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.

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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.

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10 things Every Rookie Should Know About Trade Shows (Part 2)

Well, it didn't take long for me to discover the source of these excellent points. Mike Thimmesch of Skyline Exhibits had blogged about them  here. They're still as relevant as when I first read them. I'm especially fond of point #6 -- so true.



6.  Everybody wants to help you pick the exhibit color. No one wants to help you track the leads.  When it comes to exhibit design, everyone has an opinion. And in the time leading up to the show, they will all clamor to offer their ideas, making it harder to get the booth built on time without rush charges. Yet after the show, you will have a harder time getting similar participation in tracking the leads from the show – ostensibly the reason you designed your exhibit in the first place. Remind your colleagues that if you can’t prove the results from this year’s show, you won’t be exhibiting at the show next year.


7.  The 10 minutes after the show closes is when most damage happens to your exhibit materials.  The show ends with a voice booming over the loudspeakers saying, “The show is closed, see you next year.” But to impatient booth staffers, it’s as if they had actually shouted, “Drivers, start your engines!” Booth staffers hurry to win the race to the taxi stand, hotel, bar, restaurant, or parking lot. And if you have a portable display that your booth staffers pack up, this is when they break it, by shoving it in its case as fast as they can. Close that expensive window of time by getting a more durable display, getting better packaging, or just by having a frank conversation with your staffers before the closing bell. Or, if you’re the one who wants to win the race, take a deep breath and slow down before you make a costly mistake.

8.  Drayage is the most expensive way to move your exhibit the shortest distance.  As a trade show rookie, one of the biggest surprises is that you have to pay to have your exhibit moved from the shipping dock to your booth space. Even more shocking is just how much you’ll have to pay — about the same to move something across a convention center as it does to ship it across country. Drayage rates have risen by double-digit percentages in some of the last few years, probably because more exhibitors switched to lighter weight exhibits. To offset the lower weight of exhibit properties, drayage charges per pound have increased. If your exhibit is still made the old-fashioned way, it’s a double-whammy.

9.  It’s hard for booth staffers to take their very first lead at a trade show.  In our lives we go though various rites of passage: learning to ride a bike, going to your first day of school, getting a date to the prom. While all of these have been immortalized in film, no movie has yet to bring to the silver screen the epic tale of a first-time booth staffer engaging and writing up their first trade show lead. What would yours have been, a horror film? A comedy? A tragedy? Whatever kind of movie it would be, it would also be a drama, because you’re filled with nervous energy as you go out and ask a perfect stranger face to face if they’d like to do business with your company. Just remember that your booth visitors actually paid to visit the show, and many are shopping for solutions to their problems that your products can solve. Practice the process of engage, qualify, present, and close, and you’ll be more comfortable taking your first lead.

10.  Trade shows can be addictive.  With the hard work, long hours, and time away from home, some people can’t wait to return from their trade show. But for others, trade shows are a calling.  They get jazzed by the performance aspect, the blitz of direct client contact, and the relationships built before and during the show. They like the ability to create a successful marketing program in a medium built upon the value of face-to-face interactions. And that’s when trade shows really become addictive: when you master the medium and drive serious revenue to your company’s bottom line.


I'm sure there's many other things we all wished we knew when we started out. What are some of your favorite bits of wisdom we can pass along to those who will follow?


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Bob's Best Bites
The Lighthouse. That's what "El Faro" translates to. And frankly, it's best burrito I've ever had. Period. the original location is on Folsom St., between 19th & 20th St's., in San Francisco's Mission District. And it's still the very best. The Carne Asada Super Burrito is so massive it dwarfs your forearm. And inside is perfectly seasoned and roasted carne asada with just the right touch of guacamole added to enhance the rich smoky flavor. I've been coming here since the early sixties, because my Dad worked just a block away, and whenever we'd go into the city to meet him, we'd stop and get burritos from El Faro. Most of the side items you'd pay for at other burrito joints (sour cream, guacamole, etc. ) are already included in their offerings, so be sure to ask what's inside, and get exactly the stuff you want. el Faro is truly a lighthouse and beacon to burrito lovers the world over. Stop by and prove me wrong.


