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Posts Tagged ‘Classic Exhibits’

The Rent vs. Buy Debate for Trade Show Exhibits

April 20th, 2021 COMMENTS
Rent vs. Buy a Trade Show Exhibit

If price was the only criteria for a trade show exhibit, then most exhibitors with a full show schedule would probably buy their display. Or would they?

Let’s explore this topic with three examples showing both rental and purchase prices from Classic Exhibits and Classic Rental Solutions.

Trade Show Rental Exhibit

Example #1

The RE-1081 (rental) and VK-1356 (purchase) are identical backlit displays with a charging station, locking storage, and an iPad swivel mount.

  • Rental: $6316 (booth) + $2693 (graphics) = $9009
  • Purchase: $14,997 (booth and graphics)
  • Difference: $5988

By the second rental, the exhibitor would have exceeded the purchase price. However, what if the exhibitor decided to remove the charging station and replace it with a reception counter at the second show? Or some other modification. Rental exhibitors often make those changes because the price remains roughly the same (in most situations). The purchase exhibitor now has an additional component, along with extra or modified packaging. And they may decide not to use the charging table again, which means they’ll need to dispose of it.

All too often, an exhibitor who purchases a display will not make a change, even if the change would benefit their trade show marketing, because they feel locked into their original decision. A rental exhibitor has far fewer qualms about making changes, including even an entirely different design.

Trade Show Rental Display

Example #2

The RE-1082 (rental) and GK-1011 (purchase) are non-backlit displays with a workstation and locking storage.

  • Rental: $5816 (booth) + $2297 (graphics) = $8113
  • Purchase: $14,900 (booth and graphics)
  • Difference: $6787

In this design, the first and second rentals are less expensive than the original purchase price. By the third rental, the rental would be $4845 more. However, many exhibitors don’t factor in the monthly storage, assuming your exhibit provider stores it for you. Plus any “turnkey services” like inspection, packing, and staging charges. With a rental, those are included in the price.

Many exhibitors would rather not commit to a long-term investment or reoccurring maintenance fees on a permanent asset. And disposal charges at some point in the future. For them, a rental while more expensive over several years, may be less expensive right now and offer greater marketing flexibility.

Rental Displays for Trade Shows

Example #3

The RE-1079 (rental) and VK-1977 (purchase) are backlit displays with a large monitor mount option.

  • Rental: $2483 (booth) + $1525 (graphics) = $4008
  • Purchase: $7600 (booth and graphics)
  • Difference: $3593

At this price, most exhibitors would purchase this design if it’s intended for multiple shows. However, this design is often an element in a larger island display with double-sided graphics. Other times, exhibitors with conflicting shows or those “testing” trade show marketing need an exhibit but don’t want to commit to a purchase. In those cases, a rental makes far more sense, even for small displays.

All too often, newer exhibitors will purchase a cheap, somewhat disposable display only to discover that it doesn’t reflect their branding or audience. An upscale rental allows them to showcase their products and/or services at a price comparable to a budget purchase.

When deciding whether to rent or buy a trade show exhibit, consider all your options, both short and long-term. There are benefits to both and in some situations, a combination makes the most sense. Talk to your exhibit professional to review your options.

Earth Day | 1970-2021 | Thursday, April 22

April 19th, 2021 COMMENTS
Earth Day 2021, Thursday April 21

Thursday, April 22 is Earth Day

First held in 1970, Earth Day challenged and mobilize Americans to bring awareness to the issues caused by air and water pollution as well as the amount of trash going into landfills. Rivers on fire, dead fish floating on the surface of lakes, and smog blanketing major US cities were common news items back then. Does anyone remember when the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was on fire in 1969?

Here’s Walter Cronkite reporting on the first Earth Day in 1970.

New Laws and Agencies

These environmental disasters and health issues caused by pollution led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), OSHA, The Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act among others. These laws have protected millions of men, women, and children from disease and death and protected hundreds of species from extinction.

Landfill

Recycled and Green Materials

Environmental issues also led to the practice of recycling which became mainstream in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that states began mandating the recycling of paper, plastics, and metal.  Recycling decreased the amount of waste going into landfills and created a new industry dedicated to producing recycled raw materials and products with the same look, feel, and quality of products made from virgin raw materials.

Recycling

Aa a trade show veteran in the 80s and 90s, I remember the staggering waste produced at a typical show or event that went into landfills. Since then, recycling and sustainability have had a positive impact on North American trade shows. We no longer see mountains of brochures, paper products, give-a-ways, and carpeting thrown away.

However, building eco-friendly exhibits continued to be a challenge. Green materials either weren’t available or were expensive. Plus, there was a misconception that sustainable meant designing a building a display that was either structurally unsound or aesthetically unattractive.

