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.
