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Sacagawea Portable Hybrid Display — 60 Day Guarantee

November 2nd, 2009 Mel White COMMENTS
Sacagawea Hybrid Display -- 60 Day Guarantee

Sacagawea 60 Day Guarantee

Nearly everything we purchase — clothes, electronics, tools, even groceries — has a return policy. Some are as liberal as “no questions asked.” Others require a receipt and all the original packaging in resalable condition.

A First for the Exhibit Industry  

As far as we know, the trade show exhibit industry has never offered a return policy. Warranties yes. Even lifetime warranties, such as on pop up frames. But not return policies. Classic Exhibits has decided to change that thinking. Effective September 1 through December 31, Classic Exhibits will offer an unconditional no questions asked 60 Day Return Guarantee on the NEW Sacagawea Portable Hybrid Display.  Try it for 60 Days. If you don’t like it, you can return it to your Classic Distributor for a refund, minus graphics and shipping charges.

Watch the Animation Video
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb2BaDkTL64&fmt=18

Why Would We Make This Offer?

First, the Sacagawea Hybrid Display, and all 48 Sacagawea kits, are upscale, high-quality exhibits designed and priced for a cost-competitive, portable market. The displays are constructed from MODUL aluminum extrusions and manufactured to CNC tolerances. They are attractive, durable, lightweight, and inexpensive displays. Frankly, the risks are minimal. It’s an exceptional product built to last many, many years and designed to adapt to the exhibit marketing needs of any company. 

Second, the Sacagawea Portable Hybrid Display is new. As with any new product, it takes a little while before the message spreads. Smart promotions jumpstart awareness of a new product, and, if you really believe in your product, you might as well offer a promotion that has some teeth and real value.

We invite you to take a moment to review the Sacagawea Portable Hybrid Designs – both the “T-Series” and the “P-Series.” There are (34) 10’ x 10’ and (14) 10’ x 20’ designs, including counters, monitor workstations, canopies, standoff signage, and large tension fabric graphics. All the kits pack in portable roto-molded cases, typically one or two cases for the 10 ft. kits and two, three or four cases for the 20 ft. kits. Assembly is easy, anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes.

Give us a call or send us an email if you have questions. We would enjoy hearing your thoughts.

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
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Word on the Street — August 24th thru August 28th

August 28th, 2009 Mel White COMMENTS
Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Who is Classic Exhibits?

The headline this week is clearly self-promoting. But there’s a good reason. Last week, we talked about the upturn in business. This week, the upturn continued, so much of my time was devoted to orders, quotes, and production. 

During the busy season, I am frequently reminded, often by distributors, of all the reasons that Classic is different, so indulge me for a few minutes while I discuss “Nimble Manufacturing,” a core concept at Classic Exhibits.

Nimble Manufacturing  

We are a nimble manufacturer. What does that mean? In short, we are a not only a Manufacturer of Portable, Modular, Custom Modular and Custom Hybrid Displays, but we are also an Exhibit Builder. This is an important distinction that needs to be made when comparing Classic Exhibits to our competitors.

Do we design and manufacture “kits”? Yep!  Lots of them. In our humble opinion, we design and manufacture the most creative line of exhibit kits in the world. 

Being nimble is important. When you decide to be an exhibit builder and a kit builder, you have to be willing to be nimble, creative, AND reasonable. For example, let’s say your client wants a 10 x 20 Magellan Hybrid Kit, but they want it modified. They want the counter top lime green (not standard black), and they want to move one of the interior uprights 6″ to better fit their graphic layout requirements. We do it . . . and we do without major upcharges or ridiculous turnaround times. In our minds, why make it painful if it doesn’t have to be. In this case, we can get the laminate in a couple of days, and we have everything it takes to reconfigure the metal, so why demand a huge upcharge? If we have to air freight in the laminate, there may be a fee to cover the shipping.  But other than that, we should be able to build the modified kit without too much trouble and without creating a process and procedural nightmare. After all, we are exhibit builders.

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What the Heck are Hybrid Exhibits (and why is everyone talking about them)?

August 27th, 2009 Mel White COMMENTS
Hybrid Trade Show Displays

Hybrid Trade Show Displays

Perhaps no term is more hyped and less understood in the exhibit industry than “hybrid.” Nearly every exhibit manufacturer and custom builder refers to their latest designs as portable hybrids, modular, hybrids, or even custom hybrids. Why the emphasis on this term? The answer is simple: Value. More than ever, exhibitors are demanding displays that do everything – assemble quickly, look custom, ship light, and reconfigure. Just a few years ago that would have been impossible, but not any more.

The Building Blocks

If you’ve walked a trade show recently, you’ve seen a profusion of aluminum structures and tension fabric graphics. Those are the building blocks of hybrid displays. Aluminum is attractive, structural, and lightweight. Tension fabric is vibrant, durable, and cost-effective. Together they serve as the creative foundation for displays priced from $4,000 to $250,000.

