Bringing an Exhibit Back to Life
Mining creative and cost-effective solutions, exhibitors are working harder than ever to create the right booth environment to meet their marketing objectives and to stay on the floor.
By Lisa Plummer
Investing in a new exhibit booth may not be top of mind in light of the current global economy, but creating the right environment to promote brand awareness and attract potential customers at a trade show is crucial, especially as exhibitors scale back on events and try to do more with less.
With the combined pressure of needing to exhibit on a tighter budget, exhibit designers are being tasked with healing aging displays. For companies unable to invest in a new booth, there are viable refurbishment options available to help breathe life into an old one without draining the budget.
There's much more to refurbishing a worn or outdated display than spot-repairing worn areas or slapping on new graphics.
According to Greg Dickson, vice president of exhibit and design at GES Exposition Services, customers are not only looking to refurbish what they have, but to rework design components to reduce the cost structure, logistics and overall handling of the exhibit
"What we're [hearing is] 'I have this exhibit, I have these shows, we're facing certain economic conditions and I need to reduce overall expenditures because we're operating on smaller budget," Dickson said. "They're looking for savings anywhere they can get them."
Beyond refurbishing an existing booth or integrating custom components, Dickson says another dynamic is to create modularity out of existing components by cutting and reworking display pieces. Where companies once had three or four exhibits to maintain, they're now looking to modularity to give them several versions of one exhibit that can contract or expand to fit different show floor spaces, depending on the trade show.
Dan Hoffend, vice president of sales and corporate accounts at Freeman, says helping clients get a new look and feel out of their existing exhibits requires considering all kinds of creative and cost-effective solutions.
"What's [becoming more common is] working with a customer to come up with a plan to keep a structure, to reduce it and add hybrid or rented components to spruce it up to the current branding, but not necessarily to build it from scratch," Hoffend said.
Customers can also extend their exhibits' lives by cutting down on shipping, where most of the wear and tear happens.
"To extend life we refurbish and adjust, but we look for areas in programs where we can reduce transportation miles by storing it where they go versus where they live," Hoffend said. "Many companies are looking to reduce their budgets, and reducing transport miles reduces the wear and tear, which means you don't have to do so much refurbishing."
A Fresh Vision
According to Mike Thimmesch, director of lead generation at Skyline Exhibits, his company is seeing a big trend of exhibitors freshening up their displays by using new graphics and updating brand messages.
He says exhibitors are relying on the architecture they already have or can rent and are focusing on changing the message of their exhibits.
Accordingly, achieving an updated look without investing in a new build is easy and economical, as hardware can be detached from the framework and pieces switched out.
"If they want to give it a new look without buying a new exhibit, they can reconfigure the hardware itself," Thimmesch said. "Since it's modular in nature they can come up with a new look by changing out how the hardware is shaped."
Other creative solutions include integrating lightweight, printable fabrics and modular panel systems, as well as rented plasma touch-screens and other electronic media to encourage attendee interaction.
Collaborating more closely with exhibitors to find creative and cost-effective solutions is key, according to Heather Rosenow, vice president of marketing at Derse. Despite reduced budgets, design can thrive in difficult times, she says.
"We understand in this economy that people have to be smarter with their spend, but smarter doesn't mean creativity has to go out the window," Rosenow said. "It's about getting back to basics...simple, clean and efficient designs made from available and affordable materials."
As an exhibit company that also offers marketing and program management services, Rosenow says Derse is working closely with clients to analyze what will work best for their overall trade show programs, marketing objectives and budget constraints. Whether a straight refurb of an old exhibit or an integration of rental and custom components, what matters most is designing a booth environment that delivers on a client's face-to-face marketing goals.
In this challenging climate, Joel Chaiken, director of marketing at Nimlok, says it's critical to help exhibitors find innovative ways to stay where they belong-on the trade show floor-and affordable exhibit refurbishment helps achieve that goal.
"Budgets are down but [exhibitors] still need to be there," Chaiken said. "By just refreshing and reconfiguring, it can breathe life into [an exhibit] and save money, but it's also a very earth-friendly practice. In times like these, you learn to conserve, to put good value on things you have but also to be innovative."
With more creative and cost-effective solutions at their disposal, many exhibit companies are working harder than ever to help exhibitors create the right booth environment to meet their marketing objectives, and booth refurbishment is a big part of that mission. Whether it's giving an existing exhibit a complete facelift, reworking old pieces with custom or rental, integrating fresh graphics or additional components or a combination of creative solutions, making an old booth new again is one way exhibit design companies are helping clients keep their trade show programs fresh, viable and growing, even in a tough economy.
LISA PLUMMER is a contributing editor for Tradeshow Week.