Pop up shops are about surprising consumers with temporary ‘performances.’ In effect, retailers guarantee exclusivity of products because of the limited timespan in which they are available. Retailers from Brazilian cosmetics firm Oceanic to low end chic retailer Target have opened such shops across the world targeting their own specific markets.

Oceanic didn’t have the funds to build a brick and mortar storefront but wanted to have a real world presence for it’s business. As such, they decided to go mobile, equipping most of their franchisees with Fiat Doblo minivans, which are both delivery vehicles AND shops. These mobile stores make it easy to target prime consumer locations such as universities, schools, hospitals, parks, and trade shows. Not to mention customization: the mobile store’s inventory can be customized for different locations (i.e. if a frachisee parks near a beach, he or she’d better stock up on sunscreen and suntan lotions!).

Target, on the other hand, wanted to promote the launch of Isaac Mizrahi’s new womens clothing line with the franchise. To do so they opened up a temporary 1500 sq. feet store in Rockefeller Center to celebrate Mizrahi’s stylish new looks. The glossy store was open from 4 September to 15 October 2003 only. Further, last year, Target actually housed a temporary floating store on the Hudson River for the Christmas season.

Within the gallery is a wide range of projects that we have worked on in the past, we’ve got the attitude of “if you dream it, we can build it”. We’ve worked with many companies helping them achieve their vision for their spaces or trade show booths from health care companies to faith based organizations to local universities. Every single business is unique, even those in the same industry, so why shouldn’t your space be just as unique as you are? If you’re looking to brand your office space, needing a trade show booth to stand out above the rest, or looking to wow your clients with your next event, we would love to talk to you. Let us help you take your experiential marketing to the next level!

From his hallmark advertising offices in San Francisco’s Original Firehouse #1, he created a number of classic ads through which he single handedly developed the field of Experiential Marketing. In his first advertisements for Eagle Shirtmakers, he asked customers to send in to the company for their complementary Eagle Label, thus insuring that their store label shirt would be forever identified with it’s maker (Eagle, at the time, was a white label producer of store brand shirts). Thousands of readers sent in for the free label and the advertisement was an immediate success, making the steady brand a household name.

In his later work, Gossage would implore readers to write in for ‘Pink Air’ from Fina Gasoline stations (on the idea that since everything else at a Fina station had already been perfected with additives, making the air that goes in tires pink was the only additional improvement they could think of) and to send their paper airplane designs to the Scientific American headquarters.

Every time Howard Gossage ran an ad with a tiny coupon in the lower right corner, thousands of people would cut it out, put it in an envelope with a stamp and mail it in. This idea of involving the consumer in the message was one of Gossage’s primary contributions to our craft, and has been carried on to the present day in the form of experiential marketing.

From the article:

With GREENmark, Advent is incorporating recycled and environmentally friendly products into its designs that can help customers save money, says company President John Roberson.

For example, Advent recently designed a 16-foot arch made from recycled aluminum that cost a fraction of what it would have cost if it were not made from recycled materials. Roberson says the client also is saving thousands of dollars because the arch is lightweight and costs less to transport to trade shows.

To see the article in context, click here to download the PDF.

The arch written about in the article can be seen here in this case study.

The Nashville Business Journal is online here.

Entrepreneur author Karen Spaeder highlights the company’s healthy business practice of rewarding it’s employees in unique ways.

“We define wellness more liberally than others might,” says John Roberson. “It’s about more than the physical, it’s about the whole person. So we

encourage those things that will help not only [employees’] physical health, but their emotional well-being, too.”

To read the full article, you can download the PDF version.

Voiceover:

Welcome to Experiential Marketing Today.

[music]

Todd Austin:

Welcome to this episode of Experiential Marketing Today. This show is about the theory and practice of using experiences to engage audiences with the authentic nature of a brand or company. We believe that it may be the most powerful tool marketers have, but it’s also some thing of a mystery.

My name is Todd Austin and I will be your host for this episode.

Episode 8: Interview with Robyn Waters.

The 2008 Event Marketing Innovation Tour recently made a stop at Nashville, which was the 6th of nine cities on the tour. The Event Marketing Innovation Tour pulls together the latest ideas and best practices in event and experiential marketing for a half-day seminar. This year’s keynote presenter for all nine stops on the tour was Robyn Waters.

Robyn is the former Vice President of Trend, Design, and Product Development for Target. She is the author of two books: The Trendmaster’s Guide: Get a Jump on What Your Customer Wants Next,  and The Hummer and the Mini: Navigating The Contradictions of The New Trend Landscape.

She is also a contributing author (along with Tom Peters, Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell) for The Big Moo. We caught up with Robyn about an hour before her presentation. The following interview took place in the hall where she was about to speak.

Todd Austin:

So, Robyn, this concept of design has followed you around like a puppy. Guys like Seth Godin and Daniel Pink either talk about you by name in their books or they talk about the work that you did at Target. How has design become so important, how did we get here?

Robyn Waters:

Well, I can give you a little bit of a background. When I came to Target in 1992, it was a $3 billion retailer discounter, it was an also ran. Wal-Mart was 10 times bigger; K-Mart was three times bigger. We had a very visionary CEO, who looked at the numbers and said, you know, there is no way we can win on scale, economies of scale, cutting expenses, we need to truly differentiate.

And so what he did was, innovate, reframe a unique space in the retail landscape between a discounter and between a high-end department store. Therefore Target covered out the space: upscale discounter. In order to achieve that, for a discounter to go into the market to buy goods, the goods that were out there weren’t trend right, they weren’t well designed, they weren’t great quality, so we had to do it a different way.

And what we ended up doing is creating an internal design department, so that we would have exclusive design-driven trend-right product. People often ask me what is the secret to success, what made Target “Tarzhay?” And there are three things. It’s the idea that the company wanted to borrow on their department store heritage and be trend right. Notice I didn’t say trend forward, but trend right.

The second is they were going to be guest focused and guest is in the tradition of Disney. So, trend right means what are the trends, research them out there, but then translate them, translate is the key effectively for the guest, but design was a secret sauce. Design was the tool that we used internally to create exclusive product, based on that trend research, based on knowing our guests and tracking the trends around the world and then translating them effectively.

And so, we became really the first bastion in the US for what people now call democratic design or cheap chic. And we had people whose models we can follow, IKEA was doing at in the Scandinavian countries. So we didn’t innovate that whole idea, but we applied it to retail for the first time.

And so as the head of the design department trying to design, I literally hired the first designer and hired the 100th designer and there has been many more hired since then. So, that was a 10-year period, three billion to 42 billion in 10 years, Target to “Targe” in 10 years because of great design.

Todd:

What are some examples of some of those products that came out of that design focus?

Robyn:

There is a story about a sippy cup. It was designed by Philippe Starck. It was one of 5p products in a Starck reality design program. Unlike any other sippy cup you’ve ever seen, it was on a pedestal, it was made out of clear plastic to look like cut crystal and it had loving cup handles and it retailed for $3.49.

