According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 56% of companies hold some kind of education-based customer or prospect event during the year. We all know that trade show exhibits are a treasure trove of content marketing opportunities, but some event marketers forget or fail to capture content during the event. Follow these strategies, and you’ll be in the enviable position of being able to create great trade show marketing materials — all through the year.

Shoot Photo & Video Footage While On-Site

Cover your booth as though it were a news story, electronic news gathering style. You can hire a professional or assign the task to someone on your staff. Getting great footage is an achievable goal, even if you’re not a professional camera operator. Perform some Internet research on how to shoot great photos and video.  Develop your shot list before you leave for the airport so you’re prepared to execute on-site.

Here are some suggested shots. Be sure your company logo, branding and signage is visible in every shot possible.

• “Establishing shot” of the venue from the outside
• The buzz, the crowds, the show floor from above
• Customer testimonials or interviews
• Product demonstrations
• People interacting and conversing inside your booth
• Beauty shots of your trade show booth

Next, Edit Your Video Clips

If you’re a do-it-yourself-er, the magic of Apple is all you need. With photos and HD video footage shot with an iPhone and edited in iMovie, you can be an independent filmmaker in no time. You can add titles, incorporate photos or images, and seamlessly edit footage from your event to create a great looking promotional or educational video.

Upload to the Internet

Once your video is produced, you’ll want to upload the file to your favorite social media sites (and of course, your website.)  Don’t be stingy, upload everywhere — like Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Veoh and Blip.tv to name a few.

Share, Promote, Extend, Leverage

Your video is online. Let the games begin!

• Publish a press release….link to your video
• Write a blog post….link to your video
• Post status updates on LinkedIn and Facebook….link to your video
• Send an email or newsletter to your database….link to your video
• Apply a QR code to business cards and trade show graphics….link to your video
• Distribute the link to your sales team to share with prospects & customers

The Bottom Line

The name of the game is to keep your audience engaged. Creating fast-moving, interesting content is a great way to extend your event, post after post after post.

Find more effective strategies used by exhibitors by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page guide has almost 100 tips for trade show marketers to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy.

Are you a trade show exhibitor?  Or a trade show marketer?

It’s understandable that as an exhibitor you get caught up in logistics, because no matter what, you have to get your booth from point A to point B (and to point C, D, E, and so on).  But those required logistics can sometimes crowd out the even more important marketing aspect of trade shows.

So let’s take a few minutes to set logistics aside (don’t worry, they’ll still be there when you get back) and focus on how you can be a better marketer who just happens to use trade shows.

Target Your Best Personas

Personas are portraits you create to better understand your best clients as prospects.  A good persona includes age, gender, income, ethnicity, and even emotional aspects such as personality, likes & dislikes, their mentality, and key motivators.  A persona gives your team a more tangible, living target to aim for when you create your marketing materials.   You can create and target several personas.  For example, a car company may have car buyer personas that are driven by status, or economy, or hauling family, or sustainability.  When you understand your buyer personas, you can tailor all marketing aspects to better appeal to them.

Write A Creative Brief

A creative brief is a like a mini-marketing plan for your trade show.  It takes some time to pull together, but it saves you time in the end.   Include in your creative brief your goals for the show, your positioning, your strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors, what you want to have happen in the booth and after the show, how you plan to promote your presence at the show, and even your show budget.  Once you have it, you can share it with your booth staffers and the vendors you are hiring for the show, such as your exhibit house or your promotions vendor.

Select The Right Shows

Rather than choose which shows to exhibit at based on cost per square foot or number of total attendees, your marketing mind should instead hone in on the number of attendees that fit your target market, or the return on investment you’ve received at previous years’ shows.  You look at which vertical market shows exist where you have the greatest potential, even if the overall show attendance pales compared to your main industry shows.  And you regularly reexamine your show schedule based on marketing potential and performance.