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10 things Every Trade Show Rookie Should Know (Part 1)

I'm not sure where I got this information, but I sure wish I had written it. I came across it in an old file from 2005, so I'm not sure of the real source. If any of you know who originally penned these, please let me know so I can give proper credit. I'm happy to present them here - Part 1 today, the rest of it later this week. Enjoy.


1.  You won’t succeed at trade shows if you just show up.  A trade show first-timer may think that because they’ve paid a couple of grand to rent a 10 x 10 space for a few days, they automatically will reap leads and sales from the show’s attendees. If only. Surprise: you’ve actually only paid for access to this great audience of buyers. Now you have to do your part - train your staffers, create a promotion that attracts qualified prospects, and design your display to entice the right visitors to your booth.


2.  Trade shows are not as glamorous as they looked from the outside.  To the uninitiated, this is what trade show marketing looks like from the outside: Flying around the country to sunny or metropolitan locations, staying in top-tier hotels and meals on the company dime, and access to top-level company execs. But seen from the inside, trade shows are not so glamorous. Trade shows themselves are very hard work with a lot of stressful moments before, during, and after exhibit hours. There are so many details to master, and so many vendors you are depending on. You can sweat more during exhibit set-up than a month of work outs. And travel gets old fast when you are repeatedly away from home and your family. 


3.  Inertia determined much of your company’s show schedule.  In the many years before you were handed the reins to your company’s trade show marketing, your company cobbled together quite a list of shows. But are they all still worth it?  Were some trade shows chosen because your target market was there, or because your competitors were? Has your client base evolved away from the demographics of some of the shows you exhibit at? Have some shows eroded their attendee base by not reinvesting in strong marketing and educational content? Are there new vertical markets that you have yet to find good shows to market to? It’s up to you to break the inertia — and create some new momentum.


4.  Trade show labor is way more expensive than you think, and sometimes it’s even worth it.  It’s a eye-opener to find out how much you will pay someone else to set up your booth, hook up your lights, or rig that hanging sign, especially if it’s on a weekend, or God forbid, on a Sunday. The union rules in most venues require that you pay labor a wage that adds up in a hurry. You can minimize labor costs by getting easier to set up displays, trying to schedule your set up for straight-time labor, and by lining up dependable contractors


5.  You will blow your trade show budget if you don’t plan well.  You can never plan too far ahead, especially for overseas shows. Your budget was likely set with the best-case scenario for your trade show expenses, without room to pay for late fees and rush charges. That’s powerful incentive to quickly master show planning. Good trade show planning software will pay for itself within one or two shows.


It never hurts, even for trade show veterans, to review and ponder this information every once in a while.


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Bob's Best Bites
"What'll ya have?" - It's more of a command than a question. Nevertheless, that's how you're welcomed to the Varsity Drive In, a huge throw-back hot dog stand in downtown Atlanta, not far from the campus of Georgia Tech. The place takes up an entire city block and even has its own double deck parking garage. Hot dogs and chili dogs are the order of the day, fixed in a myriad of ways. Be sure to order the fresh cut fries, which are every bit as good as those served by the "Five Guys" chain. Then, wash it all down with a Frosted Orange, a drink sure to give you at least one brain freeze, as you slurp down memories of childhood Creamsicles.


The Varsity is a one-of-a-kind experience, so be sure to soak it all in --- just be ready when they ask "What'll ya have?" or you might be asked to step out of line and wait until you're really ready to order.