When the buyers first saw this prototype proposed design that Philippe Starck recommended, they looked at it and they go, no way, it’s not what a sippy cup looks like, you know, why would you put it on a pedestal, whatever. And what Philippe Starck did was demonstrated that good design is about more than function.

He filled it full of grape juice and he tipped it over and nothing spilled. So he said see it’s functional, it works. It’s functional, it’s inexpensive, we can retail this for $3.49, but that’s not why you should buy this design. And he took out a picture of his daughter, he had a little daughter who is two years old and he said here is why you should buy the sippy cup.

And what he was saying was that this little girl, whoever used this sippy cup should feel like a princess when she drank from her sippy cup, just like mom and dad did when they drank their Veuve Clicquot Champagne from a cut-crystal Waterford champagne flute.

So it wasn’t about the cup or even the design of the cup, it was how that design made that little girl feel and that is the essence of design with heart. So that was one product out of thousands in the years that I was there.

There was a very famous toilet brush cleaner from Michael Graves that made a full color spread in “Time Magazine.” We had a Coach’s Whistle Teakettle from Michael Graves that retailed for 24.99 that was in every hot design magazine around the country. So it was everything from garage storage and organization to kitchen towels, to bedding, to dorm room supplies, even food. There wasn’t an aspect within Target that the design strategy wasn’t applied in order to create more design-oriented products.

And it is the whole essence of their brand promise: expect more, pay less. You could expect more trend, more design, more quality, more fashion. Then you pay less for it, but not just less for it than if you were buying at another discount, but you could get the same thing, the gold plated charger plate at Target for half what you pay at Crate and Barrel and it was made in the same factory. So that was a big part of the success.

Todd:

You are the keynote speaker at all nine tour stops for the Event Marketing Innovation Tour. This will be sixth of those I believe that you are about to do today, what is the connection between design and event marketing?

Robyn:

I am presenting a talk called “Design with Heart” and I found so many great ideas and so many examples of great design with heart in each of the six cities that I visited. And by that I mean, there is a personal, emotional connection to the audience, to the clients with me as the guest speaker and I have seen tremendous differentiation.

There has been a consistency of the quality of the event, very high quality, beautifully designed, but every one is different. And it is really kind of a paradox, they are alike but they are different. And each one is different because they take the heart and soul of the essence of who their employees are, what their mission is, who their clients are and they have applied them beautifully.

I have been in a 16th century church in the middle of a farm field in Philadelphia. I am here at the Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. I have been at production sites and warehouses that have been turned into beautiful… I have danced with a robot. It has been a really great amazing visual interaction of great design turned into a great experience. It is designing a wonderful experience by using the emotional principles connecting.

Todd:

If you were to give us a state of the union of how far we have come in event design, what would the short answer to that question be?

Robyn:

I think phenomenal. And I think that there is so much an industry can do to the industry at large out there, because I go and I speak at a lot of events. Many of them are same old same-old. They are interactive, they are just someone on a stage presenting.

And what I have seen are so many great techniques and ideas to involve the audience, to get them to participate, to interact with them that there is just so much possibility for an industry and companies like this to deliver that out to the bigger picture. So it is just been outstanding.

Todd:

Robyn, if folks would like to find out more about your work, find out more about the books you have written and the research you have done, how would they do that?

Robyn:

I have a website, it is www.rwtrend.com. I’d like to say that I have a free monthly newsletter called Trend Counter Trend and if you click on “Robyn’s Newsletter, ” you can hear from me once a month.

Todd:

Sounds great, thanks for your time.

Robyn:

Thank you very much.

[music]

Todd:

We hope you enjoyed that brief interview. The content Robyn gave us in that interview was a preview of what she covered in her full presentation and it is our intent to give you that full presentation as the next episode of Experiential Marketing Today.

In the meantime, we have posted links to some specific resources related to Robyn and to the Event Marketing Innovation Tour on our website. You can find those listed under Episode eight at www.experientialmarketingtoday.com.

And as always, we appreciate your input and feedback. On that same website, there is a tool for posting your comments or you can send us an email using the address feedback@experientialmarketingtoday.com or you can call our voice comment line and leave a message. That number is area code 615–690-6796. We look forward to sharing Robyn’s presentation with you in the next episode and we hope you will join us.

Voiceover:

Thanks for listening to Experiential Marketing Today.

[music]

This event is called Shack-A-Thon.  It is done every year on college campuses to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.  Student organizations usually build different “shacks” to represent themselves.  They can paint, decorate, shape, tape, etc.  The living situations inside the shacks are pretty innovative as well.  Students would have couches and chairs, cots, bedrolls, and of course sleeping bags.  Students are permitted to stay in the shacks for at least three days.

This is a perfect example of marketing done right.  This highly anticipated event raises thousands of dollars each year for Habitat for Humanity.  It also raises awareness about homelessness, even if the living situations may be a little unrealistic.  Besides using a renewable material, these Shackathon’s are incredibly inexpensive to run.  Hopefully, this inspires an idea for your next event.

Inc.com announced Advent as a member of its Inc. 5000 list which was released today and tracks rapidly growing companies and identifies what they do and why they are growing.  This year’s list measures revenue growth from 2003 through 2006 of privately held and independent U.S. based companies.  Advent also garnered a no. 24 ranking in the Top 50 Businesses in Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, TN.

Inc. 5000 credits Advent’s success to its leadership in the rapidly growing area of multi-sensory marketing through design and installation of “experiential marketing” displays for trade show exhibits, events, and office environments.  It also notes Advent employees’ propensity for fun.  The company even condones elaborate practical jokes.

So here is a big unapologetic pat on the back to the entire Advent team for all the creativity and sweat that went into winning a spot as one of The Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.

For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago…

–William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust

With vividly rich language, Faulkner outlines the allure of Gettysburg.  He paints an intensely lucid picture of a deeply emotional, transcendent experience of the type that a soulfully impoverished society craves.  The details are impossibly real.  Pickets “long oiled ringlets” gleam from the page.  And the story-the story of Gettysburg drips with deed, hope, and gallantry.  It oozes with visceral suspense at the brink of the war’s fulcrum and bleeds with hopeless devotion to the romantic idealism of a cause yet lost.  This passage details a boy’s ability to be completely, emotionally, and bodily rapt in a moment.  However, most of us are not fourteen year old Southern boys and too rarely does our imagination serve as the vehicle to take us to such places.

Elliot Gruber, vice president of the nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation understands the seduction and he understand what consumers want.  “Most people aren’t visiting to learn,” he says.  “They want to have an experience, to be immersed in something” (Read the article by Evan West).  Though visiting a battlefield is in itself a markedly experiential endeavor, the park and surrounding community has been faced with the ugly visage of declining interest, sagging attendance, and decreased revenue.  The thick ranks of consumers who used visit Gettysburg have been depleted by heavy barrage of artillery from marketers who compete for their attention with eye-catching glitzy hype.  But now, one hundred and forty-five years later, Gettysburg is fighting back with sleek new displays, multi-media exhibits, and inspired storytelling.

