Flip Camera Inventor Announces Next Big Thing … with a Skyline Exhibit
At the D9 technology conference in California, Flip founder Jonathan Kaplan unveiled his next venture–The Melt, a fast casual eatery that specializes in grilled cheeses and soups. According to the restaurant’s Twitter feed, “The Melt…combines innovative technology with simple, fresh quality meals, blending gourmet taste into everyday classics.” Plans are to open the first of four locations around San Francisco by July and have 500 locations nationwide by 2015.
The Melt debut was made possible by a Skyline display solution that went from design concept to delivery in two weeks. The concept was realized by combining modular hardware from our vast rental inventory, with custom-fit dye sub fabric graphics and lighting to deliver a productive, integrated display solution. The fabric graphics were especially effective in delivering the look of aged brick and wood paneling. To insure that the display would be set up and timed within a tight two-hour window before Kaplan’s introduction, a team of certified Skyline technicians was on hand to handle everything.
See a picture and an article here: http://bit.ly/mUnqN0
And see a video with Jonathan Kaplan being interviewed in the booth here: http://bit.ly/k2F8ke
Arthur Patryk
Skyline Displays Bay Area Inc.
Skyline Displays Northern California.
Filed under: Arthur Patryk, D9 Technology Conference, Show Tips | No Comments »
Multi-Touch for Tradeshows and Events
Exhibitor using the Skyline Convey with an iPad – Multi-Touch System
This past Exhibitor 2011, 23rd Annual World Conference and Exhibition for Trade Show and Corporate Event Marketing that took place in Las Vegas, NV was excellent and definitely lived up to its’ reputation. The Exhibitor Show is known for having the newest and coolest products and services for the Trade Show and Corporate Event Industry. There is the annual distinguished Buyer’s Choice Award that most innovative and cutting edge companies (Exhibitors) want to achieve and WIN.
However, this Exhibitor 2011 Show was a little different. Yes, the Show had the typical amount of Exciting Exhibit Designers, Awesome Event Companies, Reliable Freight Companies, No-Hassle Registration Companies but this year the Show had many multi media and interactive technology companies.
BUYERS CHOICE AWARDS
The following five products were chosen by Exhibit Managers
out of the dozens of New Product Showcase entries. All are multi-media and interactive technologies to enhance the exhibitor or attendees experience.
PhotonInteractive Display
PeopleVisionFX
Want a captive audience? The PhotonInteractive Display from PeopleVisionFX brings futuristic interactivity to a whole new level thanks to a transparent, holographic-like effect that allows video images of varying levels of translucency to be projected onto a transparent screen. Unlike ordinary holograms, however, the interactive display is able to move thanks to a touch-sensitive surface. The edges of the transparent screen can even be hidden in framing elements, creating high-definition images that seem to hover in mid-air. Images can be solid or “ghostly,” opening the door for theatrical applications. Each custom, modular display is designed to meet your specifications and is upwardly compatible, allowing you to upgrade your exhibit at any time to incorporate new messages or the latest technological innovations.
Contact: PeopleVisionFX, Roselle, NJ, 973-509-2056, www.peoplevisionfx.com
iPad Lead System
NewLeads
If your booth staff is tired of overcrowding near your communal, stationary attendee-tracking device, the cloud-based NewLeads Inc. iPad Lead System (MobilePartner for iPad) may be the answer. The system eliminates the need for communal lead-qualification systems, providing any sales rep or booth-staff member with an iPad, wireless tablet, or mobile phone with the freedom to conduct individual lead qualification anywhere in your booth. The system can also display literature, play videos, and provide booth staff with an endless supply of other support material, enabling them to engage in in-depth conversations that lead to better qualified leads.
Contact: NewLeads Inc., Ventura, CA, 805-658-3330, www.newleads.com
Kaon PresenterPro
Kaon Interactive
Kaon PresenterPro from Kaon Interactive Inc. brings 3-D interactivity to the sales toolbox and onto the trade show floor. Using an iPad, booth personnel can use the software to simplify sophisticated product stories by launching realistic 3-D product models that look and behave like actual products. Customers and prospects can even test drive solutions for themselves using the iPad’s touchscreen interface to view products from every angle and explore options and features (such as opening drawers). In addition to using an iPad to display content anywhere in a booth, booth staff also have the option of presenting content to audiences of all sizes using a standard projector or large external monitor, which can be wirelessly controlled with an iPad. The Kaon PresenterPro package includes one Apple iPad preloaded with Kaon PresenterPro software and a Kaon PresenterPro appliance that measures 6-by-13.5-by-17 inches. The appliance can be placed under a podium, in an AV closet, or under a projector, hiding it from view.
