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Posts Tagged ‘Visionary Designs’

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That Annoying Plastic Screw is Gone

February 23rd, 2010 Mel White COMMENTS
A10 Knob for Sacagawea, Magellan, P10, and Visionary Designs

A10 Knob for Sacagawea, Magellan, P10, and Visionary Designs

Let’s take a quick and entertaining quiz:

Question:  What’s the name of the part that holds the plex wings on Visionary Designs, Sacagawea, Magellan, and Perfect 10 displays?
Answer:  A10.

Question: What do you dislike most about the A10?
Answer:  The annoying plastic tension screw that requires a flathead screwdriver (or dime) to tighten.

Final Question:  How much would you love us if we eliminated that annoying tension screw?
Final Answer:  I WOULD LOVE CLASSIC A LOT, A LOT, A LOT!!

Effective immediately, the annoying plastic screw is gone . . . unless you want it for an island display. We have replaced it with a clear plastic knob that requires neither tools nor spare change. We have black version as well, but if you want the black knob you’ll have to request it. Our default choice will be the clear one unless you tell us otherwise. Should you want to order replacement knobs for your current A10’s, they are available at $2 retail per knob. Contact Customer Service for details.

Why did it take us so long? Fair question. It was not for a lack of trying. On and off for nearly three years, we searched North America and Europe for an off-the-shelf knob with the correct thread and knob head. About six months ago, we finally found one in the Netherlands but at a price, even buying in bulk, that would have made gold a better investment. So, we did the honorable thing. We bit the plastic bullet, designed a custom knob, and paid for a mold.

classic_knob1

Yes, it’s a small change but an important one. One more incremental improvement at Classic made with you and your customers in mind. Now you no longer have to borrow a dime on the trade show floor or request a screw driver from the labor pool (and get hit with a four hour minimum).

Now, say it with me, “I Love the knob. I Love Classic.” Thanks. That’s very sweet.

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com
Classic Exhibits Network (LinkedIn)

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Annual State of the Company Letter from Kevin Carty

January 19th, 2010 Mel White COMMENTS
Kevin Carty, VP of Sales

Kevin Carty, VP of Sales

Thankfully, 2009 is in the rear view mirror. It was a rough but enlightening year.

How did Classic do in 2009? There’s both a short and a long answer. As you may recall, Classic Exhibits began developing a series of affordable hybrid exhibit solutions in 2008, starting with the Perfect 10 Portable Hybrid Display. In 2009, we added the Magellan Miracle, MOR, and Sacagawea. This push will continue in 2010 with the Segue, but more on that later. So the simple answer is . . . as the market downsized and orders for larger exhibits decreased, portable hybrids became our bread and butter. Thankfully, we were prepared to handle this shift with fresh designs and competitive prices.

Now, here’s the longer answer . . . .

Social Media
Social Media was the buzzword in 2009, and Classic wasn’t shy about using it to communicate with distributors and industry partners. I have to admit that I didn’t understand it at first, and I had no desire to “Tweet” or “Blog.” But I have found it to be effective and pretty fun, whether it’s our activity in Twitter, our new Classic Exhibits Group on LinkedIn, or our blog, Trade Show Tales.

Trade Show Tales, in particular, has been quite the hit. Whether we are writing about some of the industry’s most sensitive issues such as Bundling or just posting a whimsical article regarding “Trade Show Fashion Do’s and Don’ts,” the blog gives Classic, Classic Distributors, and Industry Partners another avenue in which to communicate and share ideas.

Rentals

With a downturn in the economy comes less spending on new exhibits. The ClassicExhibits/Exhibits NW Rental division really stepped up in the past 12 months. Looking back at their creations from the past year, I am amazed at how many of those displays were rentals. It certainly explains why the rental division had such a banner year. Kudos to Jim Shelman, James Sharpe, and the rental crew for their amazing job in 2009.

Rental Exhibits from Classic

Rental Exhibits from Classic

For a peek at the rental designs from last year, go to Past Five Days and type “rentals” in the search tool.

Distributor and Partnership Development

You could feel the love in 2009. There was a palatable sense of “we are in this together, so let’s find ways to make it beneficial for us all . . . without sacrificing our margins.” For companies unwilling to “partner” with distributors or for those who didn’t have a history of reaching out to friends and colleagues, 2009 had to be a painful, lonely year. It was not the year or the market to go it alone.

Partnership development was not just with distributors. Classic spent a lot of time deepening its relationships with existing vendor partners as well as opening doors to new relationships. This manifested itself in the development of new “joint products”as well as partnering on larger inventory buys to help decrease raw costs, allowing us to continue to offer competitive pricing.

(more…)

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15 Notable Exhibit Projects in 2009

December 28th, 2009 Mel White COMMENTS
2009 Notable Exhibit Projects

2009 Notable Exhibit Projects

We may be jumping the gun a bit, since it’s still early December, but we thought we’d review the Top 15 Notable Exhibit Projects in 2009. How do we define “notable?” To be honest, it’s a little arbitrary (actually it’s probably a lot arbitrary). After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, we relied on the following criteria to guide us as we made our selection:

  • Overall Creativity
  • Representative Design Trends
  • Graphic Treatment
  • Customization 

If you don’t see your notable project on the list, chances are it just missed the cut or it shipped from Classic without graphics. We decided to exclude counters and workstations from the list — not because there weren’t any creative designs but because there were so many. Nearly every day we shipped standard or customized counters, pedestals, and workstations.

