Parting Thoughts
In all industries, there are common problems shared among companies, and in order to solve these problems, collaboration is required. I was fortunate to recently attend the Experiential Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) annual ACCESS Convention held in Florida. The group consists of companies creating exhibits and events, as well as the many suppliers required to make these projects successful. Although we’re competitors, we face many similar challenges as an industry – challenges directly affecting our clients; challenges we can only solve if we band together and educate ourselves on potential solutions.
In the trade show industry, one of greatest problems is rising costs for the ancillary services required just to get your exhibit to the booth location. I am talking about drayage, or material handling specifically. Anyone who has sent an exhibit to a show, or even a small package, has had to deal with the high cost. According to research, since 2009, drayage costs have risen over 138 percent. No matter the size of your exhibit, a high percentage increase in drayage typically means you have to reduce costs in other, more important areas to meet your budget. For show organizers, this often means exhibitors looking at reducing their booth footprint. Organizers lose because this brings in less revenue and exhibitors lose as they have less space to feature their products.
One show, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), was the major trending topic of all in attendance at EDPA. They worked for three years on a plan to make trade shows more affordable for the exhibitors concentrating on drayage, electrical costs and labor. For 2019, they have rolled out a new drayage model based on exhibit space square footage rather than weight of the materials being shipped into the hall. To learn more and see the remarkable cost saving for yourself, visit our blog.
And with that, everyone here at Creatacor wishes you and your family a safe and happy holiday season.
— Will Farmer
Project Spotlight
Primaloft: Outdoor Retailer
There is an evolution in how brands are approaching their presence at the Outdoor Retailer trade shows. Brands are shifting their resources from elaborate, highly produced structures to a considerably more sustainably conscious approach. The booth presence on the floor and the message being sent is focused on being open, more conscious about the environment and embracing the outdoor culture.
Primaloft’s goal for their new exhibit-reveal at the November Outdoor Retailer Winter Show was to introduce the trade show display, leveraging their “Relentlessly Responsible” platform. Relentlessly Responsible represents a continuous commitment from PrimaLoft to provide sustainable solutions throughout its business in order to lessen its impact on the earth. In conjunction with T35, their agency, the creative concept included a minimalistic yet compelling and premium experience, emphasizing their message through an exhibit that would be sustainable and modular to allow them to leverage for many years to come. The target audience was brand partners, retailers and media outlets and the booth focused on meeting areas allowing for productive conversations.
The display was mostly made up of our beMatrix rental frames and sustainable SEG Fabric skins. The large tower or “brand hub” showcased brand messaging seen from a distance and from all angles, in addition to a looping messaging video in an additional location for standing personal meetings. Within the tower walls were LED cut-out panels which were mimicking a close-up view of the fibers within the sustainable materials Primaloft uses. The remainder of the exhibit space was used for meetings in both private and semi-private settings. Modular walls were used to adjust meeting space as required throughout the event.
Chamber Angels
Each year, many Creatacor employees adopt children in the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County’s Chamber Angels program. This program provides holiday cheer for approximately 2,000 children by fulfilling their wishlist. All the clothes and toys will soon be on their way to the Chamber so they’ll be under the tree for the big day!
American Red Cross Blood Drive
We held our fourth American Red Cross Blood Drive at Creatacor last month. Together, we collected 22 units of blood!
Combating Online Shopping
With Experiential Retail
Events & Special Projects Manager
Consumers today have more shopping options than ever before. With online retail giants such as Amazon continuing to challenge traditional brick and mortar stores, retailers have been forced to change their strategy when looking to attract shoppers. As a solution, retail properties have looked to experiences to captivate shoppers and in turn drive them back into physical retail locations.Experiential marketing or engagement marketing is a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers, and invites and encourages them to participate in brand experience.
As experts in creating immersive events and environments, we are witnessing this trend firsthand. Working with retail properties who are looking to integrate experiential programs into their overall business model in an effort to battle digital with experiential, has become the new norm, and it will continue to expand in the future.
LEGO Systems Inc. and Creatacor have partnered to bring the LEGO Americana Roadshow, a 17-day traveling event, to malls and mixed-use properties across the US. The Roadshow is an example of infusing experiential marketing with brick and mortar retail to create a mutually beneficial partnership between brand and retail property. This event provides a free, fun and educational LEGO-branded experience that captures the interest of visitors of all ages. Properties and retailers thrive during the run of the Roadshow, as the event is known to generate holiday-like traffic and sales in traditionally slower sales times of the year.
We’re Grabbing Headlines Again…
Clifton Park Company Bringing Lego Display to Crossgates Mall
(12/31) Canfitpro 2018, Toronto, ON
(1/4) CIC’s Presidents Institute, Scottsdale, AZ
(1/8) CES 2019, Las Vegas, NV
(1/21) Iowa Pork Congress, Des Moines, IA
(1/22) Shot Show 2019, Las Vegas, NV
(1/23) PGA Show 2019, Orlando, FL
(1/25) NADA 2019, San Francisco, CA
(1/30) ODR Snow, Denver, CO
(1/31) LEGO® Americana Roadshow, Bellevue, WA
(2/3) Distributech, New Orleans, LA
(2/4) Photonics West 2019, San Francisco, CA
(2/6) 7 Eleven Experience, Las Vegas, NV
(2/9) The LEGO® Americana Roadshow Crossgates Mall, Albany, NY
(2/12) International Production & Processing Expo, Atlanta, GA
(2/16) Toy Fair 2019, New York, NY
(2/24) SPE International Conference on Polyolefins 2018, Houston, TX
(2/25) EXHIBITOR LIVE, Las Vegas, NV
(2/28) The Precast Show 2018, Louisville, KY
(3/1) Central Plains Dairy Expo, Sioux Falls, SD
(3/1) Global Pet Expo 2019, Orlando, FL
(3/4) Natural Products West, Anaheim, CA
(3/13) IHRSA, San Diego, CA
(3/13) Capture the Energy Conference, Albany, NY
(3/14) Spine Summit 2019 Logistics, Miami Beach, FL
The Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washinton, D.C., is home to a diverse $4 million art collection – the largest in any convention center..
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