Ahead of the Competition
From T-shirts to tote bags, many giveaways at trade shows end up being throwaways. But Konkretus found a way at the 2023 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) to get attendees to hang on to its giveaway – even if carrying it away took a little muscle. Based in Colombia, the maker of handcrafted concrete bathroom and kitchen sinks gave away a monkey's head made of concrete. The company chose the curio because, with more than three dozen species of monkeys in the South American country, simians often are associated with the tropical region. The tchotchke looked like a piece of valuable pre-Colombian art made of the company's own product, and attendees taking the half-pound piece back home wouldn't be able to get Konkretus out of their heads. Three Cheers for Cocktails
Developing a giveaway that serves as a microcosm of a company's offerings and won't be left behind in a hotel room is a tall order. But at EXHIBITORLive 2023, Skyline Exhibits filled that order with ease. A collection of glass apothecary jars contained ingredients such as dehydrated citrus wheels, sugar cubes, herbs, and dried cherries that visitors used to create a cocktail mix in a branded jar. Attendees could refer to preprinted recipes or go off-script and try their hand at mixology. The airplane-friendly containers went home with booth visitors, who could fill the jars with their favorite alcohol and leave it to infuse for a few days before making a custom cocktail. The parallels between the activation and the company's modular product offerings were unmistakable, and we won't hesitate to raise a glass to this tastefully executed giveaway. Potent Quotables
One can't throw a wadded-up tissue at ISSA Show North America, a cleaning-industry expo, and not hit a provider of toilet paper, paper towel, and hand-soap dispensers. Von Drehle Corp. offers all three, so the company's marketers were keen to differentiate their wares. Rather than focus on banal features such as ease of refilling, they took a tongue-in-cheek approach and positioned Von Drehle's practical offerings as elevated pieces of design. One side of the in-line exhibit's back wall featured a range of mounted products along with a Picasso print and a quote from the artist germane to Von Drehle's stock-in-trade: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." The quotable booth set Von Drehle apart from the pack. Giving Game
Cause marketing has long been a way for companies to endear themselves to their audience while doing some good, a fact not lost on Bayer U.S. LLC at the 2022 RSNA Annual Meeting. The company (and creative partner TPG Trade Show and Event Marketing) developed interactive charity screens where visitors scanned a QR code next to a portrait-hung monitor. After providing contact information, users received a message that indicated a randomly selected number of squares on the photo mural. Each square represented $10 that Bayer would contribute to the respective charity. As the squares were removed, they revealed parts of a hidden mural beneath the original, no doubt encouraging early visitors to return to the booth to check out the hidden images, and Bayer donated $20,000 to a pair of foundations. Rain Check
Subaru of America wanted to take the 2022 Los Angeles International Auto Show by storm when it introduced the 2024 Subaru Impreza. So it created an indoor torrential downpour to serve as a backdrop when it drove the vehicle onto the stage. Recognizing that wasting 600 gallons of water wouldn't exactly jive with its commitment to sustainability, the car manufacturer and their creative partner, EWI Worldwide, hit on a greener solution. The firm hauled in reclaimed water from Subaru Pacific's nearby on-site carwash. So Subaru let it pour every 20 minutes, creating a foot-stopping spectacle. Following the event, the company returned the water to the wash, ensuring it didn't become wastewater. Cool Water
The smallest touch can often create an impact far greater than the sum of its parts. Take Jayco Industrial Corp (dba Jayco Cleaning Technologies), which was displaying its finishing and cleaning solutions at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS). Sometimes a homemade traffic builder can affect passersby more than expensive bells and whistles. Jayco marketers identified a budget-friendly way to add some theatrics: placing simple water-effect LED projectors (similar to what parents buy for their ocean-loving kids' rooms) in two 55-gallon drums positioned along the aisle. The semitransparent barrels, each labeled for one of Jayco's industrial detergents, became a self-contained light show with kaleidoscopic colors and swirling patterns that drew far more attention than a static display. Don't Be Square
ClosetMaid's home-storage solutions may force the company to think inside the box when it comes to its product lines. However, that doesn't mean that it's limited to traditional design when it comes to trade show exhibits. In fact, ClosetMaid partnered with exhibit house The Trade Group to "break the mold" for its booth at the International Builders Show, where designs tend to be predictably rectangular, boxy, and meant to mimic houses and buildings. ClosetMaid's booth attracted eyes from aisles away with a soaring canopy comprising two massive, rigged triangles – one solid and the other hollow. The two exterior walls, which were triangles, seemingly impossibly balanced on points, also played with conventional design with one parallel to the aisle while the other was angled inward across the footprint. From our perspective, this design was anything but obtuse – or was it?