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Three "Myths" about Trade Show Success

The factors that are most critical to your success as an exhibitor are not always what many folks spend a lot of their time worrying about. Contrary to popular belief, these three "myths" just aren’t that important to your success … 

1. Overall show attendance – Of course, show attendance is declining. It’s been declining since 9/11, and declines have intensified since the onset of the recession. But look more closely. In the B2B world, the declines are the result of the shrinking size of the entourage companies send. The actual number of companies who send at least one buying rep to walk a show is actually increasing. Instead of sending a team of 10, companies now send 2 or 3. But guess what, these 2 or 3 must uncover the same amount of solutions as 10 did previously. They’re focused, they’re buying, and they’re at your show. Will you be able to find them? Instead of worrying about the overall attendance at a show, focus on understanding the details about the potential audience that is a perfect match for your products/services.
2. Your booth location on the floor – Coupled with trend above, buyers are now very organized when they hit the exhibit floor. They no longer wander around like kids at a carnival. Having an exhibit in the most prominent spot in the exhibit hall might make your Executives feel important, but it really doesn't contribute all that much to your show's success. Remember. most buyers now attend shows with pre-set agendas of companies who they need to see. As long as you’re on that list, they’ll find you. The key is -- get on their list. And do it before they arrive at the show. A successful trade show campaign needs to incorporate integrated elements of pre-show marketing to make sure you get on your key buyers' agendas.
3. A booth must be busy to be successful – This is only true if your key prospects represent the majority of overall attendees at a given show. Busy booths tire out your staff, but, this "busy-ness" will make them feel successful, “we’re tired, therefore we had a good show”. However, at most shows, your key buyers will likely be only a tiny percentage of the overall attendance. Did you see all of those key buyers, and convey your brand messages fully and completely to these VIP’s? Did you walk away from the show with enough actionable results to support your overall business goals?

What other myths and legends have you come across in our industry that people still cling to?

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Bob's Best Bites

In my home town of San Bruno, California (just South of San Francisco - near the airport), is the pizza place I grew up with, Toto's Pizzeria. To this day, it remains my all-time favorite pizza. This could be due to my nostalgic memories of watching their Pizza-Magicians hand toss the sourdough crusts while yelling at each other and cursing in Italian, or it could be the incredible textures and flavors or the New York style pizzas they make. Either way, it's pure heaven.

The pizza's at Toto's are traditional, no New Age ingredients. The mozzarella cheese is sliced thin, not shredded, the Italian sausage is raw, and stored in bulk. The mushrooms are fresh, and sliced on site. Ingredients are added to each pizza without the use of a portioning scale. The sauce is ladled onto each pizza then spread with the back of the ladle. And they've been doing it the same way since 1932, nearly 80 years.

I have two co-favorite pizzas at Toto's, first - a simple plain cheese pizza. To truly appreciate and savor the nuances of the pizza maker's art, I think it's best not to clutter up the amazing flavor and textures of cheese/sauce/crust -- but only when they're executed to absolute perfection and balance. But, when I'm in the mood for something more, I always choose the sausage/salami/mushroom combination. Fresh mushrooms, juicy sausage perfectly seasoned, combined with Italian hard salami (a far superior pizza topping to pepperoni, in my opinion) make for a feast of unbounded joy.

If you're ever on the Peninsula, with a hankering for pizza, you could do a lot worse than Toto's. What's your favorite pizza place of all time --- and more importantly, why?

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Dynamic Demos: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about a great demo I loved, called "The Dissolve-A-Way Derby". If you haven't read about it yet, you can still access it here. Today I want to show you two other "activities" I've seen --- and continue to see --- at trade shows all over the place. They're not so good.

It seems so rare to come across a really great activity, one that hits home, gets its brand message across, has some fun, and appeals directly to its target audience. Usually, I see activities that are too much like the two examples below.

I'm sure you've seen many like these: a putting green; a pop-a-shot contest; a wheel of fortune; a cash booth (where you step inside a clear plastic box and money flies around you like mosquitoes in a Louisiana swamp). 

Now I'm sure activities like these have their place (a grade school carnival comes to mind), and they definitely attract a specific target audience (just look at the participants in the two photos above). But really folks, can't we do better than this.

