Can You Differentiate Yourself w/Pop Ups? Part I

A Trade Show Displays Tip:

How do your customers see you at a trade show standing in front of your new Pop Up Displays Booth? You might be surprised. For years, pop up displays have been the "knee jerk" purchase when buying trade show exhibits for most consumers, but is that a big mistake?

Many years ago, before I ever entered the display business, I worked for Hilton Hotels Corp as the director of marketing in one of their many fine convention hotels. Each year we'd attend, along with the cities convention bureau, the American Society of Association Executives convention and trade show. For me it was a great experience to see and experience a whole new world of creative marketing by cities from around the country.  After walking the ASAE show over the course of several days, I soon realized that this was a show of "haves" and "have nots" when it came to the exhibits themselves.

The cities like Miami, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, etc. had these huge island booths that for me was something right out of fantasy-land; while others like Boise, Tulsa, Fresno, all had these little "concave things" as I described them, which indicated they were second tier cities. I told others that the aisles where these booths were located weren't worth walking down, because it was a sea of those concave things on both sides of the aisle. Hey, I didn't know any better and what I was describing were the typical Pop Up Displays.

Well, over 30 years have passed since that day when I formed my initial opinion about pop up displays and their value to the industry and the businesses that purchase them. Oddly enough, a few years later I even got into the trade show business, started a decorating company, began manufacturing portable displays; and yes, a few years later even created a pop up display myself.

One thing I learned a long time ago was that the market is always right. Not having a pop up to sell would be a big mistake as a display company, but is it a mistake as an exhibitor to market your company with one? Let me conclude by saying this. Yes it would be a mistake to be a trade show display company and not have pop up displays to sell, but businesses are also making a big mistake by relying totally on pop up displays to differentiate themselves in the marketplace when they should eventually be gravitating to other types of displays as their businesses mature and/or their businesses are no longer the newcomers in the industry. Perhaps I'll explore that in my next blog!

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