Design Your Exhibit As A Marketing Tool

Your trade show displays are not just pieces of furniture – they are marketing tools that both communicate a message and support your booth staff.  Make sure your trade show exhibit lives up to its full marketing potential.  Does it clearly communicate a compelling reason for your buyers to stop and visit you?  Does it boldly say (with both images and text) what products and services you offer, and how you are better?  And if you are exhibiting at a variety of shows (based on personas in different job titles or industries), can you change your graphics to more directly appeal to your various personas?

Create Promotions That Appeal To Your Personas

Trade show promotions can get more people into your booth.  Be sure to pick your promotions with a critical and inspired marketing eye, to ensure you excite your best buyer personas, and avoid attracting non-buyers to your trade show booth.   This is the fun part of trade show marketing – when your promotions are so on-target that you build stronger relationships with your buyers because they recognize that you truly understand them.  You do that with compelling offers they crave, and with a look and feel that matches your buyer’s personality.

Follow Up Leads More Than Just Fast

The logistical part of trade show lead follow up means getting the leads into the computer and out to the sales force quickly, and getting your packets in the mail within a few days.   That’s awesome, and essential.  But with a marketing perspective you can go much further.  Make sure you and your booth staff qualified the leads before your send them on their way, so your sales force knows which leads to pursue first.  And don’t just send out a generic follow up packet – tailor your marketing materials specifically to what each attendee asked for.  You’ll create more sales with your trade show leads that way.

So by all means, be an expert at getting your show paperwork in on time to get the early discount.  Know how to set up your banner stands in under a minute flat.  Just remember that you are at trade shows to build your company image, generate sales leads, and build stronger client relationships.  Achieving those admirable marketing objectives requires you to sharpen your marketing skills.

With everything that goes into trade show exhibiting, it can be hard to balance it all.  Read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper for the best tips about the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy. 

I am part of a small Marketing Department at UGL Services with limited resources so we take every opportunity to repurpose content that we have already developed and tailor it for distribution through other marketing vehicles.  In 2008 my team created an advertising campaign targeted to facility managers of corporations with the message that we understand how overwhelming building maintenance can be and we suggest outsourcing these responsibilities to UGL Services.

The Ad

The first ad in the campaign shows a facility manager lying awake in bed with a skyscraper tucked in next to him with the headline “You have a facility.  Now it’s time for a life.”  It is a literal depiction of a stressed out facility manager experiencing insomnia because he cannot get his mind off of work or the price tag on new upgrades needed in the buildings he manages.

In 2011 we exhibited at a conference managed by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).  When attendees registered for the conference online they were asked a survey question “What job-related issues keep you up at night?”  IFMA took all of the responses and came up with topics for roundtable discussions conducted during the event.  My team decided to sponsor the roundtable sessions as it was a vehicle for us to leverage the ad that was created in 2008.  As part of the sponsorship we were able to put a full page ad in the show directory and posters were hung in the roundtable location.

The Trade Show

We decided to bring the ad to life and add an element of surprise at our trade show booth.  I hired an actor to play the sleep-deprived facility manager dressed in his pajamas and chained to a building.  All of the attendees were dressed in business attire so our actor really grabbed their attention and became a successful conversation starter.  We gave away prescription bottles with jelly beans inside and a label with the text that said “For fast-acting relief and a better night’s sleep” and our logo underneath it.  Posters in our booth featured the ad once again and supersized text that read “Tired of taking your work home with you?  We’ve got the remedy.”  Our actor handed out business-sized cards with the dates and times of the roundtable discussions to encourage participation and promote the problem-solving ideas that attendees would learn about.

The Response…

Overall it was a very successful promotion and a few attendees commented on how they related to the actor chained to the building.  Many facility managers said that they try not to take work home with them but it is difficult to put down their Blackberrys especially when they are getting ready to turn in for the night.  My response to them was “Have you considered outsourcing your facility services?”

For may ways to draw great leads into your trade show booth, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This book will tell you what other exhibit marketers say the best tips and tricks are for successful exhibiting.  Click here to request your free copy. 