The following, although listed numerically, are in no particular ranking. 

TOP 15 (drum roll please)

  1. Watchguard — (04/13 and 04/14):  Visionary Designs 10′ x 20′ with LED header lights and MOD-1219 Counter. Re-configures into a 20′ x 20′ Island.
  2. Odyssey — (08/26): This is actually a ClassicMODUL project (but let’s not quibble). Hybrid 20′ x 40′ island with showcases and multiple conference rooms.
  3. SpaBooker — (10/06): Custom Perfect 20 Portable Hybrid Display with 2-sided projector screen.
  4. Boston Scientific — (06/10):  Fun project. All wood custom exhibit with fully assembled counters. Eight lightboxes were mounted above the counters along the backwall.
  5. Cumberland — (11/13): Euro LT 10′ x 20′ Custom Modular Exhibit. There are photos showing it at our facility and at the show with graphics. Excellent example of a modular laminate display and custom LTK-1001 (modified) tapered counters.
  6. ESPN — (10/21): This may seem a little puzzling until you watch Monday Night Football. This is the powder- coated blue aluminum frame for the on-field desk. The custom house that ordered the frame completed the build.
  7. Arizona State — (05/21): We love a challenge. We built this using Aero Overhead aluminum tubing. Optima Graphics printed and fitted the graphics to the frame.
  8. Marine Stewardship — (02/26): Visionary Designs 10′ x 10′ Hybrid Exhibit. A Classic distributor sent us the design. We engineered and built it according to their specifications. There was even a complementary table top display.
  9. Verizon — (09/21): Visionary Designs Modified VK-2044 Hybrid Exhibit. There have been many VK-2044 (iPhone) designs built this year, and this is an excellent example of how this very popular design changes to accommodate any company’s marketing goals.  
  10. Viatech — (01/27): We liked this Perfect 20 Portable Hybrid Display so much that it became a kit. See VK-1803 for the kit version.
  11. Guidance Software — (02/03): Like the VK-2044, the Visionary Designs VK-1032 Hybrid Display has been a monster hit all year. It’s got it all — large monitor mount, counter, brochure holders, large tension fabric graphics, and sexy header.
  12. Geico — (07/27): New kits rarely remain constant for long. This is a customized Magellan Miracle VK-1063 with a practical modification of a Perfect 10 VK-1602 counter.
  13. Engility — (09/01): Without a doubt, the Perfect 10 VK-1501 Hybrid Display was a popular choice all year. We could have chosen several to represent this kit, but the graphics on this one made it our first choice.
  14. BriteCore — (09/08): Euro LT Custom Modular LTK-5207 Modified Exhibit. Very elegant 10′ x 20′ inline.
  15. ConnectiMED — (11/23): Magellan MOR VK-1077 Hybrid 10′ x 10′ with a modified MOD-1235 Workstation. Upscale and inexpensive.

Classic Exhibits Displays in 2009

We would enjoy hearing your comments on these projects. Are you seeing any design trends in your market for 2010? Please share.

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com
Classic Exhibits Network (LinkedIn)

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Word on the Street — September 14th thru September 18th

September 19th, 2009 Mel White COMMENTS
Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Where Have All the Turnaround Times Gone?

Of course, I say this partially in jest, but boy isn’t it true right now?!?

And please don’t get me wrong. Like you, we are delighted to have the business. As many of you have shared with me this week, everyone is ordering much later this year.

Every morning at Classic, we hold a 15 minute Lead Meeting. It is designed to give the Production Leads and the Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service Managers a quick review of the day’s business as well as an opportunity to look ahead at upcoming orders, quotes, and purchasing requests.

We use our Shipping Report as our guide in these 15 minute morning meetings. So naturally, I review it before the meeting begins. It looks much different these days than it did this time last year.

As many of you know, Classic Exhibits already has the fastest lead times in the industry, so we are used to being nimble when it comes to your client’s “unrealistic” requests. One of the ideals we adhere to in Production is:  “Do enough of tomorrow’s work today, so that when tomorrow goes to hell or someone has a rush need, we are prepared to handle it.”

Sometimes even I forget these basic ideals. But I am always amazed by how our Production and Customer Service teams live by them. Looking at the Shipping Report this week, I have seen everything from 10 x 10 Visionary Designs Custom Hybrids with 4 day turnaround times to a Euro LT 20 x 30 Island that has to deliver in 8 days. It’s crazy! And yet . . .

We make it happen!

Now, to be fair to our Project Management and Production team, this is not a invitation to hammer our lead times.  We do everything we can to meet your requests, which you already know, but when we say, “Sorry” which is very, very rare, or when we add rush charges, you know those are real and not arbitrary.

That said, we are very happy to have the business and even happier to see Classic Distributors busy. 

Have a safe 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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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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