Normally one show like the CES (2700 booths 140,000 attendees) would be enough for a person to take in one week but for me it was just the start, I also attended the Affiliate Summit West 11, Inter Next Webmaster show and then PPAI (Promotional products show) all in the same 7 day period. I went looking to see if I could get a sense of “NEW” or “BETTER” not in products, although I did see my share of those but exhibits, displays, signage. New and better ideas I could pass on to other exhibitors to help them improve their own shows in 2011.
My plan was to have a contest to determine the best and worst examples of trade show displays but after looking at about 1500 booths at CES I decided the worst was not possible and the best was a relative target. Should Samsung or LG win because they had the biggest most expensive booths (Samsung booth was largest at 28,000 sqft, )LG, Sony, Sharp, Toshiba were smaller but not by much and certainly no less costly. Cost is not really a fair measure and certainly not very useful for the average exhibitor. I have pictures of these in the photo section so you can judge for yourself.
What I finally decided to do was to look for booths that “Worked” in the truest sense, they had to be unique, to displayed their products in attractive, none gimmicky ways that brought attention and most important positive feedback from their targeted attendees. I was not as concerned with booths who put on shows to attraction attention without some way of qualifying the viewers as they were in the “Noise for the sake of Noise” category. Some such as Gibson guitars showing off their new Firebird X ($4000) guitar with a masterful performance that stopped traffic was quite good and impressive.
Without a doubt CES 2011 was a success from the show organizers, exhibitors, and attendees perspective this was the best show in years, the “feeling of excitement” was back and not just for a single product (3D TV) or new vendors (China Inc.) but across the board. Big and small exhibitors were happy with the response.
The Winners
The winners were Monitors in Motion (Best Small Booth), Miniwiz (Most Original with the use of materials that relate to their business), House of Marley (Best Themed), MakerBot (Best Mouse Trap)The Best Small Booth that met my criteria was Monitors in Motions a Canadian company who design and manufacture outstanding looking while functioning desktop monitor mounts from machined aluminum. These are heavy duty and great looking . They are more expensive than the dozen or so other suppliers but as far as quality and functionality go there is no comparisons. What made them stand out was the booth itself. It was built (by them) from the same materials as their monitor arms. To those in the know you will recognize the back wall is made up of three retractable banner stands.
Simple clean design that is a perfect compliment to their products. These arms are perfect for trade show applications with built in security locks, quality construction and “Cool”. Contact Adam (in photos) info@monitorsinmotion.com. The iPad arm is $349. .
Miniwiz (Most Original)
Normally when I see a booth that appears to be a gimmick I’m not interested but sometimes it is what it looks like and not a gimmick at all in those rare occasions I take a look and sometimes I’m rewarded with something truly creative. This is the case with Miniwiz (Sustainable Energy Development LTD, Taiwan ROC) really that is the full name and that is what they do. The booth structure, its solar lights, furniture, sound system are all products of the company.Their products are the Polli-Brick (plastic bottles 100% post consumer) making up the structure, the Solarbulb LED lamp cap turns old bottles into lamps, Dynamo Hub Charging system and power converter work off the power hubs built into many performance and premium bikes, Bioluminescence Lighting and The Peanut (musical furniture using Apple products round out the product line. The company can be reached at www.minwiz.com.
House of Marley (Best Themed)
Bob Marley’s family has launched eco conscious lifestyle products including electronics, watches, sunglasses, bags alone the themes expressed (and lived) by Bob Marley’s and his music. With his music as the background the booth came alive with a sprit and feeling not normally felt in a trade show booth. The feeling and atmosphere was more like a party in a festive home than a electronic show booth. The products were everywhere but not “in your face” as displays are at these shows. Laid back comes to mine but that would down play the upbeat sound and feeling in the booth. I went back to the booth several times each day of the show and each time the party was still rocking. I spend time in the booth watching peoples reactions and everyone who entered was “moved” to become apart of the party. Maybe it was the Marley name but it is hard to imagine anyone doing a better job with a theme than House of Marley (www.thehouseofmarley.com) and the products lived up to the billing.
MakerBot (Best Mouse Trap)
You know the expression “Build a better Mouse Trap” and the world will beat a path to your door, you also know that it does not work. Well I’m here to tell you I saw first hand an exception to the rule. MakerBot Industries of Brooklyn shows up at the CES show hangs two banners on the back wall sets up three long tables in a U shape puts its “factory” on the front table. In the 10X20 booth the sole product took up about 1 sqft of space. No signs listing features and benefits in fact only the product, Isaac Dietz along with his laptop and a few product samples were all that was in the booth. Unused tables and chairs don’t count nor does the shrink wrapped pallet in the back since they clearly were not used for anything.Anyway what Isaac was demonstrating was MakerBot’s factory in a box. This device is actually a 3D printer it prints (builds) solid objects from plastic using your designs and their program to drive the printer. The little figure you see beside the machine is one of their “print” jobs. The red plastic strips (under the bottom of the machine) spool up into the printer as needed. The device with optional spooler as shown is around $1300. No kidding. Apples first laser printer was $3000 and all it could do was black and white single sided text prints (no graphic) this thing can make a cup, art objects, parts, prototypes, anything small enough to fit in the machine (when finished).
Clearly the booth did not attract any attention and while Isaac was knowledgeable and enthusiastic he was not the draw so obviously it was the product itself and only the product. Not many products could pull it off at a show like CES where thousands of other products were competing for attention. To MakerBot I have to say it took real nerve (or lost booth) to display the way you did at CES and pull it off. Due to the constant crowds I was unable to talk directly with Isaac to get his feedback on the booth and show.
I would not recommend following their example in booth design it is a little risky if you don’t happen to be showing a table top factory. MakerBot’s web site is www.makerbot.com to the geeks out there this thing really works. There is clearly a WOW factor associated with this product and their booth.
For more on the CES products see my post on products.