Contact: Kaon Interactive Inc., Maynard, MA, 978-823-0111, www.kaon.com
Concierge Elite
Freeman
Concierge Elite by Freeman alleviates the headaches associated with booth setup and tear down by allowing exhibitors to use their mobile device or smart phone to handle logistics from the comfort of their booth or hotel. The mobile application features the ability to check the status of freight, receive e-mail or text alerts for freight notifications, submit service requests, review booth-related orders, and more. Users control the frequency and type of notifications they receive (text or e-mail), and can request that those notifications be sent to a list of additional contacts as well.
Contact: Freeman, Dallas, 214-445-1000
EZ Engage Interactive Wall
Moss
Let the EZ Engage Interactive Wall from Moss Inc. grab attendees’ attention for you. The EZ Engage is a 39-by-93-inch fabric wall that integrates a 32-inch monitor, eight LED-lit motion sensors, and an integrated computer hard drive. The monitor, sensors, and computer are contained within a 3.15-inch wall. With a mere wave of the hand, show attendees can interact with EZ’s touch-less graphics interface to play product demos, review product specs, and peruse marketing literature. Even a minimally fluent computer user should find the EZ system setup entirely intuitive – no advanced degree from MIT required.
Contact: Moss Inc., Elk Grove Village, IL, 800-341-1557, www.mossinc.com
Multi-Touch and Multi Media presentations seem to be at the forefront of all the hype and energy. Thanks in part to Apple and the iPhone and its’ latest creation the iPad.
We need more of these multi-touch interactive companies in the Trade Show and Corporate Event Marketing Industry. Our Exhibitors and Attendees are asking us about this technology and desire these new marketing tools at their shows and events.
One company in the San Francisco Bay Area that is on the cutting edge of this technology is 22 Miles based in San Jose, CA. They are making trade show business presentations appealing to the Trade Show Manager and Marketing Manager by offering some key solutions to the ongoing trade show marketing dilemma of attracting people to your booth or event area and getting your message out.
22 Miles has the modern technology to keep you ahead of the competition with their business presentation technology and engage the attendees and potential customers with excitement and information.
Plus the intuitive touchscreen interfaces, on both the PC and iPad versions of software, which makes it easy for first timers to use and experience the benefits of the multi-touch systems.
For more information on 22 Miles
65 N 2ND ST
SAN JOSE, CA 95113
Direct: (408) 837-0589
Here is some additional information on our Convey Product Line.
Convey Information Placard: Bring your message to the forefront
Convey your message in style with Convey® Information Placards. They’re a perfect complement to trade show exhibits and can be used as stand-alone kiosks in retail applications, in office lobbies or at special events.
Sturdy, Lightweight Design
Convey assembles with ease and, even though it has a small footprint, is very sturdy. A single unit weighs just 20 lbs. (9 kg).
Branded Profile Graphics
Convey represents your brand with custom graphics that can be profiled in a variety of shapes. Panel easily attach with magnet.
http://www.skyline.com/portable-displays/display-systems/tables-and-kiosks/convey
For ideas or comments about Multi-Touch Systems or Interactive Presentations at Events or Trade shows please contact me at amontano@skybay.com
Anthony Montano
Exhibit Consultant
amontano@skybay.com
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Todd’s Blog: “GOBillboard” When Designing Trade Show Graphics!
One of these days try out this little exercise. When you get to work quiz your self on how many billboard graphics you remember seeing on your commute to work. Then try to remember the company name and what they do, what they were selling or what they’re message was. Companies spend thousands if not millions of dollars every year marketing on billboards yet I couldn’t recall a single billboard graphic on my way to work this morning in stop-and-go traffic. I take the same forty five minute route to work every morning and I’m positive I glance at just about every billboard, yet I can’t recall the content from a single graphic. Billboards typically have a limited amount of time to catch a commuter’s attention and communicate their message. How effective does that sound to you?
Now think about your trade show exhibit and graphics along those same lines. Companies spend thousands of dollars for a two to three day show yet I can walk an entire trade show floor and only recall a few exhibits that grabbed my attention. You have a limited amount of time, let’s say an unscientific five to ten seconds, to grab a prospects attention and make an impression among a sea of inline and island exhibits. Your graphics play a vital role in achieving those goals yet it appears a majority of exhibitors spend most of their time scrutinizing the exhibit components, booth configuration and requirements while treating the graphics as a second tier component. Very few people will remember how your exhibit was built but they will remember a uniquely designed, carefully targeted and creative graphic.
