November 2012

ammunition

For Advance Reproductions Corp., graphics are its bread and butter. The North Andover, MA-based firm specializes in retail, exhibit, and museum graphics, so heading into the TS² show in Boston, Advance knew it couldn't arrive with a same-old back wall and expect to impress attendees. First, the company settled on a tagline that didn't just offer attendees that what's-in-it-for-me benefit statement, but also lent Advance an overarching exhibit theme: "We'll help you make lots of bread!" The back wall of the 10-by-10-foot booth resembled a giant piece of baked bread. Attendees were invited to snack on various types of bread during their booth visit, along with olive oil for dipping. And to make sure booth visitors didn't forget that Advance was the best thing since, well, sliced bread, the company distributed 4-by-6-inch foam core replicas of the bread-and-butter back wall, printed with the exhibit's tagline and Advance's contact info and service offerings. For Floor Windo International (FWI), touting the benefits of floor-mounted advertising panels to GlobalShop attendees was simple: The company created an eye-catching graphic for one of its products and merely mounted it to the aisle carpet in front of its 10-by-30-foot space. Bearing an image of a man peering over a wall, the graphic read: "Made You Look!" Along with FWI's logo, a banner across the bottom of the roughly 3-by-1.5-foot graphic read "The power of floor advertising!" Attendees couldn't help but notice the curious image on the floor, and the message instantly communicated the product's effectiveness. According to Japanese folklore, if a person makes 1,000 origami cranes, they are granted a wish. That tradition was the inspiration for Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s 1,000 Cranes of Hope campaign, which makes a donation to a cancer-related charity for every wish entered online at www.1000CranesofHope.com. To raise awareness about its philanthropic efforts, the company, a subsidiary of Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., set up two kiosks with touchscreen monitors in its exhibit at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology show. Staffers standing near the kiosks invited passersby to make a wish by entering it via one of the touchscreen monitors. As visitors entered their wishes, staffers explained the program and engaged attendees in an informal conversation about Millennium's various cancer-related treatments. After their wishes were entered, attendees had the opportunity to sit down at a nearby table and learn how to fold a paper crane to take home with them as a reminder of the wish-making activity and Millennium's 1,000 Cranes of Hope program. To draw attention to Motion-Sense, Moen Inc.'s new line of motion-sensing faucets, the company hired a team of bartenders to enact scenes that were reminiscent of the movie "Cocktail." In a lounge adjacent to Moen's exhibit at the 2012 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, bartenders artfully juggled bottles in time with pulsating music, ending each show by creating nonalcoholic concoctions for the crowd. Cups branded with the Motion-Sense logo were filled with Melon Motion Mojitos and other fruity refreshers that were devoured by show goers while bartenders used the installed Motion-Sense faucets to clean up their mixologist supplies. As the audience mingled and sipped after the demonstration, iPad-toting staffers worked the room to collect leads that were as sweet as the drinks in the cups.		Generally speaking, vegetables aren't exactly attractive and alluring. But at the 2012 United Fresh show in Dallas, Hollandia Produce LLC turned its living lettuce display into a veritable vegetable work of art. While the company positioned five packaged lettuce heads atop an aisle-side card table, it displayed several additional heads in flower vases. With room to spread their leafy wings, the lettuce heads seemed to bloom, almost coming to life right there on the table. The vegetable bouquets fascinated the show's foodies, most of which not only inquired about the displays but also snapped pictures of the fiber-rich art. When you think of Paris, a few iconic images might come to mind: The Eiffel Tower, the Seine and its bridges, and people strolling down the Champs Elysees with their fresh baguettes and French poodles. So to catch the attention of attendees at the International Vision Expo in Las Vegas, Ooh-La-La de Paris Inc. of Glendale, CA, lined its 10-by-10-foot booth with amusing statues of those coifed canines. As visitors approached the booth, the roughly 18-inch-tall poodles greeted them at the edge of the exhibit. The dog statues came in light blue, brown, and green - tones that mimicked the company's logo - and each sported a pair of coordinating Ooh-La-La de Paris sunglasses. Now that's très chic. To help coax caffeine-addicted attendees into its booth and keep them there long enough to interact with its partners, Qualcomm Inc. invited everyone over for coffee - literally. For several years in a row, the centerpiece of Qualcomm's booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show has been a full-service coffee bar. Serving up everything from plain old cups of joe to decadent coconut mochas, the bar lures attendees who then chat with Qualcomm's partners while they sip their steamy beverages.
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