Thanks to Jocelyn Sacco for writing this guest blog post, sharing her experience as a trade show exhibitor.  We welcome similar blog posts from Skyline clients who want to share with their peers new and inventive ways they’ve achieved greater trade show success. Click here to tell us your story!

I know… you are sick and tired of Tebow.  Yet, over 2 weeks after his last game of the year in which his team was never in the game, Tim Tebow is still one of the top trending searches on Google.

There are several things we can learn about marketing our brand and message from watching Tebow and the way he presents himself.

1. Tim Tebow is real.  He is an open book, sometimes too open.  But the fact that we know exactly where he is coming from and we can compare that to his actions, force us to pay attention.  It is that “reality tv drama” effect that is so captivating.
2. Tim Tebow is sincere.  His walk backs up his talk.  Whether we agree or disagree with him, there is no doubting his sincerity in his words and actions.
3. Tim Tebow is passionate.  He is driven and focused with incredible discipline.  He rarely appears off message and never sends out a conflicting image or message.
4. Tim Tebow is demonstrative.  He has cemented images in our mind that embrace his message.  His faith is his foundation and the platform from which he does everything.  Say Tebow and you immediately think of “Tebowing” – the pose – which encapsulates his message.
5. Tim Tebow is continuously telling his story.  From “Tebowing” to the black eye paint with Bible verses, he is always on message and repeating his story.  Football is a tool for him.  There is a bigger agenda and goal and he uses everything at his disposal to tell his story.  Repeatedly.

So how do your marketing programs stack up?

Are they real and sincere?  Can people feel the passion from your representatives throughout the organization?  How do you demonstrate your message?  What images pop into your client’s mind when thinking of your company?  How consistent is the look & feel of your image? And how does your look and feel tie to the messages you are sending out in your marketing and your trade show displays?

Tim Tebow is a model of consistency, determination, and focus on the image and message with an genuine understanding of the total picture.  How would our results be impacted if we implemented our programs with the same drive and focus?

Photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/5040576290/  

To integrate Tebow’s branding style with your trade show exhibiting plan, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. This report tells you the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today in their trade show marketing efforts.  Click here to request your free copy.

Do you believe your company can get more bang for its trade show marketing dollars if you employed a different strategy?  If so, the next step is to convince your boss that you need a new approach.  But be warned; no one is going to be at all interested in hearing that there is a problem with the status quo unless you are able to present an alternative.  Here are some steps you can take to make certain you find the best strategy for your next show.

Analyze Your Choice of Shows 

One major factor of an effective marketing strategy is choosing the best trade shows that attract your target audience.  What kind of trade shows has your company attended in the past?  Do you market in industry-specific shows, general shows or a combination of both?  Gather the statistical data from the events you have attended and see which shows have been most effective in garnering new business.  Part of your strategy may include recommendations regarding increasing or changing your venues.

Scope out the Competition

The next step is to find out what your competition is doing.  The goal is not to imitate, but to determine what the current presentation trends are and which ones draw the largest crowds.  Spend some time visiting the trade show booths that command the most interest and analyze their strategies.  Do they use interactive media?  What kind of lighting is employed?  Is there a video feed?  How are their graphics arranged and displayed?  Do they have demonstrations or is product available for the customers to handle?  Are these booths run by a single vendor or are they a co-op between complimentary businesses?  Take notes and look for any factors these booths have in common.

Apply the Data 

After you have gathered your information apply the concepts and techniques you have observed to your particular company and products.  Try to employ strategies that will reach your visitors through sight, sound and touch if possible.  Map a layout of your proposed trade show display and make drafts of any new handouts, graphics, or other marketing materials.

Prepare a Budget & Project Payoff

Every company has limits on marketing funds, and your new strategy will not make it off the boss’s desk if it cannot be accomplished within the budget constraints with higher results.  Find out how much money is available and then determine how to project results.  Take all of this data and put it into a business proposal format.  Present the new strategy along with the reasons why they changes will improve the visibility and effectiveness of your trade show exhibits.  This information, combined with a workable budget, should be all of the persuasion you need!