Our imaginations are vehicles that carry us beyond the moon and beyond the boundaries of time.  But these vehicles need fuel.  The Gettysburg National Military Park has torn a page from the experiential marketing text book to add some nitro to the imaginations and emotions of visitors in an attempt to boost attendance and length of stay.  With the help of a brand new $103 million visitor center that opened its doors on April 14, 2008 they hope to engage the evolving tastes of tech savvy, media drenched consumers (visit the official site).

Good experiential marketing focuses heavily on ‘story.’  Every brand, company, product, and service has a story to tell and Gettysburg is leveraging the power of its own incredible story.  At Gettysburg it is not cases full of hundreds of old canteens that interest or inspire people-it is the story of one canteen.  Who was the man that lifted it to his lips?  What happened to him?  How did the canteen end up here?  President of Advent marketing firm, John Roberson says, “In this world of text messaging, facebooking, and TV people crave reality.  They want what is real and authentic.”  Combining an engaging story with the very real experience of seeing and holding a canteen that was carried by a Civil War soldier is an incredible way to connect with consumers and bring history to life.  There is no substitute for authenticity.

The park has spared no ingredients cooking up a fine experiential dish for hungry consumers.  Multimedia and technology have been leveraged into making the park more attractive.  They’ve made good use of star power.  You might recognize voice-overs by Morgan Freeman and Sam Waterston.  They have replaced heavy content laden exhibits with music and visually stimulating exhibits.  Visitors view, eye-to-eye, life size mannequins in period dress.   And when your stomach starts grumbling a fine fare of “cast-iron chicken pot pie” and “Grandma Sarah’s corn bread” awaits you in the Refreshment Saloon.  All these ingredients seek to immerse visitors and provide them with an experience that transcends the dusty pages of history books and engages them in an intensely emotional, meaningful, and memorable way.

One hundred and forty-five years ago our nation was engaged in a great civil war, testing whether our nation, so conceived and so dedicated, could endure.  It has.  And today, on a great battle-field of that war, the Gettysburg National Military Park is using experiential marketing techniques to increase traffic and appreciation for the site.  Admittedly, the new $103 million dollar visitor center cannot dedicate-cannot consecrate-cannot hallow-this ground.  The brave men, dead yet living in our memories, who struggled there, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.  Yet through innovative techniques the park has dedicated itself to the task of ensuring that the world never forget what they did there and to the task of the living, to be dedicated to the unfinished work and increased devotion to the virtues for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.

Related Articles

Next Travel: The Battle of Gettysburg — Evan West, Fast Company Magazine

Definition of Immersive Marketing

The Battle of Gettysburg — from Wikipedia.com

William Faulkner on the web

Experiential Marketing and Star Power

Advent leads from the forefront of the cutting edge modern marketing industry by fueling brands with the explosive power of experiences.  Advent creates an emotional bond with audiences by leveraging the unrivaled effectiveness of experiential marketing through targeted events, engaging exhibits, and branded spaces.  High impact and high touch strategies mark Advent’s creative advantage and have helped rapidly expanding brands communicate messages that gain immediate and lasting resonance with consumers.  For more, please visit www.adventresults.com.

“If you build it they will come.” — Field of Dreams

Immersive marketing is the heir apparent to the experiential marketing and customer exposure management philosophies.  The obvious implication of ‘immersive marketing’ is that it completely envelops consumers in the brand.  But what does that mean practically?  Shar Van Boskirk of Forrester Marketing Research defines immersive marketing as “a cohesive and all-encompassing experience across any channel where the customer is.” This definition is a good jumping off point for our discussion and offers some buoyancy.

In order for this to be a useful definition (like a useful brand) it must differentiate itself from close cousins like experiential marketing.  Boskirk is right to point out the “cohesive and all-encompassing nature” of immersive marketing.  There is more of a focus on broadening the experience beyond the experience to include pre-sale, during-the-sale, and even heavy post-sale engagement.  A successful immersive engagement goes beyond providing a single, memorable experience in such a way that the brand becomes a part of the consumer’s lifestyle.  If you can excuse the negative connotation, we could say that it achieves a cultish following.

A more subtle distinction is the degree to which the audience is engaged.  Engagement is the crux of experiential marketing.  Immersive marketing trends show a focus on challenging the audience and spurring an even more intense fluid, dynamic, two-way flow.  A call to action is a vital ingredient to any immersive marketing campaign.

Immersive marketing does not follow an inside-out approach to selling.  Traditional forms of marketing tend to shout at customers and achieve interruption.  Think about it.  Say you are watching Saved by the Bell.  Zack is about to ask Kelly to the dance and at the towering zenith of suspense… Will she say yes?  Will she go with Slater instead?  Just when you can take any more of the sweaty palmed, knee quaking crescendo of adolescent tension and doubt, what happens?  Laundry detergent.  A laundry detergent add interrupts your television show with a vain hubristic play for your attention.  Immersive marketing takes more of a concierge type role.

We all know about “passive aggressive” but what about “aggressively passive.” Immersive marketing campaigns are distinctly passive.  Friendly, inviting environments invite a passerby to step into a retail store instead of screaming at him to do so.  Rather than following loud instructions the consumer is subtly encouraged to take a proactive first step and thus open floodgates the kind two-way fluid interaction that brand managers dream about.  A successful passive approach does not just happen.  Marketers must be extremely aggressive in their passive approach.  Diligent work with designers, architects, and brand managers is what achieves and subtly seductive brand space.  Intense screening and education will provide you with a smiling, helpful, and approachable front line staff.

With a focus on aggressively differentiating your brand to be more passive and inviting you can achieve great results and higher ROI.  Immersive marketing seeks to engage audiences through fluid interaction and engagement that exceeds the experience itself.   If you do these things, “People will come, Ray.  People will most definitely come” (Field of Dreams).

Related Articles:

The Future: Immersive Marketing by Shar Van Boskirk

Can “Immersion Marketing” Save Marketing From Itself? by Graham Hill

Immersive Marketing: Challenge Your Audience by Bill Taylor

Advent leads from the forefront of the cutting edge modern marketing industry by fueling brands with the explosive power of immersion.  Advent creates an emotional bond with audiences by leveraging the unrivaled effectiveness of experiential marketing through targeted events, engaging exhibits, and branded spaces.  High impact and high touch strategies mark Advent’s creative advantage and have helped rapidly expanding brands communicate messages that gain immediate and lasting resonance with consumers.  For more, please visit www.adventresults.com.

The experts weigh in: John Kilmetis, Phil Goodman, and John Roberson discuss the future of trade shows

The face of America is changing.  It is getting younger.  The mighty ranks of the Baby Boomer generation are dwindling against the rising tide of their children, the Echo Boomers, also called Generation Y.   Historically, trade shows were the primary tool used by businesses for sharing information, networking, gaining industry specific education, and staying up-to-date.  Many executives continue to cling to this obsolete, Precambrian vision of tradeshows and refuse to believe the world could be anything but flat.  The old, content laden, information driven philosophy is dying a painful (and painfully boring) death.

Enter generation Y.  Generation Y includes those of us born between 1977 and 1994, are just turning 30, and in seven years we will inherit the earth and constitute a majority of the population.   And, hold on to your seats… because these new boomers are beginning to take the reins and steer corporations from administrative and leadership roles (check out the cnn.com blog ‘young people who rock).  This changing of the guard means changing the way we do business.

