The approaching winter trade show season will see new innovations in technology and design utilized to drive engagement for brand exhibition stands. It will also give marketers the chance to trial new engagement tools that would not have been thought possible only a few of years ago.
Once restricted to mere modular shaped boxes with printed posters, interactive technology can now be integrated into exhibition stand design. Trade show attendees are increasingly tech aware, with smartphones and tablets becoming the norm for brand interaction online.
Here are some of the latest technologies to consider integrating into your exhibition stands and how some marketing campaigns have already successfully used them.
Interactive Screens
Advertising your brand at a trade show is imperative, but big branding is useless if you aren’t explaining what you do. Interactive walls, floors or screens can engage visitors by allowing them to connect with your brand in immersive, digital ways.
Exhibition stand providers Skyline Whitespace point out that you can also reduce the need for repetitive sales presentation through the use of interactive technology. Interactive screens can display vital information using eye-catching graphics, images or video, engaging with numerous customers simultaneously.
Brighton-based production studio Bliink was commissioned to create an interactive app to feature at Adweek Europe. Visitors to the event could use the app to view images, take a quiz, view time-scripted event information and tweet into a live feed using a hashtag.
Augmented Reality
Hot tech topic, augmented reality permits the overlay of computer-generated graphics on the real world. It includes scanning the real-world environment and enhancing it by adding virtual information. Augmented reality technology is easy to access through applications developed for mobile devices.
A proven powerful marketing tool, augmented reality sets itself apart by allowing the user to merge engagement across the physical and digital spaces. Additionally, it can help you to collect data to refine the process.
Market research company GfK introduced augmented reality technology onto their exhibition stand designs in 2013. Visitors could scan the company’s logo and see GfK’s showreel on their smartphones or tablet devices. Absolut’s augmented reality campaign AbsolutTruths showed customers how vodka is made using an AR tag hung on bottles.
QR Codes
Quick response (QR) codes offer fast and reliable links to your website, online material or mobile apps. QR codes are immediately saved on the mobile device’s memory meaning the user can return to your information after the event.
It is important to provide clear benefits for users to scanning your QR code, such as access to further information, exclusive promotions or simple sign ups. Zagzig at TFMA 2014 had bar codes printed on their displays, providing a faster route to their online app while encouraging interaction and highlighting their app to both new and old consumers.
Triggered Technologies
Triggered technology can transform an exhibition stand into an attraction with visitors wanting to come and have a go. Light, sound, video and special effects can all be good attention-grabbers, particularly when triggered by visitor action such as walking past a certain spot. Using multiple senses is proven to evoke emotionally charged memories, making your brand more memorable.
Mobile technology such as iBeacon uses Bluetooth low energy proximity sensing to transmit unique identifiers to a compatible app. Essentially, the identifier can be used to determine the device’s physical location, track customers and trigger a location-based action on the device such as a social media check-in or a push notification.
One of the most successful examples is the iBeacon powered Scavenger Hunt at Consumer Electronics Show 2014. Customers were encouraged by the app to explore various exhibits at the show, while collecting badges as rewards from each beacon they encountered.