Eco-Systems Sustainable Exhibits

In 2006, Eco-Systems Sustainable Exhibits was founded to give exhibitors eco-friendly trade show booths that didn’t compromise on design or quality. Eco-Systems utilized eco-friendly materials similar to Sintra, fabric made from recycled plastics, aluminum extrusions produced using new and recycle aluminum, FSC certified wood, Green Guard laminates and water-based adhesives and inks. As technology has evolved, so has the quality of the material we use today in the construction of Eco-Systems displays. But one thing has never changed: the innovative designs that made Eco-Systems appealing.

Over the past 15 years, sustainability has been a major initiative for most corporations, a trend we’re seeing again as companies revisit their trade show program. Unfortunately, many exhibitors don’t realize they have sustainable options.

Offering your clients an eco-friendly exhibit is not only is the right thing to do for the environment but also gives your clients the ability to tie their corporate sustainability initiatives into their trade show program. And the best thing is they can do this without compromising the design or the quality of the materials used to build the exhibit. Plus, purchasing or renting an Eco-Systems display never costs more than a non-sustainable exhibit.

We encourage you to visit the Eco-System’s Galleries in Exhibit Design Search with over 200 contemporary designs.

eSmart Sustainable Trade Show Displays

EXHIBITOR Magazine 2021 Portable Modular Awards | Classic Exhibits

April 12th, 2021 COMMENTS
Find It TOP 40

DID YOU KNOW? EXHIBITOR Magazine’s 2021 Find It ~ TOP 40 includes 29 Classic Exhibits Distributors. Actually “30” if you include Classic Exhibits. But who’s counting? 😉 Now that’s impressive!

Portable Modular Awards and Find It — Top 40

For the fifth straight year, Classic Exhibits was named a 2021 Find It — TOP 40 Exhibit Producer in North America. In addition, Classic won honors in the Portable Modular Awards for Best 10 x 10, Best 10 x 20, and People’s Choice Award (voted by EXHIBITOR Magazine readers).

Best 10 x 10 Exhibit

This stunning little stand for Verity Global Solutions LLC is the perfect case in point. Designed by Exhibits NW Inc. and constructed by Classic Exhibits Inc., this 10-by-10 was born out of Verity Solution’s straightforward demands: Create a booth that’s clinically clean, highly technical, and representative of the health-care field. The company, which provides software and services for administration of the U.S. federal 340B drug-pricing program, also hoped its new 10-by-10 could be paired with existing pieces to expand to 10-by-20-foot and larger spaces.

Hailed by judges as “clean and inviting” and “both visually and technologically effective,” the booth debuted at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Conference. Here, attendees discovered a back wall comprising a SuperNova LED lightbox, which was made from Classic Exhibits extrusion and featured backlit interchangeable graphics, allowing messaging to be tailored to individual shows and audiences.

Designers also positioned a large flatscreen monitor in front of the lightbox, permitting Verity Solutions to offer videos and messaging in a high-tech and dynamic format. Meanwhile, the lightbox’s clean-white frame spoke to the high-end, clinical nature of the product and the health-care industry. A divider wall along one side and reception desk on the front corner of the footprint, which were also internally lit, further delineated the space. Married with the exhibitor’s existing inventory, the components also have been used to craft everything from a modular 10-by-20-foot stand to a continuous in-line ensemble spanning 40 feet.

Best 10 x 20 Exhibit

Crafting an authentic-looking outdoor environment in the middle of a trade show floor is no small feat. But NuNaturals Inc. made it look effortless with its 10-by-20-foot in-line that debuted at Natural Products Expo West.

Going into the show, the provider of plant-based sweeteners and baking ingredients wanted to grow its existing 10-by-10 stand into a 10-by-20-foot booth, creating a cohesive environment that offered a reception zone, a casual meeting space, and ample product displays and storage. However, NuNaturals also sought to foster an outdoor feel that would serve as a logical backdrop for its logo, which includes a silhouette of a woman riding a bicycle.

The resulting booth from Classic Exhibits Inc. married the previous structure — a 10-foot-long ClassicMODUL Aluminum Extrusion with SuperNova LED lighting — with a new, equally sized lightbox comprising the same materials and similar graphics. Together, the two structures presented a dynamic backdrop depicting a brilliant field of dandelions beneath an azure-blue sky. In front of the backwall, designers positioned staggered-height product counters on the right of the footprint and an L-shaped seating area on the left, the latter of which included storage space accessible via hinged seat-top panels. 

Front and center in the design, designers added a reception desk comprising Euro Lt Modular Panels. Here, a 3-D logo and edge-lit countertop garnered additional attendee interest. And rather than traditional booth carpet, designers opted for artificial turf, which seemed to capture attendees’ eyes and lead them straight into the NuNaturals world.