In a recent interview with Smart Meetings magazine, Phil Goodman, President and CEO of Generation Transitional Marketing, describes the different psyche displayed by generation Y.  “They like one-on-one personal communication.”  “They are basically more optimistic than Gen X; they like challenges.  You don’t command them, you collaborate with them.  They want a work/life balance.”  He also describes Gen Y as self-inventive team members who often get bored in meetings (Read the Article).

As a member of the up and coming generation I resent the conception that Generation Y “gets bored in meetings” and that we have somehow devolved from upright humans into hunched creatures sporting casual short sleeves and even shorter attention spans.  Taking advantage of a 20 minute layover in a bustling international airport, I chewed on the mildly bitter notion.  Meanwhile, I glanced up at CNN playing on the flat screen above me, checked the text messages, voice mails, and missed calls on my Blackberry, turned on my iPod, connected wirelessly on my laptop, instant messaged a friend in New Zealand, and began pulling up research for an article.  And it hit me.  Maybe Phil Goodman was right.  We do interact with the world differently.  Trade Shows will have to change too.

THE OLD SCHOOL    

In his article, “Trade Show Reality: ‘This is This,’” featured in Motivational Strategies magazine, Jim Kilmetis pines over the bygone glorious trade show days of yore when the isles were all carpeted with golden fleece and packed with eager, party-going attendees who toted heavy purses and fat budgets that burst at the seams and overflowed with sparkling gems.  His lamentations include several observations that help explain the shifting focus of tradeshows.  By his account, trade shows were the main source of up-to-date information, the main source of continuing education for a specific industry, and an invaluable method of relationship building.  As Kilmetis hints, this type of trade show is in its death throws.

As for the out dated notion that trade shows are the main source of up-to-date information — forget it.  A trade show maybe a good place to launch a new product, but to say that you need to fly across country to hear about it is just shy of ludicrous.  The amount of information and the ease with which it can be obtained via internet is staggering.  In a historical context, there is no parallel.  Many grad students never even visit a library.  I would venture that given a computer, an internet connection, and five minutes most 12 year olds could find something as inane and obscure as an up-to-date population estimate of Timbuktu, Mali.  It should not be a problem then, finding specs on the new iPhone or Toyota Prius. Today there is a vastly expansive sea of continuously updated content that exists, quite literally, at our fingertips.

There is more damning news for trade shows.  The days of cheap travel have “vanished like a fart in the wind” (Shawshank Redemption).  Soaring gas prices do not equal happily soaring jets.  “Jet fuel prices have changed the whole business model, so we don’t have any history to draw on here,” said Joe Schwieterman, a Transportation expert at DePaul University.  A report by CNNMoney.com reports that many airlines are facing bankruptcy (read the article).  And with bankruptcy looming dark on the horizon, airlines are looking for ways to pass those costs on to the customers.  American Airlines and United Airlines have both implemented extra surcharges for previously free services like checked baggage.  Southwest had hoped to make it through 2008 without significant price increases but has been forced to concede to the mounting pressure of rising fuel costs (read the article).  Schwieterman concludes that, “at some point, air travel will just have to be 20% more expensive.”  What does all this mean for trade shows?  The costs of rocketing fuel prices will cut deeply into already tightening travel budgets.

What about Kilmetis’ assertion that trade shows are an invaluable method of relationship building?  He points out, “Today’s younger generation is far more comfortable building relationships through e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, facebook, etc, etc, etc.”  Our networks are increasingly being bound by the invisible chords of cyberspace and cell phone frequencies.  Face-to-face is facing steep competion.

The prognosis for trade shows seems dire at first glance.  Vital signs are failing and the old prescriptions don’t work.  The remedy is not more of the same.  Companies must adapt to survive.  However, the new face of trade shows is not bad news: its just new news.  And new news is fantastic news for companies looking to reposition themselves at the pinnacle of their industry.

THE NEW NEWS   

People don’t need to go to trade shows for updated information.  True.  Thankfully though, there is a big ‘but.’  The ‘but’ is that companies still need to an exciting way to release information.  An internet release of a PFD file is about as sexy as kissing your grandma.  Posting the specs on the imposing 6,262 cc V12 Ferrari FXXis well and good, especially for analytical engineering types.  But the majority of the population is not aroused or emotionally engaged by numbers.  Instead, they are turned on by the FXX’s cherry paint, deep contours, smooth curves, and the guttural growl that revs into an 8,500 rpm scream.  Though technologically enthralled as the echo boomers may be, first hand experience of a product confers knowledge and understanding that transcends factual data.  This experiential advantage is denied websites and afforded to trade shows and other industry specific events.  It is irreplaceable.

Rising travel costs and tightening budgets does not mean you should stop marketing (“Marketing in a Slow Economy”).  If fuel is a resource in short supply, then efficiency is a boundless renewable resource.  In Buzzmarketing, author Mark Hughes, discusses the necessity to create ‘buzz’ around your product.  You need to do things to get people talking.  He cites studies that conclude word-of-mouth marketing is the most trusted form of advertising in our marketing saturated society.  Even better news is that word-of-mouth can be achieved for free.  Live events like trade shows offer a face-to-face high-impact touch point to begin a ripple effect that can spread far beyond the initial contact.  A study by the Event Marketing Institute describes 3 zones of influence created by events:

• Attendee Zone: it includes visitors, viewers, engagers, and leads.
• Influence Zone: it includes people who heard about the event second hand and is, on average, 4 times the number of the Attendee Zone.
• Viral Zone: it includes all people touched by word-of-mouth, web, and viral influence and is 10 times larger than the Influence Zone.

Focus on spreading the impact of your event far beyond the event itself to achieve maximum marketing efficiency and make up for rising costs.  If attendance at a trade show is low, it does not necessarily follow that the number of people touched by the trade show is also low.

David Clayton has been a critical observer and student of social networking behavior of the Echo Boomers’ collegiate lives as they move on towards the professional world.  He is Director of Campus Ministries at Lipscomb University and has offered some insights into broad the effects of virtual networking.  “It has changed the way we build relationships.”  But has it changed for the better?

“Our fascination with technology has actually brought us to the point where we are trading in real relationships for artificial ones. I remember walking into one of our dorms this year and there were 15 guys in the computer lab, everyone of them chatting with someone on Facebook, yet no one was speaking to each other… We have traded in what is real for that which is not.”

This is why states that Generation Y is “the loneliest generation.”  There exists a dearth of intimacy.  Banking, work, chatting, and even dating can all be done online.  And if you didn’t mind ordering in everyday, you would never even have to leave your cave.  But as in the Plato’s allegory of the cave (The Republicbk. VII, 516b-c) offers some hope for marketing events.  Once someone has entered the light of day, he will not want to return to the dark illusionary world of a cave in which everyone has created their own realities.  Developing face-to-face personal business relationships at trade shows lends a sense of intimacy, trust, and emotional connection not offered by detached virtual relationships.

