The Many Ways of Portable Displays

In good times and bad, portable displays help companies share their messages

by Jon Bell, PDS

The times have been tough on the tradeshow.

Shows across the country saw the numbers of exhibitors and attendees shrink as the economy (and marketing budgets) sank over the past two years.

In an annual exhibit management survey, the Trade Show Exhibitors Association found that exhibitors were expected to cut their presence by almost 20 percent in 2009 and exhibiting budgets were predicted to decrease 17 percent. Tradeshow Weekly’s quarterly report for the fourth quarter of 2009 found that many of those predictions had come true: attendance, space sales, and exhibitors were all down over the prior year.

But not all is lost. This year is already shaping up to be a slightly better one, and companies are still exhibiting because they know the benefits are there. One way they’re able to do that: portable displays.

“We have a lot of folks who used to have large booths who are still wanting to go to shows, so now they are using portable displays instead of full on custom exhibits,” says Travis Rigby, president and CEO of PosterGarden, a portable display company in Portland, Ore. “A lot of our customers are using our displays to beat the pressure of the economy.”

Many companies have turned to portable displays like banner stands, popups, and tensioned fabric displays as a more economical way to share their messages at shows.

Fabric, especially, has become a popular option for its versatility and the improved printing quality that’s come over the past few years. The best companies today can print custom, full-color graphics in-house using advanced dye-sublimation or UV curing processes to create stunning graphics that can be replaced without having to buy a brand new display all over again.

Portable displays are also lighter than large custom ones, which helps save money on shipping, drayage and labor costs as well.

“Portable displays really seem to make a lot of sense for anyone looking to maintain their presence at shows during tougher times,” Rigby says. “But beyond that, their appearance, simplicity and durability gets the job done for people, no matter the economy.”

With all that in mind, here’s a look at five different companies and how they’re using portable displays to spread the good word about themselves at trade shows and events.

Future Food

Future Food was looking for a portable display with a clean, natural look for its new line of all-natural foods.

The Texas manufacturer of refrigerated dips, salads and spreads found exactly that — and then some — in a double-sided Sophora Tension Fabric Display from PosterGarden.

The 10-foot serpentine-style display features a two-sided graphic printed on earth-friendly EcoWeave fabric. One side of the Sophora showcases Future Food’s Santa Barbara Bay brand, the other shows its Salads of the Sea brand.

“We went with a clean white background and simple product shot,” says Emily Alfano, marketing manger for the company. “We duplicated the look for both of our brands and were able to purchase one fabric graphic (front and back). Not to mention how easy it is to put up and take down. We also purchased the foam wood floor to help tie it all together with the clean look we wanted to achieve.”

The company used the booth for the first time at the Natural Products Expo West in March.

SportGame

As its name implies, SportGame Inc. is all about sports: football, hockey, basketball, baseball, even horse and auto racing. The Mississippi company’s bag is supplying computer systems to casinos to run sports-oriented contests.

So it made absolute sense for SportGame to promote itself on Flora Retractable Banner Stands with bright, colorful images of what it knows best: sports.

“We are sports-oriented, with NFL football and NHL hockey being our most popular contests, so we used those players to attract attention,” says SportGame’s Sheila Grieco-Turner.

She says SportGame mainly uses the displays to identify the company and share its benefits at trade shows such as the National Indian Gaming Association, the New York Gaming Summit and casino marketing shows.

An important part of SportGame’s marketing efforts, the Flora banner stands have also proven to be easy to use, very effective and intriguing to passers-by.

“We feel we’ve done ourselves a big favor because we have less hassle at shows thanks to these displays,” Grieco-Turner says. “We have received compliments on them, and we have noticed that the seem to have a magnetic draw.”

SnapFlow

Samad Wahedi, CEO of “SnapFlow”,:http://snapflow.com cuts right to the point when asked what he was going for in the design of the Sophora Tension Fabric Display he purchased from PosterGarden.

“Keep it simple. Attractive. Eye-catching,” he says.

And that’s pretty much what he got. His Sophora, a 10-foot vertical curve, features clean design and graphics printed on environmentally-friendly EcoKnit.

The display, which Wahedi used at a Microsoft Professional Developers Conference last November, is also outfitted with PosterGarden’s LED Lights, which never get hot and use a fraction of the energy of normal halogen lights.

Wahedi formed SnapFlow in 2007 as an easy-to-use, web-based service that allows people to design and configure their own workflow applications. The company has been building its customer and partnership base since then. The Sophora, Wahedi says, has helped SmartFlow stand out in the crowd.

“We had multiple people ask us where we got the display from,” he says. “It achieved our objective of standing out and being different.”

HannahMax Baking

In search of a flexible display that could be used as a backdrop atop a table, HannahMax Baking turned to PosterGarden’s Stellaria Adjustable Banner Stand.

Joanne Adirim, president and founder of the artisan-style bakery, says her show space usually includes a table in the back. She wanted a stand that could sit on the table and be extended tall enough to serve as the space’s backdrop. The Stellaria’s height can be adjusted anywhere between 36 and 96 inches.

Adirim went with three Stellarias, the graphics of which are printed with images of her gourmet desserts.

“The quality of the print is excellent,” she says.
HannahMax Baking uses the displays at major food shows such as the Fancy Food Show, Gulfood in Dubai and the National Restaurant Association Show.

Hampstead Lighting

For a company that specializes in lighting things up, Hampstead Lighting sure wasn’t being seen very clearly at tradeshows and events.

The Georgia-based light manufacturer seemed to get overshadowed by the signage of its neighbors, says John Zastrow, Hampstead’s director of marketing.

“The last show we did in Vegas, people thought we were part of the booth next to us since their signage was practically over our booth,” he says.

So, Hampstead picked a slim Lonicera Banner Stand from PosterGarden as a way to differentiate itself from its neighbors and let people know who Hampstead is.

“We decided to create something right on the aisle,” Zastrow says.

In addition to its effectiveness on the aisle, Zastrow says the Lonicera was appealing because of its affordability, its light weight and its easy setup and takedown.

“It’s much easier to carry and set up for any type of show or meeting,” he says.

Last year, Hampstead Lighting used its Lonicera for the Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas and Hospitality Design Boutique in Miami.

• www.expandmedia.com
  Posted on June 14, 2010 at 09:10 AM

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