Bring the graphics into the equation and make it an integral part of your exhibit design. Think about what your goal is at the show, whether it’s to create a brand presence, promote your product and or service, attract prospects or all of the above, and design your graphics around that. Introduce vivid color schemes, catchy slogans and or large high definition graphics that will catch a prospects eye an isle or two away. The whole purpose of your graphics is to grab your prospective target audience’s attention. If you are exhibiting at a more non-specific industry show then focus on the message of who you are and what you do. If you’re exhibiting at an industry specific show then tailor your message around what it is that distinguishes you from your competitors and why they should take a look at you instead of your neighbors. Keep your messaging and text to a minimum as people tend to shy away from busy looking booths and gravitate towards simple, clean and inviting looking booths – again the goal is to real them in, and then provide them with the details via verbal presentations, product demonstrations or brochures. Here are some billboard images for your inspiration.
Miele
I-Phone and I-Tunes
Absolut Ritual
DHL
2D Graphics being tied to the 3D Sorroundings
Coop's Paint
Oliver Khann
Todd Anderson
Exhibit Consultant
Skyline Northern California
Skyline Displays Bay Area, Inc.
Filed under: Graphics: Tips and Tricks, Intelligent Design, Show Tips, Todd Anderson, Todd's Blog | No Comments »
Branding Demystified
The definition of branding has evolved quite rapidly over the past couple of years, mainly due to the advent of social media and the decline of the influence of traditional media. No longer are brands manufactured in board rooms and no longer are perceptions shaped primarily based on what corporations tell us to believe through advertising. Today a brand can be defined as your reputation built off of both your promise to your customers and the sum of all of their experiences with you. Lara McCulloch-Carter has been a branding consultant to some of the world’s most recognized packaged goods companies, and runs a consultancy called READY2SPARK that helps small businesses through branding, marketing & social media consulting. Here she talks about the importance brand proposition.
Filed under: Brand loyalty, Creative Marketing, customer loyalty, Island Design, Sarmistha Tarafder, Show Tips | No Comments »
10 Must See Trade show Promotional You-tube Videos
If a picture tells a thousand words, then with 30 frames a second, a 1-minute YouTube video can tell 108,000 words! No wonder marketers have harnessed the power of video to entice people to visit their trade show booths.
Let’s look at 10 examples of good pre-show, at-show, and post-show promotions posted on YouTube. We’ll see what they include in their videos to drive more booth traffic, and finish with some suggestions on other ways you can drive more viewers to your trade show promotional videos.
Filed under: Creative Marketing, Pre-Show and At Show Marketing, Sarmistha Tarafder, Show Tips | No Comments »
Sustaining versus Disruptive Innovation
“A customer will never lead you to develop a product which that customer cannot use.” Clayton M. Christensen. In his book Innovator’s Solution he mentions that companies cater to their most profitable customers and focus investments where profit margins are most attractive. This happens because the resource allocation process of established companies are designed to maximize profits through sustaining innovations, which essentially involve designing better and better mousetraps for existing customers for proven market segments. Established industry leaders leave themselves open for disruptive technologies. When disruptive innovations—which are cheaper, simpler to use versions of existing products that target low-end or entirely new customers—emerge, established companies are paralyzed. They are almost always motivated to go up-market rather than to defend these new or low-end markets, and ultimately the disruptive innovation improves, steals more market share, and replaces the reigning product. We call this phenomenon “asymmetric motivation.” It is the core of the innovator’s dilemma, but it is also the beginning of the innovator’s solution.
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Be a Necessary Consequence to your Clients!
“One of the truly jarring dimensions of the Great Recession is the death sentence it has imposed on hundreds of brands, even whole companies, that were once familiar parts of the business landscape,” writes Bill Taylor in a post at the Harvard Business Review blog.
In this economic environment, Taylor says, there is one question every business should be asking itself on a regular basis: “If we went out of business, would anyone miss us?”
Customers feel a strong fanaticism towards your brand. “That is,” he clarifies, “a relationship based not just on the economic value it has to offer, but the values with which it conducts itself.” Companies like Apple and HBO fall into this category of “passion” brands—products, services and entities that inspire what Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi terms “loyalty beyond reason.”
Be highly appreciated. Do whatever it takes to make your product, service or brand something your customers connect with—and can’t live without.
Filed under: Brand loyalty, Creative Marketing, customer loyalty, Sarmistha Tarafder, Show Tips | No Comments »
What Is Marketing? How 10 Experts Define It.
About the Author: Mike Thimmesch is Skyline Exhibits’ Director of Lead Generation and Industry Relations, with over 20 years of Marketing and Trade Show Display Marketing experience.
Here are 10 experts’ definitions of marketing, plus for good measure my reactions to the strengths and weaknesses of their definitions.
1. “Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.” — Wikipedia
I like how this is so focused on both the strategic and functional aspects of marketing, but especially that it’s so customer-focused – the word customer is in it three times, more than any other word!
2. “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” — American Marketing Association
This definition took the AMA years of debate to create. It is a very comprehensive, yet concise definition, encompassing the product development, marketing communications, pricing, and strategic aspects of marketing.