In my opinion, a good exhibit activity needs to at least have the following elements:

Reinforce the brand message. The activity should not be some random carnival game, but rather spring directly from the brand attributes of the key message being delivered by your trade show presence. The Dissolve-A-Way Derby did exactly this by demonstrating the product's key benefit, dissolve-ability.

Engage the target audience in a memorable way. When I worked at Viewpoint Datalabs (many moons ago) for our Siggraph show, we created a twist on the "Guess the number of Jellybeans in the Jar" contest. Instead of beans, we asked visitors to guess the number of "polygons" (the basic 3D modeling unit of measure) in a 3D model of a mountain bike. Our target audience was "3D Animators" who were using polygon based models like the one below in their everyday work. We challenged their primary skill set, namely, to look at the model and guess its complexity. The winner rode home on the bike. By honing in on their passion for models and animation, we engaged them immediately and deeply, and winning our contest became a matter of personal and professional pride.

Be fun & interactive. This is the easy part. Today, there's no shortage of choices when it come to making things fun and engaging. But, beware the slippery slope of "coolness". Don't sacrifice your brand message and your target audience's key drivers for the sake of "the latest thing".

I'm sure there's many other important attributes that a good booth activity should have. What's tops on your list?

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Bob's Best Bites

I'm heading to New Orleans soon, and that means a stop at my favorite condemned bar & grill, The Corporation (I don't know if it's really condemned, but it could be). It's one block from the Convention Center next to the Hilton Garden Inn. It's the kind of place where you have to wear long sleeves so your arms don't stick to the tables. But, boy oh boy, are their po-boys good -- and CHEAP.You'll spend between $5-$10 for lunch, and it's just terrific. This is where a lot of the work force eats while setting up shows. Get there before 12:00 noon if you can, otherwise it's tough to get into the place. Shrimp, catfish, roast beef, ham, oyster and even gator po-boys are served along with great muffalettas. However, if you go there during a rainstorm, bring your umbrella inside, cause the roof leaks a bit.

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Turning an exhibit on its ear.

Sometimes it pays to think sideways.

Several years back while at Kerry Ingredients, our team of Marketing Communications folks got frustrated with the way our Sales people were performing at our smaller shows.

Despite our best efforts to train them how to engage people and behave in a proper "showmanlike" way, we'd constantly find them sitting, eating, cell phoning, daydreaming, sleeping or even completely absent.

They'd hide behind our draped 6-foot table, with company tablecloth, lovely product displays and neatly arranged literature. The table was usually positioned at the aisle, with two chairs behind it, so our staff could be protected from the intrusions of show visitors who had the nerve to interrupt their conversations.

Sound familiar?

This scenario usually played itself out in the regional shows where our presence was limited to a 10x10 space. Since we scheduled dozens of these shows each year, it was not feasible for us to attend them all. So, we would send our sales force out to these events with a "box and a blessing", then cross our fingers and hope. If we were lucky, we got our tablecloth shipped back.

We finally hit on an idea of how to change their behavior, get them out from behind the table, and  actually engage and talk with visitors.

We decided to turn our exhibit on its ear - literally.

Instead putting stuff on a horizontal table, we created a wall for both our staff and guests to interact with. See a picture of our inverted exhibit below.

We made this exhibit from a shelf we bought at IKEA for $99, and some Gator Foam graphics that we velcro'ed to the sides and top.

The products, in this case, Seasonings for snack foods, were arrayed in bowls in the center of the shelf. The staff and visitors were forced to stand in front of the wall - next to each other - to sample the products.

As you can see, it worked. A change in our architecture totally changed both the environment and the experience for both our visitors and our staff. By placing the products in a vertical surface, we placed our visitors and staff "on the same side" of the conversation, instead of across a table (possible adversaries). This also got the staff off their butts, and forced them to mingle with visitors.

By attacking a "sacred cow" -- the 6 foot display table, we totally changed our exhibit, and the vibe it gave to our visitors and staff alike.

What sacred cows can you attack, thereby creating a new experience for your people?

