Fronted and Faced

A long time ago, in a former life, I worked for a very short time in a retail grocery outlet. Since they didn't trust me with any of the more "important" tasks, I was often assigned to the job of stocking shelves. I quickly learned that all the product you place on the shelves must be "fronted" (pushed toward the front of the shelf) and "faced" (all the labels facing outward in the same direction) in beautiful, neat and tidy rows. Apparently, people buy more stuff when all the products are all fully "fronted and faced".

Somehow, this "traditional best practice" has been carried into the trade show world. If you walk the aisle of retail or food related trade shows like, The Hardware Show, FMI (Grocery), NACS (Covenience Stores), PLMA (Private Label), Natural Products, Candy Expo (a fun show to visit, by the way), or any other retail product or packaging show, you'll see it. Exhibit after exhibit of neatly displayed packages, all beautifully fronted & faced, their merchandise proudly reflecting the environment in which it's sold.

When the "O" Water Company attended the 2007 Natural Products Expo, instead of accepting the tradition of "Front & Face" as an "industry best practice", they attacked it as a sacred cow. Their resulting display, seen below, was immediately attention-getting, and stood out from all the other "neat & tidy" exhibits around them. When I asked why they had chosen to display their product so randomly, they responded by saying, "We're here to shake up the industry with our revolutionary new product, do you want to try some?" A great opening line.

This is just one example of an exhibitor who broke thru the clutter by being unconventional and challenging a long accepted tradition. Was it expensive? No. Did it require courage? Yes. Did it get the company more attention than it otherwise would have had? Judge for yourself.

The point is, in today's trade show environment, we need to challenge our so-called "sacred cows" and find new ways of doing things. Ways that help us tell our own stories more effectively. It no longer makes sense to follow every so-called "rule" simply because that's the way it's always been done. If we do, we'll find our exhibits will attract attention about as well as those rows of cans at your local supermarket.

I'd love to see other examples of how people have challenged the traditions of exhibiting. Have you found unique and appropriate ways to tell your story? Or maybe you need to find some ways to attack your own sacred cows, and break out of the pack.

Either way, drop me line at tradeshowbob@gmail.com, or Tweet me at @Tradeshowbob, or visit my Facebook page Trade Show Bob on Facebook, or give me a call at 1-888-9-ASK-TSB.

TSB