But what makes them hybrids. For the past 30 years, the exhibit world was divided into two worlds:  portable/ modular displays or custom exhibits. Portable/modular displays have been dominated by pop ups, panel displays, and modular laminate exhibits. These “systems” have well-defined configurations, components, and accessories, but limited design flexibility. Custom exhibits, built primarily from wood, have offered exhibitors endless design possibilities but are rarely portable or modular.

Hybrid Exhibit Systems

Hybrid exhibits merge those two worlds. Hybrids start with tension fabric and aluminum extrusion systems (such as MODUL). Beyond that, the design can be anything and can include anything. There are portable hybrids, such as Sacagawea, consisting of an aluminum extrusion frame and tension fabric graphics, which pack in portable roto-molded cases. There are modular hybrids, like Euro LT, which add modular laminate components and pack in roto-molded tubs or small crates. And there are custom hybrids, such as Visionary Designs, which combine extrusion with just about anything else – metal, wood, plex, glass, and sometimes even portable or modular systems. As with all custom exhibits, the final design is whatever fulfills the marketing and budgetary requirements of the client.

Hybrids may not be the ideal for solution for everyone. For many exhibitors, a basic pop up or full custom makes more sense for their exhibit marketing goals. However, hybrid exhibits are here to stay. Only hybrids offer the lightweight strength of aluminum extrusion, the bold impact of tension fabric graphic, and the flexibility of unlimited design – all at a terrific value.

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
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The Secret Life of a Pop Up Display

August 18th, 2009 Mel White 1 COMMENT
The Secret Life of a Pop Up Display

The Secret Life of a Pop Up Display

If Only a Pop-Up Display Could Speak . . .

As you can imagine, pop up displays have secrets. Although they usually don’t share their stories, they’ve decided it’s about time to reveal them in the hopes of improving the lives of all pop ups. Pop Up Secrets . . . Direct from the Source!

Secret #1:  We’re Not All the Same
In that sense, we’re just like you. We may look similar, but some pop ups are fragile while others are strong. Some are built to withstand years of trade show abuse. Those pop ups get shipped from show to show and assembled by rough inexperienced hands and continue to do our job year after year. Others are not as robust. We are made to be handled with TLC and our lifespan is much shorter. How do you know the difference? Sometimes it’s difficult to tell, but just like any product, whether it’s a car, shoes, or tools, price is a good indicator of quality and features. Not always, but there’s usually a reason why one pop up costs $999 and another $1,999.

Secret #2:  We Love Graphics
Why? We’re exhibitionists by nature and graphics draw attention. The more eyeballs staring at us the happier we are. However, we are also very picky, some would say egotistical, about our appearance. We love large graphics. These can be full mural graphics or Velcro-attached graphics to fabric panels. If you want to humiliate us in front of our friends at a trade show, just slap on graphics you printed from your home or office printer. It’s the pop up equivalent of attending a formal black tie event wearing Larry the Cable Guy’s flannel shirt . . . with Larry’s “too friendly” cousin as your date.
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Word on the Street — August 3rd thru August 7th

August 7th, 2009 Mel White COMMENTS
Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

The Evolution of Design Search

Most of you have had some experience with Classic Exhibits’ Design Search. Design Search has proven to be one of the most powerful tools on the web to explore displays, exhibit photos, and trade show tips.

The idea, originally, was simple. Create a tool where a distributor or end user could search a database of exhibit designs by size, price, and keyword. But like all good ideas, it quickly morphed into much, much more.

We realized that this would be a valuable tool on the Classic site, but very quickly recognized that it could also be a valuable tool on any Distributor’s website. We could brand it so it matched their website graphics and retained their navigation — All for only $300!!

Over the past two and a half years, over 90 Distributors have added Design Search, automatically giving them access to 21 product galleries, a searchable database of both renderings and photos, rental options as well as distributor specific communication tools like Design Request, Send Me More Information, and the ability to email specific designs directly from Design Search to clients.

Again . . . all for $300!

Over the past few months, we have added new features that make Design Search even better!

Design Search Galleries

Design Search Galleries

We added Product Galleries for several Optima Graphics products and Eco-systems Sustainable Exhibits designs. These additions give Design Search even more product depth! We also added a Top 12 Slideshow button to the Home Page which shows the Top 12 most popular designs within Design Search.

Have a client with either a “Quick Ship” or “Tight Budget”? You can easily click to either Quick Ship displays or Quarterly Specials and find just what you need.

As you can probably tell, we are very proud of Design Search. If you do not have Design Search on your website, you may want to consider it. Once it’s in place, we handle all the maintenance by updating it with new designs, adding new features, and constantly tweaking the design details, graphic dims, and setup instructions. We do this all behind the scenes so you don’t have to.

Concerned with SEO and Web Optimization for your website? Design Search is highly optimized with the latest technology and focused on keywords to help your listing on Google. 

Check it out and let us know what you think. If you are interested in adding Design Search to you website, feel free to contact Mel White at mel@classicexhibits.com for more information.

Have a great and restful weekend

Be Well!

–Kevin Carty
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

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