A new strategy is one way to revamp your trade show marketing.  For more tips and ideas on how to boost your results and stretch your budgets pick up the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  To request your free copy, click here.

Pre-show promotions are one of your best methods to get people to visit your trade show booth.  And you need that help, because the average attendee only visits about 20 booths – while the average trade show has about 400 exhibitors!

Pre-show promotions are direct marketing for trade shows.  You use direct mail, email and telemarketing to invite trade show attendees.  And while you have other pre-show promotional methods (ads, social media, room drops), exhibitors have told us in surveys that these three are their favorites.

It’s an old saw for direct marketers that the success of your direct marketing relies first on the list, second on the offer, and third on the creative.  Since list building is the most important (and probably the least discussed!) we’re going to cover it in this blog post.

To build a great list for your pre-show promotions, get names from one or more of these 5 sources:

1. The Show Organizer: This is your best list source, as they know who is actually coming! Get both the list of this year’s pre-registered attendees and last year’s actual attendees, and merge them together.  Order only the part of the list that matches your prospects, filtering the list by industry, job title, company size, and whatever other choices the show producer gives you that help you target your audience.  Filtering the list is more important if you only want to reach a small portion of the attendees.  Most importantly, don’t order the names of your competitors.

If the show organizer doesn’t give you the ability to segment the list before your buy it, consider getting the whole list and then manually deleting at least your probable competitors.  If it’s for direct mail and you have an expensive mailer, take even more time to weed out the wrong recipients.

Append email to your list if the names of the attendees were given to you without emails.  You may have that person’s contact name already in your company database, but knowing they’ll be at the show you are exhibiting at makes them even more valuable.  Even take the time to visit their company website and figure out what the email pattern is for your targets – is it first.last@company.com or is it flast@company.com?

Do this especially for the very valuable list from the show organizer, but you can also do these steps after you’ve gathered names from all your list sources (show organizer, company marketing database, sales, and other sources).

Some show organizers will not allow you to directly receive their attendee list for your promotions, but will send your promotions for you.  In that case you send them your email and they forward it to their attendees, or you send your mail piece to a mail house, and they mail it for you.

Timing on when you get the pre-registered list is tricky.  Get it too early, and you won’t get the names of the people who will register closer to the event (and that proportion is higher than it was a few years ago).  Get it too late and you risk your mail package arriving after the attendee has left for the show.  (And don’t mail your pre-show promotions standard/bulk rate – send them first class so they get to attendees before the show!)

2.  Your Previous Leads From That Show: Many people attend the same show year after year.  So go back to your own leads database and pull the previous leads you collected from the show over the last three years.  Those same people may be further along the sales cycle and you will have more success with them because they already know you, having visited your trade show exhibit.

3.  Your Marketing Database: Your marketing department may have also built a database of likely prospects, too.  So ask your marketing department (if that’s not you!) to get you a list of clients and prospects that live in the show’s geographic region or who are in the show’s vertical market.

4.  Your Sales People. Your sales people probably know more about the best prospects than your marketing database reveals.  So tell your sales people you are exhibiting at the ABC show, and ask them to set up meetings with their existing clients and best prospects that will be at the show.  Those can be some of the most productive meetings you’ll get from the entire show!

5.  Other List Sources: If you can’t get lists from the show organizer and your company database is anemic, you can also buy names of potential attendees via a list broker.  Ask to get names of people who fit your target market: Industry, company size, job title, and location.  They’ll get the names from the top industry publications, associations, and list compilers.  You may even get names from the media company or association that owns the show!

Combine the lists into one file, and take out any obvious duplicates, so you don’t mail them the same invitation multiple times, which is annoying and expensive.  Check the list for completeness: Put the whole list into Excel and sort the list by various fields, such as state or city or email address.  Find the names that are not complete, look them up on Google, and fill in the missing data.  If you don’t have the time and experience to merge/purge the list, work with a mail house who can.

