Shouting silently. While launch and conference events represent the more ‘exciting’ aspect of our work and client support, our group also involves itself in the ‘daily life’ of client product marketing and promotion projects.

In all cases, design work has to synthesise the product with the branding and presentation styles of each client. Design and construction processes also need to be practical and cost effective. Factors such as portability and budget constraints are a significant consideration when approaching a solution to the needs of a client. After-all, if the required display units are for a road-show, construction methods and the materials used will need to be more robust because of transportation and repeated installation. Whereas for a single one-use promotion, materials can be lighter and design more delicate.

Since consumers often need to have personal interaction and involvement with a product before making a buying decision, design often needs to balance consumer accessibility with display volumes. A frequent solution here is to expand the design vertically, but this does have an impact upon construction costs. However, given that promotional space is usually expensive anyway, this vertical approach does offer a good balance between cost, utility and product breadth.

An approach by some clients that is becoming more popular and effective is to combine product ‘exhibitions’ with a social event. While this does add the cost of catering to the promotional campaign, the available product display and interaction arena is substantially increased by sectioning the ballroom. Additionally, the attention of attending guests (consumers) is captured and retained for a much longer duration than is feasible in a shop or mall.

This attention can also be controlled and directed to the extent that sales volume ROI is often much higher than conventional alternatives. Clients also use this approach as a means for developing customer relationships for generating repeat sales.