3. “Marketing is everything.” — Regis McKenna
Regis McKenna’s bold statement exemplifies the school of thought that everything you do – not just your products, pricing, promotion, and distribution, but even your billing, how you answer the phone, your speed of handling problems –it all affects how your customer perceives your company, so everything is marketing.
4. “Marketing is not only much broader than selling; it is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise.” – Peter Drucker
Management guru Drucker also advocates that marketing is everything, plus he provides reasons to back it up.
5. “Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.” — Philip Kotler
This is more of an old-school, college-professor definition, which while accurate, is fairly cold. I think the “social process” part diverts attention from the business side, and “individuals” sounds more clinical than “customers” which is the gold standard in many of these definitions.
6. “Marketing is the process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints – technical (economic) and ethical (social) – create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption.” – Bartles
This is even more a college-professor definition. The idea of society evolving distributive systems seems to take the shine off of the inventiveness and initiative of individual marketers.
7. “Marketing is any contact that your business has with anyone who isn’t a part of your business. Marketing is also the truth made fascinating. Marketing is the art of getting people to change their minds. Marketing is an opportunity for you to earn profits with your business, a chance to cooperate with other businesses in your community or your industry and a process of building lasting relationships.” — Jay Conrad Levinson
This is just part of a passionate rant by Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerilla Marketing fame, which highlights the role of persuasion in marketing.
8. “Marketing is getting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you.” — Jon Jantsch (of Duct Tape Marketing fame) Jantsch’s definition also picks up on Levinson’s theme of persuasion, at an even more personal level than Levinson.
9. Marketing is “The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” — The Chartered Institute of Marketing
I like how the CIM’s definition is so concise and yet so all-encompassing, and how marketing’s job is to take care of the customer, while making a buck, too.
10. “Marketing is the process of anticipating, managing, and satisfying the demand for products, services, and ideas.” — Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Filed under: Creative Marketing, News, Sarmistha Tarafder, Show Tips | No Comments »
Green Technology: Our 1st Step Towards Planetary Civilization
One of the most agreed upon predictions for the future, was by astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev. Inspired at the age of five by a Moscow Planetarium show about Giordano Bruno, Kardashev stated 3 levels of advanced civilizations based on how they harness energy to fuel their societies.
Dr. Michio Kaku, the rock star of quantum physics takes up where the world’s pioneer astronomers left off. He elaborates on the 3 kinds of civilizations.
Type 0 Civilization: That is Planet Earth for you. A type 0 civilization has only just begun to tap into planetary resources such as solar power, geothermal power and wind power. Most of its power generation is still based on non-renewable fossil fuel resources, for example, oil, coal and natural gases. Hence the popular marketing statement “Green is the New Black”
Type 1 Civilization: These civilizations can effectively control the entire resources of their planet. They can control planetary disasters created by tumultuous weather pattern or volcanoes. Planetary Civilizations could conceivably halt an ice-age and build cities on their oceans.
Type 2 Civilization: Type 2 Civilizations have extended their power to their entire Solar System by harnessing the power of their suns through Dyson spheres. Having extensively explored and colonized all the planets within their Solar System, they are Galactic Civilizations that are largely space-faring race and have already mounted expeditions to other stars and solar systems using interstellar craft.
Type 3 Civilization: Having colonized all the stars by waves of interstellar craft, these Interstellar Civilizations can harness the power of galaxies by exploiting energy of the black holes. It is theorized by astrophysicists, that Type 3 Civilization by utilizing millions of black holes are believed to reside within galactic nuclei.
Given the vast, expansive picture of the universe, here in our home planet, Skyline had sponsored the study of Green Exhibiting given the waste that goes in the trade show industry.
If you are playing the vital role in this transformation process of our planet from Type 0 to Type 1 Civilization, this report is a must read.
Filed under: Global Eco Apparel Trade and Fashion ShIntersolar, Global Eco Apparel Trade and Fashion Show, Green Tecnology, International Green Technology Trade Center, Intersolar, Show Tips, SIP Global Green Expo, Windpower Expo | No Comments »
Banner Stands: Flexibility & Graphic Design
“The Banner Stand gave me more than I expected. I can use two or three together, or separately. I can use them at trade shows or other sites. I can market both my products. It’s extremely flexible.”
“Because the banner stand is so quick and easy to put up and down, when we go to golf courses or other sites, we can set them up to indicate what additional services we offer.”
“The banner stand drew people our way. It was really effective. We started conversations with some pretty high-profile companies.”
“A lot of people said Skyline made good, high quality displays. It was very pleasant talking with my Skyline consultants. I’m very pleased with the design work. Very happy with it all.”
Gil Hicks, owner of GCT Golf.
Banner Stand
Skyline Bay Area is now offering 20% discount on banner stands.
Download your coupon here.
Filed under: Banner Stands, Success Stories | No Comments »