Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
36 Standout Exhibit Ideas Selected
by the E3 Exhibiting Effectiveness Evaluation Team By Jefferson Davis, Bob Milam, and Jill Ann Down of Competitive Edge
As a value-added exhibitor service, ASD Market Week provided new exhibiting companies with a complimentary E3 Exhibiting Effectiveness Evaluation.
While conducting the evaluations, our evaluators looked for exhibits throughout the show that
displayed imaginative, creative, and effective ideas and practices. We hope all exhibitors look to these ideas as examples of how make your exhibit even more effective.
Note: The ideas are presented in no particular order and are not ranked good, better, best.
They only represent a sampling of effective exhibiting practices observed at ASD Market Week. Enjoy!
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Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Creative Attention
Grabbing Techniques
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● Attractive Imagery & Graphics
● Dramatic Lighting
● Unique Exhibit Property
● Attractive In-Booth Promotions
● Outside the Booth Promotions
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
L.A. Colors
Dramatic backlighting, video screens, and downlighting helped L.A. Colors present an upscale
image of a very large product line. The polished black surfaces with white walls served to perfectly
complement the colorful nature of their product lines. In essence, the exhibit did not upstage the
products -- but just look at how dramatic it is!!
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Creative Attention Grabbing Techniques
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Force Fluid
Force Fluid’s clean sleek modern exhibit
perfectly reflected the nature of their product,
an upscale Executive desk toy. Dramatic
spotlighting drew attention to the hands-on
demonstration area, which was perfectly
positioned at the right height for visitors to
participate in the experience.
Cool Glow Novelties
Controlling the ambient environment is a key to
many companies’ success in a brightly lit
exhibit hall. This is especially true if you sell
products that must be viewed in lower light to
appreciate what they can do. Cool Glow used a
canopy to effectively cut down the ambient light
and make their products shine by comparison.
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Creative Attention Grabbing Techniques
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Manage By Stats
Manage By Stats wanted to
attract FBA Sellers - so they
added that sign to their
exhibit. This helped visitors
self-qualify themselves.
Gooby Pet
This maker of pet harnesses
and leashes carried their
branding right into their
architecture with dog house
style product displays.
My Audio Pet
This booth is an excellent
example of how to use
colorful imagery, clear
messaging, and excellent
space utilization to create an
inviting environment to learn
more about their products.
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Creative Attention Grabbing Techniques
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
ANGIE
The human eye is naturally attracted to
light. Angie did an excellent job of using
lighting to not only grab visual attention, but
also defined their space with colorful backlit
tower signs on all four corners of their
booth.
STASH CBD
Here’s another GREAT example of using
colorful backlit fabric to quickly communicate
who you are and what you sell.
By placing the counters off to the sides, they
also made it easy for visitors to enter their
space.
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Creative Attention Grabbing Techniques
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Effective Visual Communications
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● Crystal Clear Value Propositions & Messaging
● Answering Attendee’s 3 Major Questions:
What – Why - Who
● Effective Promotion of NEW Offerings
● Thoughtful Brand Integration
● Smart Use of Top Tier Signage
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Hallmark
Crystal clear messaging in three distinct visual levels -- spoke directly to the needs of the visitors.
● Level #1 - the name of the company, “Hallmark Gold Crown”
● Level #2 - the desired outcome of visiting their exhibit, “add this to your store”
● Level #3 - how Hallmark would support you if you chose to do this: “Store Design & Sales
Support, Low Investment, Small Footprint, etc.”
The path to partnering with this company is clearly mapped out for every visitor before they
engage in conversation with the exhibit staff. VERY EFFECTIVE.
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Effective Visual Communications
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Stems & Gems
In the Cash & Carry jewelry section at ASD, Stems & Gems stood out for three reasons:
1. Their sign distinctly stated their purpose and their exhibit decor supported this.
2. A large visible sign promoted their owner’s appearance on Kathy Ireland’s Modern Living.
3. Prices were clearly marked and products grouped by color, so visitors could easily navigate
and find the price range they were looking for.
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Effective Visual Communications
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Card Connect
Highlighting a major pain point of most
retailers -- and doing it clearly, concisely and
with a positive spin -- is a sure fire way to
selectively attract visitors with that specific
issue. Card Connect effectively places the
question in visitors’ minds, “How can you help
me with that problem?”.
Fun Express
“When it comes to fun, we’re all
business”. This is a tagline that
resonates with many retailers,
especially those who are looking for
companies to partner with for long term
success. Fun Express was still able to
promote all its many SKU’s, but did so
under the banner of “building business”.
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Effective Visual Communications
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
BASIX of America
In a big show like ASD, buyers don’t
have a lot of time to try to figure out what
is where in a booth. BASIX made is easy
by placing their products on the
perimeter and organizing them by
category with well placed signs.
David and Young
Here’s another example of making it
quick and easy for buyers to find what
they’re looking for. Placing colorful show
special signs with pricing made
navigating the large product selection in
this booth easy for buyers.
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Effective Visual Communications
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Smuggle Your Booze
The name says it all -- and
definitely stops visitors in their
tracks. If you’ve got a simple
idea and it’s a good one, there’s
no need to make things
overcomplicated. Smuggle Your
Booze kept things simple - and
fun.
Seller Bench
Bold guarantees -- not many
companies have the
confidence to stand behind
what they do, but that’s
exactly the message Seller
Bench shouts to their
visitors.
Three Jerks Jerky
The tag line says, “ The
Original Filet Mignon of
Jerky”. A bold claim from
this exhibitor which sets his
product apart. He’s
obviously proud of his
product -- and not afraid to
say so.
