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The Top 10 Coolest additions to Exhibition Stands
The Top 10 Coolest additions to Exhibition Stands
(parts 1-5)
Want a cool exhibition stand?
1. Freebies
2. Boys Toys
3. AV
4. Live Performers
5. Your latest products
6. Food and drink
7. Lighting
8. Complete stand integration.
9. Design Flairs
10. Branding
Freebies
We have all seen the flurry of branded bags, branded pens, stress balls and cuddly toys. – How effective is it?
In the simplest terms if you are, say, attending NAMM or it’s European Counterpart Musikmesse, an expo focused on Musical equipment. Then 90 percent of its attendants will be within that industry. So that been said when Joe Bloggs returns back to his shop, what will he remember?
Of course the latest products that he might be able to sell in his shop might stand out, however what if you the exhibitor don’t have an all singing all dancing product, (mind the pun) but lets say a vital one?
A pen or bag might just spark the memory 6 months down the line, and Joe Bloggs might think actually yeah “that was the blue stand, that offered a very good range of music stands, I will order 500 units”.
Word of warning, everything is relative, and these give always should be used creatively and cost effectively, but do prove to be a useful addition to any exhibition.
‘Boys Toys’
The next one on our Top 10 Coolest Additions to Exhibition Stands is Boys Toys – As you walk down the aisles of London ExCeL you often see a crowd of cheering, chanting Men, as they beat each other on a virtual F1 Car (rental by SP Events and The Events House) or take pictures in the latest Aston Martin Vanquish ready to update their facebooks.
Boys Toys or essentially expo gimmicks, can be a really useful way of gaining traffic on your stand, not to mention that exhibitions are long days, beneficial of course, but undoubtedly long! Your feet hurt, and often, it can coincide with late nights, early mornings, and a few drinks in-between. Creating fun elements on your stand, make the whole experience a little more bearable!
(Top Tip – The most important way is if your going to spend the money hiring an item like this then spend the extra money in hiring or training members of your team to work on getting leads!)
Maybe an email is needed to enter – or as people are queuing, a little small talk and then boom, sales pitch or ask for a card, keep it light and friendly, but remember the gimmick is a tool.
Word of warning, depending on the industry the exhibitions can be from one end of the scale to the other in terms of atmosphere, judge accordingly. Also some ‘male orientated’ gimmicks can isolate female members of the team. This is down to your particular industry and gender ratio.
AV
• Video Walls and
• Interactive Touch Screens
• Ipads
• Interactive Video Walls
• 3D Hologram system (Dreamoc)
• TV
AV –Audio Visual technology is becoming a real standard in the exhibition world! It can allow additional branding, company messages, visibility and exude a 21st century element to your business and products.
Gone are the days where you need a1000 flyers and pamphlets – instead have your product list on a interactive screen, and afterwards initiate a member of your sales team to get his or hers email and say “I can send you an interactive pdf straight to your email”
(Top Tip – Also send the PDF after the show in a follow up email, asking if you enjoyed the show, and if you can send it to the generic info@ email too, so that one gentleman swiping your touchscreen becomes the possibility of 3 or 4 people within a company seeing your product list.)
Word of warning, renting or buying the touch screen/ video walls is only one part, remember the content, don’t have a 30 second loop running on 17 TV’s use it wisely, and think what are we using this for – new product, video wall, maximum exposure. Lets have a 2 minute video on the product, 2 minute on us as a company, 2 minutes on how its made, 2 minutes on all our other products and then 2 minutes of various different images and information.
Live Performers
• Promo Staff
• Entertainment
Extra hands at an exhibition is always a useful one, maybe you’re a team of three or maybe creating rather than selling the product or service is your specialty.
In that case Promo staff (exhibition-girls or Yes People) might be an area to look at. You can of course educate your new temporary sales team into the main points of your new product, and when/ if a prospective client wants more information or specifics your sales member can pass them over to you.
Or perhaps you are looking for extra staff to give out freebies, capture data, or welcome, delegates onto the stand –all can be important and really make the difference from a good to a great exhibition.
Another key area many are using on their stands is entertainers, from musicians, pianists and singers like a2bmusic who we have worked with in the past to artists, (chalkboard, portraits or graffiti walls) jugglers, dancers, costumed characters, national instrumentalists (yes I have seen a Mongolian throat singer on a stand that was – you guessed it ran by Mongolians).
Sometimes these really unique personal touches are really important, an example is the company Novomatic that attend ICE, for the last 3 years they give away MozartKugel – chocolate & marzipan balls, an Austrian delicacy, all the promo girls that give them out and there must be 50 at least are Austrian (or speak German), if you didn’t know already the company is yes, Austrian! This is a real extra cherry on top to an already excellent stand.
Word of warning Like I have said previously, standard promo staff, musicians are usually normal at most exhibitions (just remember that the musician has enough songs, the same 5 songs on repeat for 3 days can be tough!). Some exhibitions allow, semi nude promo girls, some I have seen have been in just body paint. I have seen them in angel outfits, and with bullesyes on their… yup. This again is down to specific industries, there has been cases of companies trying to ‘stand out’ so much that they go a little far and get banned from the shows. Common sense Is a must on this one!
Latest Products
The last one on our Top 10 Coolest Additions to Exhibition Stands is Latest Products. Exhibitions are important to companies for many reasons, it could be because of a new product launce, existing products, one or multiple services, or to keep in touch with suppliers and clients. Whatever the reason of attending the exhibition, make it clear, you would be surprised how many times a company might attend an exhibition because, they always have, or think they should. They are an expensive marketing tool, and with preparation and creativity they can be the most powerful tool in your bag.
If you have a new product, and that’s your shining star, make sure the delegates know it, key branding, display it to it’s full potential, make sure it is lit, also viewable from as many angles as possible. Does it need power, do you need to show people how it works, can you have multiple demos of the same products going? Why not integrate everything around this product, the ‚rolls Royce cocktail bar‘ or the iPhone meeting room. Think about how to saturate and subliminally focus on this product. When someone mentions your company, the next word should be ‚did you see their new product?‘ it should be as synonymous with your company as your company name!
What if it’s an existing but very important product/service? …. In my opinion there should be no difference, you have answered the question above why are we going? this time the reason is to show everyone our existing product is still the best, still reliable. Have the attitude of you can’t improve on perfection. In terms of marketing, still highlight it as if it’s new, but zone in on the fact that it is industry standard, old reliable, trusty, 10 years old, the best in the business, etc. The result will be the same, the delegates leave the expo, thinking they are still talking it about it, it must be good, it must be selling, it must be the market leader.
