Meet Our New COO – Will Farmer
I’d like to express how proud our entire team is to be recognized by
our peers in the industry with two Addy Awards from the Albany Ad Association. Every day we work to dream up new ways to do things and create compelling designs to help our clients achieve goals. While we don’t do it for awards, it is nice to be recognized for our expertise.
As chief operating officer, I am involved in all aspects of Creatacor with an emphasis on sales and service. Promoted from vice president of client services, I have a deep understanding of our operations and strong client relationships. In collaboration with Gerry and Linda, members of the executive group, we will continue Creatacor’s legacy of excellence in our field.
I found Creatacor unexpectedly in 1990 as a college graduate without a solid sense of place. In the area because of a girl I’d met in college, I saw an ad for a junior project coordinator, applied and was hired. I’ve stayed because I enjoy working with people and at Creatacor, I feel like an important part of a small business which offers growth opportunities and challenging projects on a daily basis. Not only did Creatacor keep me, so did the aforementioned girl. We have been married for 23 years!
Over the years one major change I’ve witnessed is the way we manage time. Creatacor has the ability to adapt to the time crunch, provide our clients with excellent solutions and seamlessly function as an extension of their staff. Success for our clients depends on the success of our team. Now as a partner, my goal is to continue to provide a fun and creative environment for staff offering challenges and opportunity for advancement, while building our reputation with clients as a first-class 3D marketing agency.
Tips for Customizing Your Rental Booth
Purchasing an exhibit booth can be a major expense, not to mention the space needed to store it and the fact that trends change quickly. This makes renting a booth an excellent option.
Making a rental booth unique to your brand can be a challenge given the restraints of renting versus owning. However, by focusing on certain aspects, you can customize the look to accurately reflect your brand and achieve your goals.
Focus on graphic elements – work with a designer to create simple, bold graphics that communicate your brand’s key message. Choose words and photos that are eye-catching, unique and brand-focused. Custom graphics can be created to coordinate with the rented items selected for the event.
Mix up the rental elements – choose pieces to create the environment in which you want attendees to experience your brand. Do you want visitors to sit down, meet with a sales person, or watch a video? Different elements can create the stage for interacting with your brand.
Include multiple marketing resources – utilize social media, website, video, and print pieces for opportunities. This will increase brand awareness, message continuity and connect with clients on whatever platform they choose.
Select stellar staff – staff your booth with knowledgeable, friendly, professionals who are comfortable approaching people. Those brand ambassadors will make lasting impressions and can be the difference between securing a client or missing out. An attendee will remember the experience much longer than the space.
These are just a few things to focus on when customizing a rental booth to look and feel like your brand.
Pictured above are two examples of the BeMatrix rental systems we use that offer walls in a variety of sizes and shapes. Frames can be filled with hard panels (Sintra, laminate, custom) as you see with the LEGO display; or silicone edge graphics (SEG) graphics on fabric as OTIS used in their customized display on the right. Both types of rentals provide ample options to create a truly custom branded exhibit.
Motor Information Systems Debuts New Exhibit at AAPEX Show
Motor Information Systems is the world’s premier supplier of automotive data and offers a variety of products and services to the Automotive Industry. MOTOR’s mission since 1903 has been to provide customers with unbiased, accurate, authoritative and reliable information in consistent easy to use formats.
Creatacor worked with MOTOR to design and produce their new face-to-face marketing environment for the 2015 Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) Show, which is the premier global event representing the $477 billion global aftermarket auto parts industry. AAPEX 2015 featured over 2,200 automotive aftermarket manufacturers and suppliers showcasing innovative products, services and technologies to 39,000+ targ
eted buyers.
Creatacor designed and built a new 20′ x 20′ booth that featured a custom acrylic car cutout that illuminated with LED lighting. Creating an interesting lighting effect was an ideal way to make a huge impact while keeping assembly simple and light weight. The booth also featured a 16-foot tower with graphics, two iPad kiosks highlighting a new application and a custom LED-lit information counter.
“We were thrilled to debut the new exhibit and further enhance our marketing and sales efforts at the APPEX Show,” said Zach Below, marketing director, Motor Information Systems. “Our teams worked together to reach the final design which was sleek, using light creatively to make an impact and capture attendees’ attention. We are happy to be working with Creatacor on additional shows with imaginative ways to re-utilize the booth and maximize our investment.”
Recycle and Reuse Design Challenge
Recently, Creatacor participated in the EXHIBITORLIVE Show in Las Vegas. We took on a design challenge to create our booth using the rental wall system, MATRIX, as a shell and then designing and producing a custom Creatacor display built completely out of recycled wood and materials from our shop.
We called it the ‘13,331 Endeavors’ wall, a reflection of the number of jobs Creatacor had completed at the time of its construction. Rather than storing it, this display has been reused as art in our conference room in our headquarters in Clifton Park. This project is an example of the many ways we incorporate green efforts into our daily work.
The photo on the left is the exhibit wall at the EXHIBITORLIVE Show in Las Vegas. Pictured on the right is the exhibit wall, now recycled to become artwork in Creatacor’s conference room at the home office in Clifton Park, NY.
Did You Know?
There are 255 convention centers in the United States. When attending shows, typically 76 percent of attendees ask for quotes and 26 percent end up signing purchase orders on the spot. Nearly 72 percent of visitors say the show itself influences their buying decisions.
Source: Center for Exhibition Industry Research