Throughout the exhibit natural elements and clever features, such as wood finishes, floral silhouettes on the display cabinets, and planters atop the seating ensemble, furthered the outdoor vibe — and delighted jurors. “All of the details were on point,” one juror remarked. “Designers managed to create a functional yet aesthetically pleasing environment that became a breath of fresh air on the show floor. Brilliant!”

People’s Choice Award

To accomplish its goals for the 2019 Nationwide Marketing Group PrimeTime show, GE Appliances, a Haier company, needed nothing short of a Jedi mind trick. For the event, GE wanted to draw attention to an out-of-this-world sponsorship. Its Profile Series line of appliances would be an official sponsor for the then soon-to-be-released “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” In fact, it had set aside a 16-by-30-foot space within its 80-by-100-foot booth for this endeavor. However, The Walt Disney Co., which owns the franchise, forbid GE from referencing past characters and key parts of the upcoming film. Thus, designers at Classic Exhibits Inc. and Deckel & Moneypenny Exhibits needed to craft an experience attendees would immediately connect to Star Wars but that didn’t cross sabers with Disney’s demands.

After rejecting a host of options, the team finally identified an element that was a constant through the movies but that Disney also deemed safe for public consumption: the Millennium Falcon. Thus, the team devised a unique show-floor experience devoted entirely to promotion of this upcoming Star Wars sponsorship that wowed not only attendees but also visitors to ExhibitorOnline.com, the latter of whose votes ultimately identified this project as the People’s Choice Award winner.

The spacy encounter comprised a tunnel-shaped structure that mirrored the interior of the Millennium Falcon. Designers employed curved, black-powder-coated ClassicModul Aluminum Extrusions and meticulously crafted graphic infills that replicated the spaceship’s walls. To simulate the Falcon’s panels, fabricators employed high-density foam, which was cut via computer numeric control (CNC), sanded, shaped, and painted. Custom SuperNova LED lightboxes along the floor and in the walls highlighted the custom graphics.

To round out the attendee experience, GE also incorporated several movie-theater elements. For example, staff distributed passes for attendees to view the encounter. Costumed ushers collected these tickets at the spaceship entrance and distributed bags of fresh popcorn.

GE Profile Millennium Force Retail Launch Activation

Here’s Your Post-Pandemic Portable Trade Show Display

April 7th, 2021 COMMENTS
Symphony Portable Display Elegance -- Features and Benefits

Most portable displays look portable. That’s always been unfortunate fact. But… what if you could have all the benefits of a portable system, like UPSable roto-molded cases and tool-less assembly, with all the design impact of a modular or custom exhibit? It’s possible with Symphony Portable Displays.

Zero Compromises

Choose from 54 kits or configure the design to meet your unique trade show marketing requirements. With Symphony, there are no compromises, no tradeoffs. Simply a beautiful, upscale display at a price that’s thousands less than most custom modular exhibits.

Symphony Portable Display Elegance
Symphony Portable Display Elegance
Symphony Portable Display Elegance

The Future Success of Trade Shows in North America

April 7th, 2021 COMMENTS
EDPA Advocacy

An EDPA Exhibitor Advocacy Statement

The Experiential Designers and Producers Association, via their Exhibitor Advocacy Committee, recently published a statement regarding the future of post-pandemic trade shows. It’s a MUST MUST READ.

The first three paragraphs are below with a link to the full statement on the EDPA website.

WHO WE ARE

The Exhibitor Advocacy Group is an ad hoc group whose members come from the corporate exhibitor community, exhibitor-appointed contractors, unions, show management, and general service contractors. Our mission is to ensure the successful future of trade shows, conventions, congresses, and other face-to-face business events. Our focus is on promoting transparent and reputable business practices, consistent standards, and new business models. We encourage all trade show industry constituents to join us in identifying best practices and helping to build a profitable and equitable industry for all constituencies.” 

BACKGROUND

Before COVID-19, the exhibitor experience on the show floor was deteriorating. Every year, exhibiting costs increased, and issues around transparency, metrics, and cost savings became more problematic. Exclusive show site services from the general contractor like material handling, electrical, and rigging became more complex and expensive, creating a lack of transparency for these services and the associated costs. Leads and data from attendees became proprietary information of show management, and the data was rarely shared so that exhibitors could calculate a meaningful ROI.

Most importantly, there was a significant lack of support from most show management organizations to find cost savings for exhibitors. Instead, the general contractors’ cost savings went to show management and were subsequently recovered through higher costs to exhibitors. Expenses continued to increase without added value. The industry had become stuck in a rut and very hesitant and reluctant to change. Many shows found themselves in a ‘business as usual’ scenario that added no value to anyone – organizer, attendee, or exhibitor.

Continue reading HERE.