THE VISION

John Roberson, president of Advent, a marketing firm based in Nashville, Tennessee reveals his vision for the new trade show model that maintains focus on the unparralelled effectiveness of face-to-face.  A staffed trade show exhibit used to exist by itself as a perfectly sound marketing strategy.  “The traditional trade show model is too passive,” states Roberson.  “You have so many ways to get connected.”  Roberson advises that rather than viewing the internet and technology as an enemy, instead we need to embrace that technology and aggressively target Generation Y.  Technology and virtual communication can be used in conjunction with traditional face-to-face approaches to create a seamless harmony.

“The event has become ‘the middle.’  It is only a part of an overall strategy,” states Roberson.  Pre-show touch points should include emails, texts, and blogs in addition to traditional mailers.  The oft neglected post-show follow ups are a vital component of maximizing your ROI.  Videos, pictures, and promos from the event can all be sent via email and all make memorable impressions on the attendees.

Regardless of the advantages of getting virtually connected, Roberson is clear: “Its all about face-to-face.”  The event or the trade show itself is the crowning capstone of the overall strategy.  “Face-to-face marketing is the most effective form of marketing out there,” says Roberson.  Don’t believe him?  A study released by UCLA states that an astonishing 93 percent of communication effectiveness is determined by non-verbal cues (read the About.com article).  That means that anytime you text, email, or instant message you are losing a devastating 93 percent of your effectiveness.  That face-to-face interaction is what will stir the emotions and loyalty of your audience.  It is the same tool that will increase the effectiveness of your event and spread the impact far beyond that initial contact.

An article on by Paul Gillan of Exhibitor Online compliments Roberson’s philosophy.  He writes, “Blogs and podcasts won’t detract from or compete with your events.  In fact, these online juggernauts can give your marketing efforts a serious cyber boost — at little or no cost to you.” (Read the article.)  He discusses how O’Reilly Media posted content from their Emerging Technology conference.  Detractors complained that attendance and ticket sales would suffer.  But event marketers rejoice!  Low and behold, the opposite was true.  Actual attendance rose significantly and overall exposure to the event grew exponentially due to the internet’s massive virtual audience.

The trade show is not dead.  Face-to-face marketing remains the paragon of efficacy.  But it must change in order to fulfill the needs of a new generation.  There is an encroaching wave of short attention spanned, tech loving Echo Boomers sweeping towards the business world.  In order for event marketing and trade shows to survive these new conditions, they cannot duck-dive under the wave.  It is not a passing fad.  Instead, marketers must drop headlong into the curl and ride it all the way in.

For more information on tradeshows and experiential marketing, visit our blog at www.adventresults.com.

Recent studies from our scholarly brethren in the realm of academia point out that in order to maximize your influence over consumer behavior events must provide a high level of challenge that is matched with appropriate level of skill by the consumer.

True experiential marketing occurs when a consumer is immersed in the experience and there is a resulting ‘state of flow’ between the stimulus and the consumer.

Know your audience.  A push-up contest at the local DAR gala may cause angst and bewilderment among its well-dressed, well-bred attendees.  But an Army sponsored push-up contest for area football teams would get more heated than two-a-days in August.

The more emotionally, rationally, and physically engaging the experience, the more meaningful and memorable it will be to consumers.  Immerse your audience by challenging them in appropriate and relevant ways.

Related Studies

Viral Events: Create Word of Mouth Buzz

Event Marketing: Measuring an experience? Emma H. Wood and Guy Masterman

An Exploration of the use of ‘Extraordinary’ Experiences in Wine Tourism

The Next Big Thing

What’s Hot?  For one, the sweltering hazy July heat that pours from a scorching Southern sun to bake the thick, chokingly soupy air that simmers like thick gravy over the sticky black asphalt around Nashville.  But soon the long days will melt themselves away and relent to quick crisp days of October, cool nights, and warm fiery bright foliage around Vanderbilt and Green Hills.  As temperatures cool off in Tennessee, the 2008 Event Marketing Innovation Tour will be heating up.

On October 9, 2008, style guru and virtual trend thermometer, Robyn Waters, stops in Nashville to tell us what’s hot in experiential marketing.  She will turn your world upside down (see picture above) as we take a look at how to gauge fluid and often contradictory marketplace trends.  As keynote speaker, she will take listeners on an insightful tour into the macro marketplace and into the minds of consumers.  She challenges attendees to focus not just on “what’s next” but “what’s important” by looking at new ideas and products from ‘the inside out.’

The world of experiential, face-to-face, event marketing is growing rapidly as over 75% of companies plan to increase their efforts in 2008.  Traditional media advertising is losing out to high impact experiential events.

Robyn is a veteran in the field of tracking and translating trends into sales and profit with over thirty years experience.  She is former VP of Trend, Design, and Product Development for Target and helped turn the small regional discount chain into a national fashion hot spot.

She is also Author of several books including the acclaimed, The Hummer and the Mini, which examines contradictions in the marketplace and encourages companies to approach them as opportunities.

The first 100 registered attendees will receive a free copy of Robyn’s book, The Hummer and the Mini. Register now to get yours!

This event is hosted by Advent and the American Display Aliance.  Advent thrives at the forefront of the cutting edge modern marketing industry by fueling brands with the explosive power of experiences.  Advent creates an emotional bond with audiences by leveraging the unrivaled effectiveness of experiential marketing through targeted events, engaging exhibits, and branded spaces.  High impact and high touch strategies mark Advent’s creative advantage and have helped rapidly expanding brands communicate messages that gain immediate and lasting resonance with consumers.  For more check out www.adventresults.com.

Why fueling your brand with star power works: AUTHENTICITY

What can Lebron James, Tiger Woods, and pop-star upstart Rhianna teach us about experiential marketing?

Marketing is about opening the door between consumer and brand.  Marketers continually search for other keys, picks, sledge hammers, or whatever else they can find to create a connection and open this door.  Since the olden days of Bob Hope and American Express to Michael Phelps’ recent record setting post-Olympic endorsement deal, celebrity advertising has been a favorite promotional tool.

If celebrity endorsement is the key that unlocks the barrier between consumer and brand, then the hinge upon which the whole contraption swings is authenticity.  A brand can take off faster than Super Mario flashing with star power if consumers believe that a celebrity actually uses their product.  That is the real star power.

Sports companies find celebrity endorsements especially lucrative.  In 2007 Tiger Woods garnered an estimated astronomical $100 million from endorsements alone.  He is on pace to surpass 1 billion (that’s right, billion with a ‘b’) by 2010 and become the world’s first billionaire athlete.  Of all this wealth, only bout one-tenth of it comes from prize money.

It is not uncommon that the sum total of endorsement deals to vastly exceed athletes’ performance related earnings.  But why are companies so eager to throw their money at star athletes?  The returns are phenomenal.  In Tiger’s case, he has been credited with the explosion of Nike Golf, which was non-existent in 1996 and last year recorded over $600 million in sales.

In the world of marketing Nike reigns supreme.  Look at Nike and Lebron James.  The beauty of the relationship is that you can turn on your TV and watch him careening through the lane like some sort of terrible flying freight train over and through would be defenders; all the while you can see the Nike logo swooshed across his airborne feet.  You cannot get more authentic than that…

…Or can you?

