Print Shop
Disappointed with digital, Stratasys Ltd. hits the road and bests its lead-generation goal by more than 200 percent.

When COVID shuttered the country, Stratasys Ltd., a provider of 3-D printers and services, began hosting webinars and providing digital content. While these efforts met the needs of existing customers, marketers noticed they weren't filling the funnel with many new leads. "There was still that need of face-to-face marketing for new customers considering our newer technologies," says Amy Teal, senior marketing manager for Stratasys.

Needing a means to put its products directly in front of fresh faces, the company partnered with Craftsmen Industries Inc. to create a custom mobile showroom. Stratasys required something spacious enough to show its range of printers (some of which are quite large) yet nimble enough to swing into parking lots and navigate the narrow roads of the Northeast. A 40-foot gooseneck trailer with a pair of slide-outs towed by a Ford F-450 turned out to be the ideal solution, so Craftsmen got to work.

In February 2021, the Experience Stratasys Tour started rolling on a 34-week tour that crisscrossed the country. With the ever- changing landscape of regional restrictions and COVID hot spots, Stratasys plotted its events in 8-week chunks to allow greater flexibility in adjusting to current circumstances. Stratasys coordinated with its network of third-party and internal sellers to promote local events and wrangle up prospects. Once the trailer arrived at a site – a mix of seller facilities, customer offices, breweries, etc. – and the dedicated tour guide finished the two-hour set-up, regional staffers began registering attendees outside the trailer. Waiting visitors could view Stratasys' marketing videos that looped on a large weather-proof monitor mounted on the side of the trailer. Meanwhile, the wall of the passenger-side slide-out folded down to create a spacious stage and reveal a floor-to-ceiling glass wall. "That feature provided loads of ambient light that amplified the space," says Jim Fickert, account executive at Craftsmen.

Up to 10 visitors at a time got up close to four printers, three of which were housed in the slide-outs. Four monitors inside the trailer promoted the printers' capabilities and delivered case studies from existing customers. Throughout the interior, staffers arranged 3-D-printed objects, giving prospects the opportunity to get hands-on with the equipment's capabilities. The items could be easily swapped out to target a specific market.

Stratasys hosted more than 110 events across the country from February to October of 2021, and the company was thrilled by the quality of attendees, many of whom spent 20 to 40 minutes examining the printers and diving into the details with staffers. "You get a lot of lookie-loos at trade shows – people that want to check out what's new and maybe learn a little bit, but they're never going to be a customer of yours," Teal says. "The mobile tour eliminated that noise, and we found we were speaking with the right people."

And those hot prospects delivered sizzling results. Being its first road show, the company set what it thought was a challenging but attainable sales target for the campaign. After blowing past that goal in just three months, Stratasys set a stretch goal three times higher than the original – and ended up surpassing that target by 33 percent. "The vertical teams love the showroom and are asking when they can get their own dedicated vehicles," Teal says. "Hearing this excitement from the teams shows that we've really found a way to approach their customers in an impactful way."

Tough Act to Follow
Panasonic revs past its lead target by more than 25 percent with two tricked-out trucks promoting its Toughbook brand.

The pandemic forced millions to work from home, but it didn't sideline first responders and other essential personnel. And they still needed to maintain and update the tools of their trades, such as Panasonic System Solutions of North America's line of rugged Toughbook-brand laptops, 2-in-1 tablets, and custom accessories. But with trade shows shut down, Panasonic decided to take its Toughbooks directly to customers and prospects with help from co-sponsor brands Verizon, Intel, and Microsoft.

Panasonic had already executed a road show with a gooseneck trailer, but marketers felt that this iteration required something more agile. Pro Motion Inc., a provider of mobile experiences, proposed using Ford F-250 pickup trucks. "The challenge with a trailer is that it's big and requires more coordination to find spots to set up and often causes permit and licensing headaches," says Mary Beth Hall, director of marketing at Panasonic. "A pickup truck eliminates almost all those problems."

Pro Motion customized a pair of black and blue pickups – one for the West Coast and another for the East Coast – with Toughbook and co-sponsor branding on the sides of the cabs and shells over the beds. "We also beefed up the trucks' appearance with custom wheels and bigger tires for a smoother ride," says Steve Randazzo, president of Pro Motion. "Plus, they looked tough."