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Effective Visual Communications
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
SHOLDIT
Because buyers want to
know that your product will
sell, when you’ve received
national PR, showcasing the
media outlets that have
featured your product is a
smart strategy to build buyer
confidence.
MIKA Accessories
Sometimes exhibitors allow
nearby booth graphics to
visually enter their space.
MIKA did a great job of
controlling their sightlines with
a large header that wrapped
around the top of the booth.
This also gave the effect of re-
creating their own retail store.
BX
Fabric backdrops with
aluminum extrusion have
become a low-cost way to
present a high-quality
image. BX took it one step
further by perfectly placing
the five points of their value
proposition to buyers.
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Effective Visual Communications
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Engaging & Informative
Presentations & Demonstrations
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● Hands-on Experiences
● Unique Seating
● Visual Support of Key Messages
● Use of A/V
● Good Visual Merchandising
● Creative Stations & Kiosks
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
The Wire Protector
The large black backdrop and perfect placement of colorful product images did a
great job of grabbing attention and letting visitors know what the product was.
This might have been one of the most innovative product presentation techniques we saw in the entire show. They wrapped their table with fabric, turning it into a demonstration station with product messaging printed on the table. Super Innovative!
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Engaging & Informative Presentations / Demonstrations
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Tek Universe
Inventors of the “Dream Creator 3D Pen”, Tek
Universe effectively used a TV monitor and a
live artist to showcase how their product
worked. Their demonstrations were so
interesting and involving, it was difficult to
approach the exhibit through the crowds -- so
the tall mounted TV delivered their message to
visitors waiting in the aisle.
Beauty Creations
Cool furniture supporting both your brand
image and your in-booth experience can
create a carefully crafted value in the mind of
the visitor. Beauty Creations’ great use of
pink, black, white and gold, coupled with
ornate visitor chairs, made their visitors feel
like royalty.
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Engaging & Informative Presentations / Demonstrations
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Happy Boa
Happy Boa is a relatively new company
building its customer and awareness base. To
extend the campaign from the ASD Show,
they invited visitors to take a “selfie” and tweet
about it to their followers. This activity will lead
them to a post-show engagement campaign
and contest from Happy Boa -- leveraging
today’s contacts into tomorrow’s followers.
Relevant Play
Relevant Play’s “Mad Matter” is a semi liquid
sand that holds its shape, allowing kids (of
any age) to build with it - like Legos. What
better way to show this off than by elevating a
Sandbox and inviting visitors to jump in and
play.
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Engaging & Informative Presentations / Demonstrations
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
AOB Technology Group, Inc.
Buyers like to see how your products
are displayed at the point-of-sale.
This exhibitor did a great job of
using a tiered display case with
spotlighting to make the colorful
products pop off the shelf.
liquid Sci-Glass
This booth used excellent visual
merchandising of their product and
creative placement of colorful well-lit
graphics behind the products to
demand attention and effectively
present their product line.
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Engaging & Informative Presentations / Demonstrations
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
MERCANE USA:
Excellent large graphics at all
viewing tiers in this booth left
no question as to what the
product was.
Placing the product in its
open and folded up versions
on the table quickly told the
product story.
THE HANGOUT
The #1 way attendees want
to interact with exhibits is
through demonstrations. This
small booth did an excellent
job of placing the product,
inviting visitors to sit in it. The
well-designed back wall used
quick read bullets to tell the
product story.
Grinder
A picture is worth 1000
words. This very well-
designed booth used large
imagery of the product with
great lighting, AV, and bold
red carpeting. The product
demos were placed near the
aisle and supported with
A/V.
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Engaging & Informative Presentations / Demonstrations
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Effective Staffing Practices
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● Easy to Identify Staff Apparel or Identification
● Cool & Creative Staff Apparel
● Impressive Staff Behaviors
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Sistar
An impressive team of exhibit staffers flawlessly demonstrated products and wrote orders in this
compact 10x20 exhibit. Visitors were greeted by professionally hired greeters, then handed off to
demonstration experts, then to Sales reps, who closed the deals. A well rehearsed and prepared
staff turned their exhibit into an act of theater for each visitor.
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Effective Staffing Practices
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Aftercourse Wipes
Booth staff apparel is often an overlooked, but very effective way to grab attention.
This exhibitor used costumed booth staffers with unique and attention grabbing apparel and
bold makeup and hair styles to grab visitors’ attention from the aisles.
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Effective Staffing Practices
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week 23
Effective Staffing Practices
Line Cutterz
With a new patented product aimed at
the fishing market, Line Cutterz decided
to dress the part, donning Pro Bass
Fishing gear to demonstrate their
unique new idea. Now that’s a great
way to show who the product is
designed for.
Mila Lifestyle Accessories
While this prop is not a real staffer,
placing a life size Marilyn Monroe on the
perimeter in an iconic scene was a real
attention grabber. Also notice the classic
looking imagery in the back with the text
bubble communicating a humorous
message.
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Inline Success:
Small Booths that Rock!
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Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week
Eco Nuts
Small start-up companies often have trouble
establishing their legitimacy and credibility in
massive competitive jungle of the trade show.
Eco Nuts leveraged their owner’s appearance
on “Shark Tank” which drew instant
recognition and attention from visitors.
LipLidz
Another small start-up company, LipLidz also
leveraged their owner’s appearance on “The
Big Pitch” to establish and build credibility at
ASD. As a new exhibitor to ASD, it’s a smart
way to legitimize your company and brand.
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Inline Success: Small Booths that Rock!
Thank You for Exhibiting at ASD Market Week
Mark your calendar now for ASD Market Week 2018,
MARCH 15-18, LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER.
And be sure to bring your creativity and excellent execution
so we can feature your exhibit in this report next year!
Competitive Edge: Stand-Out Exhibit Report ASD Market Week 26