EVEN MORE!

Celebrities are increasingly looking to develop a real connection to whatever they do.  By offering creative input on the design of the shoes that bare his name, Lebron has effectively blurred the distinction of where Nike starts and he ends.  That is great marketing!

Rhianna, the grammy winning teenage upstart from Barbados, created and endorsed her own line of customized glittery umbrellas for Totes Isotoner after her hit song entitled, appropriately, “Umbrella.”  In a recent New York Times article she says,

“We’ve worked hard to build me and my name up as a brand. We always want to bring an authentic connection to whatever we do.  It must be sincere and people have to feel that.”

Rhianna designed a product that she was proud to be connected with.  Totes is proud to be connected with her popularity.  And consumers are pleased to be connected to Rhianna’s success through the product she endorses.  What results is a big happy symbiotic relationship in which all parties win.

INCREASE YOUR AUTHENTICITY

Celebrity endorsement may not be a good fit for every brand but the principle behind its success is universal.  Consumers crave what is real.  You must nurture a relationship with your customer that lets them experience the true nature of your product in a way that is memorable and relevant.  You should be heavily involved with your company’s marketing strategies just like Lebron and Rhianna.  If you are looking to strengthen your brand and boost sales here are some tips to increase authenticity:

Tips to increase authenticity:

• Honesty — Enough said.
• Create Experience — Personal experience is as real as you get.
• Creativity — Search for new ways to create high impact personal experiences.
• Consistency — With any decision ask, “Is this on brand?”
• Face-to-face — It is proven to be the most effective form of marketing. Through targeted events, parties, and meetings you can create real relationships.
• Imagery — Choose meaningful imagery to convey the true essence of your brand.
• Convey Emotion — Convey the honest emotional response to your product.
• Internal branding — Make sure your employees know what you are about. They are your ambassadors.
• Brand management — Hire a marketing firm with a strong listening and learning phase. Your marketing team must understand your brand before they can communicate it.

The heyday of generic mass marketing is gone.  No longer will plastic molded identical TV commercials dominate marketing.  These tactics are losing efficacy as consumers are bombarded with a daily barrage of corporate advertisements, images, and messages.   More personal methods are winning out.

High touch, believable marketing techniques like face-to-face targeted events or custom created environments resonate with consumers.  These experiences are personal and memorable.  Experiential marketing works.  Why?  Because Tiger Woods wears Nike and and you know it’s true.  Because, with your own eyes you can watch him, hobbled and destitute, overcome a desperate deficit to win the U.S. Open; and do it wearing his Nikes.  Authenticity is the nitro that fuels a successful marketing machine.

Related Articles:

• Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want
• Presentation and Authenticity in Marketing
• Nothing Sells Like Celebrity
• Olympic Gold Medalist Dives into Endorsement Deal
• Path to the Zoom LeBron IV: LeBron apparel preview
• Tiger Woods, The Next Billionaire?

Advent thrives at the forefront of the cutting edge experiential marketing industry.  Through quality service and implementation Advent has helped rapidly growing companies communicate the essence of their brand and vision domestically and abroad through exhibits, events, and office environments.  Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the company is a creative industry leader with Fortune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, International. For more information, visit www.adventresults.com.

Experiential Marketing is about connecting consumers with brands in personal and memorable ways. Therefore, it makes sense to always consider color choices as an integral part of any Experiential Marketing campaign.

The science of color is quite complicated and beyond the scope of this article. However, I would like to briefly touch on some of the more philosophical and cultural ideas associated with color and why they matter to marketing. The symbolism and psychology of color can be subjective and dependant on many variables.

Color symbolism and color psychology are culturally constructed linkages that vary with time, place, and culture. In fact one color may perform very different symbolic or psychological functions at the same place. Color symbolism is a contentious area of study dependent upon a large body of anecdotal evidence but not supported by data from well designed scientific studies.

Wikipedia — Color symbolism and psychology

Considerations When Choosing Color Palettes for Your Brand or Campaign

• Who is your target audience and what is their age, gender, class, etc?
• Where, geographically, is your target audience from and where will your event be held?
• When will your project launch and what are the current or forecasted color trends?
• How do you want to make your audience feel during their experience?
• What impression do you want to leave your audience with after their experience?

Have you thought about how the use of color might help you achieve your desired result from the target demographic or audience? The appeal and meaning of color is different for different genders. Men and women usually do not differ on dark or light colors, but women are more prone to prefer softer colors. Men often gravitate towards bright or bold colors. Children, teen-agers, and adults usually have separate distinct color preferences and interpretations of color as well.

Equally important to the age and gender of your demographic when choosing color is their location and culture. Geography plays a major role in the meaning of color and what certain colors symbolize. For example, in western culture white is often associated with purity or cleanliness. On the other hand, in certain Asian cultures white is often symbolic of mourning or death.

The time period of your marketing campaign is important because color trends change from season to season and year to year. If possible, think ahead to when a campaign will launch or when the event you are involved in occurs. Future color forecasts can be found by studying fashion, interior design, and graphic design industries.

When you know who your audience is and the time of your event you can then think about how you want to make your audience feel while attending and what impression you want them to leave with. Do you want to calm them? A soothing blue might help. Maybe your want to excite them. Think Yellow. Yellow is often perceived as an energetic color associated with the spring season and youthful age.

Color research can easily be achieved by poking around on the internet, visiting a book store, or simply taking a walk outside. Pay particular attention to magazines and fashion. They are current and often set or create color trends. For a more universal and lasting color palette look to nature. Nature never goes out of fashion or style.

In the end you may not be able to please everybody or pick the perfect color scheme for your Experiential Marketing campaign or project. However, going the extra mile, doing some research, and making the best decisions possible should pay off in the end and help provide your audience with a more memorable experience.

Color Resources and Articles

• Color Trends for 2008
• Sherwin-Williams 2008 Color Forecast
• Happy Blue Year: 2008 Color Trends
• Adobe Kuler
• Color Matters

The dark forecast of economic woe looms like a menacing cumulonimbus cloud billowing on the horizon.  To be sure, current patterns indicate it may be blown off course.  But consumers are battening down the hatches.  As the United States tightens its purse strings it is no time for companies cut their marketing budgets.  Advertising strategies like experiential marketing and interactive marketing are becoming more popular.  In his new book, Marketing in a Slow-Growth Economy, Avraham Shama writes that concerned consumers become more critical and conservative about their spending and that companies must change their marketing habits to be successful (read the review).

Shama points out that recession is a new economic climate.  This shake-up offers a unique opportunity for those who can adjust, adapt, and innovate.  During tough times companies cannot afford to spend precious marketing dollars on advertising that does not work. Face-to-face marketing to be the most effective, memorable, and trusted form of marketing.  Listen to your customers and speak to their needs in authentic ways they will remember.

What do your customers want?