The tour pushed the gas pedal in November 2021 with drivers pulling up to fire and police stations, city halls, etc., and diving into a quick 30-minute setup. The custom shells opened on both sides and the rear to reveal a trio of monitors that played product videos. A clever shelf attached to the three sides so Panasonic could display its products preloaded with software for each audience.

Attendees were welcome to tinker with the devices and learn about their capabilities, and staffers invited them to climb into the cab, which was outfitted as a high-tech mobile office such as those found in police cruisers. And each tour stop was as flexible as the mobile showrooms themselves. For instance, at an event for EMTs, staffers simply opened the software that met those visitors' needs. By appealing directly to Toughbook's end users, everyone – even those that would never normally attend a trade show – was able to learn about the products and, hopefully, influence their decision-makers. Plus, those with purchase authority could take a few minutes out of their busy days to pop in for a quick meeting.

After an event, drivers were back on the road in half an hour, and an on-board inverter ensured all devices were charged for the next stop. "The flexibility of the vehicles was a huge asset," Hall says. "We didn't have to wait for a trade show to connect with a customer. We could be in Pittsburgh one morning and in Orlando the next afternoon."

Between November 2021 and March 2022, Panasonic's pickups logged more than 20,000 miles, exceeded the company's goal of hosting 40 events and connecting with more than 1,000 visitors, and surpassed marketers' lead-generation target by more than 25 percent. With such success, don't expect this road show, which is scheduled to continue into autumn of 2022, to sputter any time soon.

Knight Rider
Knightscope Inc. delivers a hybrid mobile experience with an expandable pod as slick and futuristic as its security robots.

With its droid-like robots that can patrol anything from parking garages to casino floors, Knightscope Inc. is on the bleeding edge of autonomous security. But it's also light-years ahead when it comes to hybrid road shows. Due to COVID, the company began looking for a mobile experience every bit as futuristic as its products to ensure it continued to hit its revenue goals. "We wanted to deliver an intriguing mobile experience that captured people's imaginations and provided a bit of entertainment value to a very serious subject," says Stacy Stephens, executive vice president and chief client officer at Knightscope.

Stephens' team found a solution through Mobility Resource Associates Inc. (dba MRA Mobile Experiential), which had recently launched a 30-foot-long expandable container that looks like it could have come from the USS Enterprise. "The ability for a more autonomous experience aligned with Knightscope's product benefits and made it an easy decision," says Gino Bitonti, executive vice president of MRA.

Originally scheduled to run for four months, the Robot Roadshow got rolling in November 2021. Sales reps began contacting prospects and asking them to visit the company's website to check out the tour and sign up for meetings.

Either the day prior or the morning of an event, the pod, which also housed the company's robots, arrived on the back of a flatbed trailer. Once it was at the reserved location, hydraulic actuators descended to the ground and lifted the pod vertically. The driver steered the trailer out from under the container and gently lowered the pod to the ground. The sides of the structure then electronically expanded into a 452-square-foot space.

When guests arrived, they found a stunning showroom with glass walls along the front and sides. After checking in with the driver/tour manager, visitors approached the glass front, and automatic sliding doors opened and let them enter the immersive experience. Attendees were immediately captivated by two of Knightscope's security droids – one which stood 5.5 feet tall and weighed an imposing 400 pounds – autonomously patrolling the interior while a third stood motionless at the right. A trio of 80-inch monitors on the back wall showed a combination of capabilities presentations, case studies, and Zoom meetings with Knightscope's team at the home office.

Over the next 20 minutes, the virtual meeting host ran the robots through several exercises showing how the droids' cameras and sensing technologies monitor spaces and deliver alerts to clients' security operation centers. The remote team used the center screen to illustrate examples of real-life deployments in line with each attendee's unique security needs. Many of the meeting ended with scheduling site visits, where Knightscope would go to a prospect's property for deeper dives into the robots.

"Because of this tour, we've been able to have more intimate and individualized conversations with prospects than we can usually have at a trade show," Stephens says. "Plus, we've found that it has really accelerated the sales cycle." Whereas it takes an average of six to nine months to close a sale from a trade show lead, Knightscope's mobile tour has helped shave months off that timeline. And in just one season on the road, the Robot Roadshow exceeded its revenue goals, which prompted the company to extend the tour.