One last point – almost certainly you have received these names from the show organizer or the list broker for one-time use, the trade show.  If you are going to send multiple waves of pre-show promotions, get permission up front, and pay for that.  But don’t add any rental names you did not already have into your company database.

It can take some finesse to build a strong pre-show promotions list.  But it’s worth it!  You’ll have a much better chance of attendees receiving your great offer and creative promotion, and then visiting your tradeshow display.

How else have you built a great list for your pre-show promotions?  Let us know in the comment box below.

Learn more about pre-show promotions and other key trade show marketing best practices with the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper, yours free by clicking here.

If you’re really serious about improving your pre- and at-show promotions, there is no better source than the 65-page book, Creating Effective Trade Show Promotions.  Get your copy by clicking here.

Skyline hosted webinars called “10 Mistakes Exhibitors Make” on May 11th and 12th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your many excellent questions about improving your trade show marketing.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: http://www.skyline.com/images/webinars/may_2011/10MistakesExhibitorMake_SkylineWebinar.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  Click to request your copies:

• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• The Trend to Custom Modular Exhibits White Paper
• “Measurement Made Easy” Trade Show and Event Calculator CD
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

During the webinar we also mentioned a blog post about planning that you may find useful:

Trade Show Planning Timeline: Manage Your Logistics AND Marketing

Thanks again for attending!

I love great demos.  Especially those that accurately tell the brand’s story in a fun, interactive, innovative way.

I ran across a great example of this a couple years back at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.  The demo was staged in a small (10×20) display booth space, tucked away among several larger, more impressive (and expensive) exhibits.  Yet, it was constantly full of people, and quickly became a big part of the “buzz” around the Exhibit Hall.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a look at the “Dissolve-A-Way Derby”.

Participants lined up and shot huge water guns at plastic storage tubs on a wall about 5 feet away.  Exactly like the old carnival game where you shoot water guns at the clown’s mouth to be the first to pop the balloon.  The Dissolve-A-Way Derby’s objective: completely obliterate a small label affixed to the storage bin.

Why a small label on a storage bin?  (Here’s the brilliant part.)  The company makes an adhesive and paper that will easily dissolve in water, like when washing the bin in a dishwasher.  This is a remarkable breakthrough for restaurant owner/operators who must label their product stored in bins like these to assure freshness and proper product usage and rotation.  However, as you use the bin over and over, most adhesives will build up an ugly residue, a mixture of adhesive, paper, and grime which takes time and effort to remove, stealing valuable productivity away from other tasks.

This message was delivered exactly and memorably to these participants who had fun at the same time.  They also connected the company’s message to the fun they used to have as kids at the carnival.

What is the key to coming up with demo this good?  I think it starts with a thorough understanding of your product/service and the benefit it delivers.

Another reason this particular demo was so effective: a good number of the trade show attendees were either influencers or buyers of their product.  Theirs was not a “find the needle in the haystack” kind of situation.

The next time you see a carnival-type game being deployed in a trade show exhibit, see if the brand message is woven as cleverly and completely as it was done here.  Chances are, it will merely be a game for its own sake, attracting mainly sales people from adjoining exhibits.

If you can make your demos as dynamic as the Dissolve-A-Way Derby, you can soak your competition, and soak up some buzz from the Exhibit Hall as well.

Learn other powerful at-show promotional tactics with your free copy of the Creating Effective Trade Show Promotions book, a 76-page guide that takes you through the entire process from setting goals to execution to measuring results.  Click here to get your free copy.

To master the deadline-driven world of trade shows depends on great planning.

Yet all too often, important marketing planning gets overshadowed by urgent logistics planning.  Because of the flood of deadlines, we get more distracted by the “what to do” rather than the “why to do” it.

Yet it’s just as essential to plan marketing things.  Things such as your goals for the show, your marketing messages for your graphics and staffers, and creating a promotional campaign that will get more of the right people to your booth.