What could a rise in SPAM sales possibly mean for your company?  Rising costs for fuel and feed means many companies are passing the buck to consumers.  Faced with an economic downturn and rising prices many spenders become more discretionary and look to cut corners to ease the strain on their wallets.  The people at Hormel realize this and have increased advertising for their affordable meat product option SPAM.  In a Fox News interview Smucker Chairman and CEO, Tim Smucker says, “In tough economic times, the comfort, cost and convenience of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich gains even greater favor with our consumers” (read the article).  Companies like Smuckers and Hormel have increased advertising, are listening to customers, have identified the authentic nature of their brand, and are offering high value with their products.  Both have reported impressive earnings.

Proctor and Gamble is another company that has embraced its role and invested heavily in its brands which incluce Charmin toilet paper, Crest toothpaste, and Tide detergent.  The company has reported an impressive third quarter profit rise of 8 percent.  “Virtually everything we sell is not discretionary. You know, it’s a staple,” Lafley told analysts. “You have to go to the bathroom. You have to get up in the morning and brush your teeth. You’ve got to shower. You’ve got to shave … you’ve got to wash your clothes,” says A.G. Lafley, P&G’s chairman and chief executive in a Fox News interview (read the article).  Toothpaste is not optional for consumers, but the Crest brand is.  You even have to market the essentials.

So you don’t sell SPAM or toilet paper?  Not to worry.  Bentley, whose cars retail for upwards of $300,000, reported records in sales and profits last year (read the article).  Even the most opulent of luxury cars that carry abhorrent price tags and offend any sense of decency and stewardship are still being gobbled up by hungry spenders.  The lesson is that although competition may be tight, people are still spending.  The key is to target your specific audience.  I guarantee the people buying Bentleys are not the same people buying up all that SPAM.  “Marketing is the craft linking producers of goods and services with customers” (halfsigma.com).  Don’t break the link.

Be aggressive

“A weak economy is not the time to cut back on communicating with your existing and potential customers,” writes Jeff, Cornwall, director of the Belmont University Center for Entrepreneurship (see his website).  Instead of cutting back on spending, companies should ramp up efforts in order to energize sales.  Cornwall suggests experimenting with different tactics and attaching special offers to each promotion to track which ones are the most effective.  Focus on maximizing your effectiveness at tradeshows.  Makeover your office, lobby, or showroom to create a branded space that can stike an emotional chord with customers.  Be more aggressive than ever.  Cornwall cites the sage wisdom of local Nashville entrepreneur, Charles Hagood, “If I had just one dollar left to spend in our company, I would spend it on marketing” (read the article).

Related Articles:

• Review: Marketing in a Slow-Growth Economy, Avraham Shama
• Food Makers Weather Downturn, Shares Rise
• Cost controls, emerging market growth boosts P&G profit
• Don’t ease up on marketing in these slow economic times
• Brand, Your Most Valuable Asset

Advent thrives at the forefront of the cutting edge experiential marketing industry and for 20 years has helped rapidly growing companies communicate the essence of their brand and vision domestically and abroad through exhibits, events, and office environments.  Based in Nashville, Tennesse, the company is a creative industry leader with Fortune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, International. For more information, visit http://www.adventresults.com/.

Well, the percentage of people who feel jazzed and excited about a trade show is parallel to mowing your lawn in 100˚+ day. So then what’s the remedy to getting your team excited, and happy to be your company’s ambassador at a trade show? Here are 5 tips to prepare your team to rock the show like a good 80s cover band.

1. Incentive?

People are driven and motivated by various things. Money, gifts, perks, time off work, and even awards are all things that drive employees to excellence in the work place. If you can’t afford to “pay off” your workers to do their job, then try and think outside of the corporate box. Studies show that a good percentage of people are driven by verbal affirmation from a boss more than they are by money. Taking that extra minute to recognize an employee can go a long way when you need them in a pinch.

2. Educate Educate Educate!

If there is something people hate, it is being uninformed. How many times have you been in a situation and someone asked an important question, and lo and behold, you didn’t know the answer? This happens all too many times, for various reasons. Try to collect all of the information you need your team to know well in advance before the show; perhaps a morning breakfast meeting on your tab, or even a relaxed meeting in the conference room with doughnuts. Either way, make sure you get the team ready with the information they need on the floor.

3. The Good Shepherd

“Where is the duct tape?” “Do you have a sharpie?” “I need a power strip!” Don’t leave your team to fend for themselves 30 minutes before the doors open. Take extra steps to think through exactly what they will need before they leave the office for a teary goodbye. A good idea is to have a “Trade Show Tools Kit.” Include scissors, masking-scotch-duct tape, extension cords, power strips, pens, pencils, paper, stapler, and any other things you might think necessary.

4. Create Your Dream Team

The people you send to a show are going to be the faces for your company and its beliefs and core values. Don’t send someone who you think will taint the image you want to project of your company. However, don’t pick people who are all alike. Create a hodge-podge style team of personality, humor, skill, intelligence and other characteristics that can speak to all sorts of trade-show attendees. Remember, there will be many different people who are coming up to your booth—try and estimate what people within your own company could speak to the masses.

5. Fun Is Okay

Who said fun wasn’t allowed at work? Granted, too much fun on the job decreases productivity. There is a balance that can be maintained. It has been said that in order to gain new business, that if you sell yourself, your products and services will take care of themselves. Enjoy yourself on the floor!

Logan Hartline is a senior graphic design major at Lipscomb University. Creativity, productivity, and passion for art have spelled success in the form of several honors including the Robert M. Neal Scholarship for Fine Arts, the Lipscomb University Art Department Scholarship, and a dynamic marketing internship with Advent. Advent exists atop a rapidly expanding experiential marketing field and helps companies communicate the essence of their brand through engaging exhibits, environments, and events. For more information, visit adventresults.com.

What is value? Consider this: Brands and Branding points out that in mid-2002 the book value of The Coca-Cola Company was $10.5 billion. At the same time the stock market value was around $136 billion. How do you explain a staggering difference of over $125 billion? Assets like contracts, recipes, and networks make up a portion of the enormous gap. But, independent estimates ascribe over half of the company’s intangible value, an almost $70 billion dollar price tag, to the Coca-Cola brand name alone. For some companies, up to 70% of their market value is attributed to the brand.

A study by Interbrand found that brands account for more than one-third of shareholder value. To give some added perspective, in 2007 the combined GDP of Croatia and Vietnam was around $121 billion (see the list). The combined value of the Coca-Cola and Microsoft brand names was 124 billion.

A brand is more than a name, more than a logo, and more than most people realize. Rita Clifton, former CEO, author, and consultant calls a brand the “most important and sustainable asset of any organization.” And she does mean any organization. Branding is not just for the mega-multinational corporations. Recent years have seen the triumphant ascension of brands and branding. The presidential race is heating up and “republicans are trying to again make the GOP brand mean ‘small government’ and ‘fiscal responsibility’” (Read the usnews.com article). Likewise, athletic teams, charitable organizations, and even individuals are encouraged to see themselves as a brand.