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Bob's Best Bites

I'll be going to New Orleans next month for the IFT show. I could write a book about all the incredible places to eat there. so I'll start with Mandina's, at 3800 Canal St. It's a short street car ride from the French Quarter via the Canal St. Line. Once there, you definitely need to order the onion rings as an appetizer. for entrees, I've had gumbo, po'boys, spaghetti & meatballs, fried catfish, crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, and their version of the muffaletta sandwich. Each one is a work of art unto itself. Which brings me to a moment of reflection on Mandina's meatballs -- a truly spiritual experience. Each one is the size of a small grapefruit, juicy, perfectly seasoned, and paired with Mandina's sweet tomato marinara. Each meal comes with that wonderful light and crispy New Orleans style french bread, and you'll be hard pressed to save room for dessert. But if you skip dessert, you'll miss some of the best bread pudding in the city. It's a great "locals" spot, a true neighborhood restaurant, and it's just so cool to ride that trolley to and from dinner.

What's your favorite New Orleans "neighborhood" restaurant?

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Brand integrity: At trade shows, it's all in the details

No doubt about it. Trade shows are a hazardous place to display your brand. You can do a lot of damage to your brand's reputation unless you're aware of the signals you might send in a face-to-face setting.

Most companies plan to exhibit at trade shows to do just the opposite. They have objectives like "building brand awareness", or "defending our brand from the competition". They expect that telling their story in the powerful medium of the trade show will assure success. And so it can ... but only if you're careful.

Why are trade shows such a risky place to show your brand?

One reason is strongly related to a basic reason for trade shows' continuing relevance and existence, even in the face of expanding virtual media. Trade shows are in-person, face-to-face events, where your brand is experienced by all the senses of your visitors. Your brand is then compared to your competitor who might be exhibiting right next to you. This allows visitors size up each company in real time and real life. In essence, they get to see who is behind all those brand messages they've been tuning into in other forms of media. They see you, talk to you, watch as you work your exhibit. They interact with you away from the exhibit. They observe you and your competitor.

And they notice everything. At some point during the pre-purchase cycle, your prospect will have narrowed their choices down to a few finalists, and will be looking for confirmation of their final buying decision. In many cases, this will be a tough call. It might come down to how they "feel" about you. Are you believable? Will what you "do" be the same as what you "say"? Are you true to your brand? Or is it all fake? A trade show is a great place to observe this.

Look closely at the exhibit below, and carefully read their brand message from the copy on the exhibit.

OK, got a picture of their brand and message? Definitely one of meticulous quality, scrutinizingly careful planning of every last detail of their product. It's a national calling, no? Beauty in both form and function.

Now, go back and look at the exhibit. Specifically, how they've meticulously attached their graphics to their back wall ... no doubt to add beauty to the brand's form and function ?!?

All their branding work is undone by four spring clamps. Spring clamps, really? Is that the best they could do?

As trade show managers, we must prepare for these kinds of details to be noticed by our prospects. If we CLAIM to be something, we better darn well deliver, or our trade show efforts will only serve to undermine the branding efforts we've worked so hard to create.

The details are everywhere. Typos, bad graphics, poorly trained staff, bad demos, sloppy follow-up. It all signals a lack of attention. Details speak much more powerfully than any marketing-crafted brand message about the true nature of the brand -- and the people behind it.

I'd love to hear from you. Do you have examples like this one, where an entire company's efforts are rendered "fake" because they missed details?

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Bob's Best Bites

Today, I'll go back to my home town, San Francisco. There's a million great places to eat. Having grown up there, I tend to favor the old established places that have been in business for decades. One of my favorite spots in North Beach is Capp's Corner located art the corner of Powell and Green St. It's a family style Italian joint that opened in 1963 in a cramped corner bar/restaurant. The food is cheap, plentiful, and amazing. I highly recommend the Osso Buco with Polenta. All dinners come with soup AND salad AND pasta AND veggies, and of course that great San Francisco sourdough french bread.

Where do you like to eat in San Francisco's old Italian neighborhood of North Beach?

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