/ OBJECTIVES
To design an environment where the client’s team of store managers could meet and trade with the organisation’s suppliers. They wanted to encourage the audience to reconnect and create meaningful interactions with both suppliers and head office staff.
It was the first event of its kind for quite some time, so needed a fresh event “brand” of its own, and to establish the prestige of attending for everyone who was invited.
They wanted to remove as many barriers as possible to attending such as creating a simple sign-up process, providing clear information and facilitating easy travel.
The supplier network was 60 strong, and each needed the ability to add bespoke upgrades to their stand, along with co-ordinating over all their of deliveries.
/ CHALLENGES
The client wanted the ability for the audience to trade with the exhibitors in real-time as they visited the stands. We also had to ensure that the ‘deals’ were to not to be readily available to the other exhibitors.
/ SOLUTION
The nationwide nature of the client’s business lent itself to needing a separate North and South version of the event. We selected venues based on their geography and ease of access by car, layout and facilities: Newbury Racecourse and Doncaster Racecourse.
All event communication was handled by a bespoke web-based app that we designed from scratch for the event. There were separate areas of the app with different access rights so that each group had only the information they needed. For example, the client Area Managers could see reports of sign up to enable targeted follow up for non-responders, whereas the exhibitors had the expo manual and booking forms. Store managers had the ability to invite guests, but the region was non-optional, whereas the Head Office staff could select the event they wanted to attend but couldn’t bring guests.
This translated to onsite where everyone had access to the joining instructions for the event they were coming to. The Store Managers could purchase ‘deals’ by scanning the QR codes on each stand, and the exhibitors could approve ‘deals’ for their own stand.
Both venues were branded with the new Trade Show look and feel, and with sustainability at the heart of the design. We prioritised digital where possible, and for the rest of the branding ensured items were recyclable, if not reusable, and planned the logistics to minimise unnecessary trucking and transportation.
Once onsite, having two locations, enabled the suppliers to give their focused attention to each region which was great for the Store Managers.
The nature of the app and ‘deals’ encouraged the audience to visit all the stands in turn and have meaningful conversations with the exhibitors as they couldn’t benefit from the ‘deals’ without doing so. The exhibitors appreciated the combination of tech and conversations to give them maximum ROI on being there.
/ RESULTS
We took care of every detail of the pre-event communications, event design and set up. The shell scheme rig and supplier set up ran like clockwise with many commenting it was the most organised trade show they had exhibited at.
Fantastic organisation and really great team to work with prior to, and on set up & throughout the show. A seamless event due to the hard work and organisation of all those at Vive.