Here are some ideas for your plan, either for a single show or for your entire program.  Marketing and logistics steps are mixed together, as you need to do both to truly succeed.

6 months out:

• Review Past Objectives: Evaluate previous year’s shows to see how many leads converted to sales, and your marketing return on investment.  If you set different objectives, measure return on those objectives.
• Set New Objectives: Set your top 2 or 3 objectives for your next year’s trade show program.

5 months out:

• Set Budget: Adjust your budget based on what worked last year, your current financial state, objectives, and opportunities.
• Select Shows and Booth Spaces: Evaluate your show schedule to determine which shows have the best match with your target market for the best value, and pick the spaces you will take in those shows (if you have not already reserved space).
• Evaluate Exhibit: Review your current tradeshow display: If it still will help you achieve your new marketing objectives, keep it.  If not, start researching new exhibit builders.  For a larger exhibit, start 6 or more months out.  For a small display or banner stands, start 2 months before the show.

4 months out:

• Pick Booth Staffers: Review last year’s qualified lead counts by booth staffer to identify the staffers you want at your upcoming shows.  Contact their managers to ask if they can attend.  Ask your best booth staffers who else they would recommend.
• Research Technology: Consider how you can integrate technology into your exhibit to help get more attention, tell your story, and facilitate better conversations between attendees and booth staffers.
• Invite Exhibit Builders: If building a new trade show booth, set appointments to meet with 3 exhibit builders, and give them access to your key marketing decision-makers.

3 months out:

• Review the “Show Book” – the book or webpage from the show with all the forms for ordering services.  Find the forms for services you need, and create a master list of all the deadlines to order and still get the discount rates.  Start earlier if the show provides it earlier.
• Create Promotions: Brainstorm ideas for pre-show and at-show promotions that will help bring in a greater number of qualified leads into your booth, plus help your booth staffers to engage attendees.

Two months out:

• Choose Staffers: Finalize your booth staff choices.
• Arrange Travel: Book hotels and flights for booth staffers before rates go up.
• Order Services: Order any show services you need according to your list from the show book.
• Choose Your Exhibit Builder: Award the new build, and then continue to quickly and thoughtfully respond to their questions and requests for graphics art to ensure timely completion of your new exhibit.
• Order Promotions: Select and order any promotional items you will be mailing pre-show.  Some can take only a few days, some can take over a month, depending where they are made and imprinted.
• Order Uniforms: If you are providing shirts, pants, and more for your booth staffers to wear, order them now.

One month out:

• Send Promos: Send the first wave of your pre-show promotion campaign.
• Train staffers, Part 1: Set up first booth staffing meeting, to train them on your main client profiles and your products.
• Order More Services: Order any final show services you need from the show book.
• Order At-Show Promos: Select and order any promotional items you will be giving away at the show, and have them shipped to the show (with a sample overnighted to you).
• Ship Exhibit: Ship your new exhibit to advanced warehouse, getting it out the door soon enough to save on shipping.

Two weeks out:

• Train Staffers, Part 2: Hold your second booth staffing meeting, to review the booth staffing process and info about your new exhibit, your promotions, technology in the booth, the convention city, and the show hall.
• Send More Promos: Send the second wave of your pre-show promotion campaign (if by snail mail, mail first class rather than by standard/bulk rate, or they may arrive after the show!)
• Ship Staffer Supplies: Ship a tub with all the supplies you’ll need in your booth for staffers, such as pens, clipboards, staplers, staples, water bottles, snacks, mints and wipes.

One week out:

• Prepare Lead Fulfillment: Create and gather your post-show lead fulfillment packets, and assign the team that will process the leads
• Verify Exhibit Arrival: Ensure your exhibit has arrived at the show
• Collect Documents and Backup: Prepare and pack a master book or data file with all your at-show contacts including your booth staffers, exhibit house, and local show city vendors such as I&D to carry with you to the show.  Include art files for your graphics.
• Verify Staffers: Check in with all booth staffers that they are still all set to attend the show; get a substitute if needed.
• Love Your Loved Ones: Be extra nice to your family and friends because you won’t be there soon.

