Volkswagen ample opportunity to net scores of leads.
 Cutaway cars are nothing new. The tried-and-true tactic helps attendees see the inner workings of automobiles and enables exhibitors to spotlight the sometimes invisible elements that make one model infinitely more desirable than another. But Hyundai Motor Co. took dime-a-dozen cutaway displays to another dimension at the 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show. To provide a sort of augmented-reality-turned-live-presentation experience for attendees, the company encircled its cutaway car with an assemblage of curved screens. Every few minutes, those screens came to life, raising and lowering in various formations like a multimedia version of the Bellagio fountains. In addition to adding a kinetic component to an otherwise static display, the screens occasionally offered an AR-enhanced view of the cutaway's components, layering data and imagery atop the deconstructed auto and highlighting the embedded technologies that help Hyundai run circles around its competitors.
 All too often, coming up with unique staffer uniforms is pretty low on the list of priorities for most exhibitors – if it makes the list at all. Not so with the fellas in the Tec Mailing Solutions LLC booth at Print 2018. These reps donned sky- blue suits printed with images of cottony clouds and complemented the bold sartorial selection with pristine white dress shirts and shoes. Attendees strolling the aisles stopped to comment on or inquire about the curious garb, giving reps the opportunity to explain how the firm's cloud-based solutions help optimize direct-mail campaigns. Even while wandering the show floor like drifting clouds on a summer day, staffers were frequently accosted because of their clothing. It goes to show that making uniforms a priority can raise prospect counts into the stratosphere.
 Ceiling elements and multimedia displays are surefire ways to attract attention, but it takes more than a rigged flatscreen to wow attendees at an event like Integrated Systems Europe, the world's largest audiovisual and systems integration show. So rather than displaying a corporate logo or looping video showcasing predictable content, Shenzhen Absen Optoelectronic Co. Ltd.'s overhead screens ran footage of red-hot flames. The unexpected imagery drew attendees' eyes to the booth and created a five-alarm-fire's worth of traffic.
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