Many marketing managers think trade shows are money pits. And they can be money pits without good design, development, installation, management and integration with other communication activities. The challenge is something like making a rock-size splash with only a few pebbles in the budget.

Composite Communication faced that challenge while helping a newly launched company prepare for its first trade show. The new company had been spun off from a large corporate parent and need to make its solo debut. The budget was limited, yet the company needed to achieve major-company impact. To complicate matters even more, the exhibit would be held outside North America.

The solution was to work with an exhibit supplier to build a modular display. This gave the presentation several benefits; it was easily packed for low-cost shipment to Europe, quickly assembled on-site for additional savings, and very flexible for future trade show use. The display could be updated for subsequent use by simply changing a few relatively inexpensive copy panels.

Media kits and literature were coordinated to reinforce key messages with the same look of the display. Relationships with key journalists were leveraged to bring journalists to the display. Company personnel were encouraged to present technical papers to raise awareness of the company during classroom portion of the show and position the company’s personnel as leaders in the industry. Once the display was assembled but before the show opened, Composite Communication organized a training session for the booth staff.