Unfortunately, ethically irresponsible behemoths like Enron who have invested heavily in branding have sullied the brand reputation. At its worst, a brand is deceptive — an illegitimate unrepresentative façade. But the Red Cross and UNICEF use the super-power of branding for the forces of good. Brands offer enormous advantages. In an age when a socially conscious public has access to news that is transmitted instantaneously and dispersed widely it behooves companies to behave.

Take a look at Wal-Mart. The Bentonville, Arkansas based giant has been hounded by socially conscious watchdogs for everything from discrimination and sub par healthcare to environmentalism and sustainability. CNN’s Fortune magazine reports that Wal-Mart has answered earnestly with sweeping changes and that their responsiveness is paying off at the checkout counters (Read the article). Its stock has risen 38% since September. Branding promotes accountability for services, quality products, and socially responsibly practices. A brand offers a carrot to fulfill promises and a stick to those who do not. To chance flushing your company’s single largest asset would be a foolish and risky endeavor.

An equally foolish move would be to never even start building brand equity. Patrick Barwise, professor of management and marketing and chairman of the Future Media Research Programme at London Business School, suggests including a metrics system to determine your most effective marketing activities. He notes a gradual steady flow of resources away from traditional media advertising towards marketing that is direct and interactive. Experiential marketing posts measurable results on the metric dashboards and CEOs are revving up their efforts.

McDonald’s is moving up up and away from traditional advertising. After taking a hit to its flabby gut after the movie Super Size Me, McDonald’s has repositioned itself; its stock is up over 45% in the last year and it earned a no. 8 on BusinessWeek’s Best Global Brands list. McDonald’s is finding new ways to connect with customers. In a BusinessWeek interview, Chief Marketing Officer, Mary Dillon, says, “Everybody is living in a multiscreen world, from computers to television to cinema, and it’s not a one-way street. We need to make our messaging more like a dialogue, and not a monologue” (Read the article). McDonald’s success is also attributed to snazzed up restaurants to create brand spaces that allow a more pleasurable dining environment. Interactive marketing that provides customers with a memorable experience is a current trend in advertising and an effective brand building tactic.

Tom Blackett, a leading expert on brands, advises not to treat your brand as a cost, but as an investment. In mature markets it is often a company’s largest overhead cost. Though it is difficult to see the returns on a spread sheet, the value created by successful brand management is enormous. Blackett offers particularly relevant advice in these current turbulent economic waters: a strong brand will keep a company afloat during difficult times. This highlights the importance of brand maintenance. Clearly, a brand is more than a name. Investing in external and internal branding promotes ethical behavior, adds stability, and increases a company’s value.

Advent thrives at the forefront of the cutting edge experiential marketing industry and for 20 years has helped rapidly growing companies develop their brand through interactive exhibits, events, and office environments. Based in Nashville, the company is a creative industry leader with Fortune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, International. For more information, visit www.adventresults.com.

Clifton, Simmons, et al. eds. Brands and Branding. New York: Bloomberg Press, 2004. (buy it)

1.  K.I.S.S. it.

Keep it simple.  Most people overdesign their booths. This comes as a result of wanting to wow and flaunt every bell and whistle that a client can add to their custom booth. Eventually people get tired of the frilly, expensive junk that can overpower a booth’s intended purpose. Keep the design simple, and people will recognize the fresh air your booth can give.

2.  Don’t design for trends.

Too many designers are designing to be current, hip, and trendy. These are not necessarily bad, but if they are only directed towards being the king of the hill and not conveying the message your company wants to convey, then viewers will surely pass by. Good designers know what evokes emotion, grabs people’s attention and can attract a set of eyes to a certain design scheme. Focus the design on what will grab people, not the latest “Best Of” in graphic design.

3.  Integrate!

Using only 2D design is good. Integrating other types of design elements to draw viewers in is EVEN better. Effects such as LED dynamic lighting, alternate fabric materials, and even sound can enhance the experience of a booth-goer.

4.  Key phrases are key

Including too much text in the design of a booth will certainly keep people from exploring your booth. Think about it, who wants to stand before a booth and read the first chapter of a novel? The answer is simple: no one. Working with marketing specialists, graphic designers can focus what phrases, words and short sentences will grab the attention of attendees.

5.  Message

The overall message of what your company wants to project is as equally as important as the design itself. Not only does the design complete this, but so does the demeanor and attitude of the team working the booth. Don’t let the design be the only spokesperson.

Logan is a senior graphic design major at Lipscomb University.  Creativity, productivity, and passion for art have spelled success in the form of several honors including the Robert M. Neal Scholarship for Fine Arts and a dynamic marketing internship with Advent.  Advent exists atop a rapidly expanding experiential marketing field and helps companies communicate the essence of their brand through engaging exhibits, environments, and events.  For more information, visit www.adventresults.com.

Choose the right marketing firm and eliminate tradeshow headaches

Eliminate the pain of choice and implementation.

Top marketing firms often resemble five-star restaurants.  The finest restaurants offer limited menus, are characterized by great service, and offer an overall pleasant experience.  Often they remain small enough to allow for an intimate dining.  And they retain a culture in which the innovative and creative genius of chefs can flow unimpeded onto the plates of a specific and demanding clientele.  With the flourish of a spatula and the flip of a pan they can create the most delightful palatable sensations as they pursue culinary perfection.  At a five star restaurant you never have to ask, “What’s good?”  They’ve already taken care of that.

Top establishments leave the selection and variety to McDonald’s.  Sure you can order fifty different sandwiches, but nobody wants to eat 50 sandwiches!  When you walk in for lunch, you are really only looking for one good sandwich.  In the same way, you are not looking for 50 tradeshow booths (but if you are please give us a call).  You are looking for that one perfect booth that communicates who you are.  When you turn to a tradeshow service provider with a reputation of excellence, you will never have to look at an wrinkled old catalogue and ask “What’s good?”  It’s already taken care of.  This will facilitate the painstaking and lengthy decision making stage.  Through a process of intimate collaboration, attentive listening, and creative discovery, companies like Advent eliminate the pain of choice by casting away the chaff and offering a few delectable custom designs tailored specifically to your needs and your company’s unique message.

El Bulli has been named by S. Pellegrino as the best restaurant in the world for a laudable three years running.  But the laurels of their astounding hat trick don’t rest solely in the kitchen. An article on theworlds50best.com says, “You won’t find better service than this anywhere in the world. The staff are absolutely top-notch, professional, knowledgeable, charming and, in an environment in which you’re being presented with food the likes of which you’ll never have seen before, they put you instantly at ease” (Read the article).  A marketing firm that cooks up great ideas on the front end but can’t deliver on the back end is not helpful.  Your tradeshow service provider should offer the same world class service on all levels and be able to eliminate the logistical headaches of shipping and the nightmarish management of labor during the I&D phase.  Good service ensures your glass will never be empty.

Use an experienced company committed to engineering an enjoyable working experience throughout the process of in-depth research, creative design, and ultimate execution and you can be sure to enjoy the taste of success.

For 20 year, Advent has helped rapidly growing companies communicate the essence of their brand and vision through the design and implementation of exhibits, events, and office environments.  Based in Nashville, the company is a creative industry leader that has collaborated with Fortune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, International. For more information, visit www.adventresults.com.