Unique & Appropriate

Unique & Appropriate. In my world of trade shows and exhibiting, this is a tough thing to achieve. I see many exhibits that can easily achieve half of this equation, but it's rare to find an exhibit that fulfills both parts.

It's easy to be appropriate. Simply follow the accepted "norms" of your given industry. You can see this demonstrated in almost any vertical industry trade show. Simply look around you and notice the recurring color palette, which goes something like this:

• Medical industry: royal blue, and white
• Financial services industry: stone, marble, granite (don't forget gold & silver)
• Natural & Organic Products: earth tone greens and browns - basically camouflage
• Manufacturing: stainless steel, grays and blues
• Entertainment: bold colors, bold lighting (think comic books)

Each of these schemes has grown out of the key drivers associated with their industry. For example, the medical industry values safety and purity, hence the widespread use of blue and white. If you want to "fit in" to any industry, simply copy these color schemes into your exhibit design.

It's also easy to be unique. Just do something crazy. Can you imagine a top Accounting Firm - with all the staff sporting satanic tattoos while wearing muscle shirts? --- ”watch how, when I flex my bicep, the numbers change from red to black!” (Thanks, Gwen, for that image). It would certainly be unique, and perhaps memorable, but hardly appropriate.

The difficult thing to create, is an exhibit that is both unique and appropriate.

I found a good example of an exhibitor whose graphics are doing exactly that. Recently at the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) Food Expo 2011 in New Orleans, I had the chance to visit with Gwen Bargetzi, of Hilmar Ingredients, a dairy ingredients company from California.

Before I tell you about Gwen's exhibit, I need to tell you about the IFT Food Expo. The IFT is among the top 100 largest trade shows in the USA, and also among the 50 fastest growing. This despite being a show centered in a very mature industry (food manufacturing has been around almost as long as people have needed to eat). And, like other shows, it has a defining set of "norms" that manifests itself visually in two main ways: (1) beautiful food photography, and (2) healthy lifestyle photos. You can see examples of what I mean below:

Almost all the exhibitors in this show use either healthy beautiful food, healthy beautiful people (the result of eating the healthy beautiful food), or a combination of the two. After a while, it's gets very hard to distinguish one exhibitor from another.

That's what made Gwen's Hilmar Ingredients exhibit stand out. In designing her 10x30 exhibit, Gwen found a way to be BOTH unique AND appropriate.

Line illustration in bold colors (new graphics for 2011) provided a refreshing new take on Hilmar's communication. Is it some brand new, never-before-tried, flavor-of-the-month tactic? No. But it's different enough from most other exhibitors to make Gwen's exhibit memorable. Also, it appropriately conveys exactly how Hilmar fits into the picture. Using the simple line drawings, Hilmar exemplified a “concept” versus a finished “real picture” product, since they don't make finished beverages. Hilmar does supply many of the ingredients found in finished beverages, and they sell to beverage manufacturers. These simple, cartoon-like line drawings are totally appropriate to Hilmar's product positioning & benefits, totally appropriate to the Food Expo marketplace, yet completely unique in an interesting and refreshing way.

Take this challenge: If you can find that perfect middle ground that balances appropriateness and uniqueness, then you'll have as powerful an exhibit as Gwen Bargetzi's Hilmar Ingredients had at the IFT Food Expo.

TSB

1-888-9-ASK-TSB

Bob's Best Bites

American Fork, UT (OK, Google it if you've never heard of it) is home to my all time favorite Mexican Restaurant, Mi Ranchito. In many ways, it's just your average run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurant, except for one thing -- their tacos. They are unquestionably my favorite tacos ever (except for my wife's, of course). The beef is roasted and pulled (a la pulled pork) to form the filling inside a raw corn tortilla shell. Then the whole thing is deep fried. This is one secret to making a perfect taco (Jack in the Box comes to mind also - but that's another post), deep fry it with the meat already inside. This lends a chewy strength to the tortilla, which rarely cracks while eating it. Then they add cheese, lettuce and tomato --- AND --- drum roll for the secret ingredient --- a little Italian salad dressing. I KNOW -- sounds disgusting, doesn't it? It's an amazing addition to a taco, and makes your whole mouth water while eating it. Unbelievable. 

What other unexpected pleasures have you found in your culinary experiences? Please share them here.

TSB

1-888-9-ASK-TSB