At the show:

• Be Your Best: Be brilliant, calm, hard-working, lighthearted, and creative.
• Make It Happen: Execute your plans for booth staffing, at-show promotions, lead management, and booth logistics.

After the show:

• Come Home: Give your family and friends souvenirs from the trip, preferably chocolate.
• Say Thank You: Thank your booth staffers and vendors.
• Fulfill Your Leads: Get promised packets out, and the leads into the hands of your sales force.  Then keep checking on lead follow up.
• Check Costs: Review your actual expenditures against your planned costs to see if you are still on-budget, and the reasons if not on budget.
• Measure and Analyze: Measure if you met your objectives, and figure out what went right and what can be improved.
• Report Results: Let management know how well you met your show objectives, what worked, and what could be improved upon.

Give yourself the opportunity to succeed.  Take the time to create a solid plan, then work the plan you created, covering both logistics and marketing activities.

Want to learn more about both trade show marketing and logistics?  Click here to get your free copy of the 32-page What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper, which shares best practices from over 170 exhibitors.

I am finally situated after 2 months of travel. Out of all the cities, my first review is of the Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, CA. This trip will definitely be a historical milestone in my memory as the night before show opening, the Japan tsunami occurred. It was a pretty surreal evening for everyone around me when news broke.

The weather was awesome in Orange County. It was just around 80 degrees the entire time I was there. Nothing better than awesome California weather in March! I know the visitors across the street at Disneyland could not have been any happier. Food shows are certainly my favorite show to attend; so much for me to do, oops, I mean eat! The exhibits are colorful and lively, and the energy at food shows is so different compared to any other. Food is truly the universal language!

Natural products are geared more to natural, wholesome, and specialized foods. Most exhibitors target a ‘Whole Foods’ type grocer. The larger chain grocers are not too far behind as they are making natural foods a larger selection in their stores.

Here are a couple exhibit designs that caught my eye:

Horizon: a new generation recognizable brand in the milk (organic) section. Their exhibit used lightweight fabric graphics as their overhead branding structure.

Emergen-C: Another very popular household brand, especially during the cold season. They used bright laminates for their storage room and a matching hanging sign.

Barbara’s Bakery: They are a local Bay Area company & have recently turned into one of my favorite breakfast cereals. Their larger-than-life cereal box is a lightweight printed fabric structure. Great use of space!

Pirate Brands: They make the very popular Pirate Popcorn. They introduced some awesome new flavors at this year’s show. Of course, with a pirate-themed brand, the only way to go is mimicking a pirate lifestyle. They covered all details, even down to the flooring. Well done!

These acrylic bubble accents are becoming more and more popular across all industries. The 3-D effect is easily done and quite inexpensive. Very trade show friendly.

I just adored the multiple live hanging rose balls. I do not get to see this often. The only other places you might see these would be at hospitality or horticultural industry shows.

It’s so awesome to see 3-D elements like this in exhibits. I’m pretty sure it is a road show piece, but to haul into a traditional trade show is certainly not as easy as your traditional booth.

This backlit custom shape is awesome. The lighting effect was just right and not too bright for this size structure.

Another hanging structure that caught my eye is this layered piece which displayed teacups. They went a good route with mounting a traditional ring. This structure may have gotten lost without it.

Seventh Generation introduced an even more green packaging solution to their eco-friendly detergent. Recycled material is used for the outside casing while the detergent is packaged inside. Genius!

This product display incorporated monitors and used a fresh color pallet that gave a very clean feeling.  The lighting effects acted as a good highlight as well.

All black everything! Skyline’s Mirage Monitor Mount paired with Skyline’s popular Stratus table.

Last but not least, fresh new graphics for my friends over at Vaska out of Berkeley.

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