Twelve years ago, I was at the exhibition TS2 in the US and the show organisers pulled off an impressive stunt. The then US President, Bill Clinton, visited the show. You can picture the scene: he came complete with eight bodyguards, black suits, dark glasses and earplugs, ushering people out of the President’s way. This created great excitement and a fantastic buzz. Only it wasn’t the President, it was a look-a-like with eight actors. Twelve years ago they pulled off a great stunt and it added value to their show, but I wonder if using look-a-likes today is still a great way to attract visitors to your stand or has it become a bit passé?

At a recent exhibition, I was overwhelmed by the number of look-a-likes I saw there. Because the show was swarming with so many, there was no novelty value and I certainly didn’t mistake any of them for the real thing! Perhaps that’s the first point. A look-a-like will have more impact when you don’t expect to see them or you actually think they are the real celebrity.

As with any other stand attractor, a look-a-like needs to be relevant to your business and deliver the right message for your company. According to Contraband International, an agency with 500 look-a-likes on their books, many companies try to match the look-a-like to their business. The most popular celebrity doubles in the UK at the moment are Marilyn Monroe, the Beckhams and the Queen. Prices start from $700 for 3 to 4 hours, but you will pay up to $1500 for the dead ringers.

Of course, the key reason to use a celebrity look-a-like is they help draw visitors to your stand. But don’t fall into the trap of just using them to pose for photos with the visitors, really get them involved in what you are doing. Make sure you fully brief your look-a-like and they understand who you are, what you are trying to achieve at the show and what role you expect them to play.

If all of this sounds like I don’t know if using a look-a-like is a good or bad idea, it’s because I’m not sure. I think that if used in the right way and in the right environment then brilliant, but if they are used in the wrong way in the wrong environment then they are awful.

Laura Moody
Managing Director
Nomadic Display UK

Family gatherings, turkey, endless array of pies and sides — who doesn’t like Thanksgiving? Everything has to be perfect including the “stuffing.”

And as we all know, the preparation behind the scene of cooking Thankgiving dinner can get a little bit demanding. We thought we would share a stuffing recipe from Nomadic’s “Family Recipes” cookbook that you may like to try for your own Thanksgiving dinner. It’s an anonymous contribution that comes with extra sips of fun.

Sausage/Cornbread Stuffing: “Bailey’s Singlemalt”

• 1 glass Singlemalt Scotch
• 1 cup Celery, diced
• 1 lb. Sausage, pan fried
• 1 onion, minced
• ½ cup Butter
• ½ cup Green pepper, chopped
• 6 cups Cornbread, crumbled
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 cups Bread Crumbs, soft
• ½ tsp Pepper
• 2 Eggs, well beaten
• 1 ¼ cup Water

Mix bread crumbs, corn bread, celery, onions, peppers (sip Scotch). Cut up butter and mix with bread mixture (sip Scotch). Mix in cooked sausage (sip Scotch), fold in beaten eggs (sip Scotch) and stir in water (into mixture, not Scotch- sip Scotch).

Stuff in bird or bake in oven at 350° for 30 minutes.

Who says you can’t unwind and cook at the same time? Happy Thanksgiving from our Nomadic Family to yours!

Mabel Kenyon
Marketing Communications Coordinator

You and I both know the drill. When most tradeshow attendees arrive at the show floor, they scan the hall and start eyeing booths like shopping stalls. And luring these attendees to your space takes out-of-the-box creativity and of course, “unconventional premiums, tschotschkes or giveaways.”

In fact, giveaways are found to be very effective in making an impact on attendees’ perceptions. A recent university exit interview study of trade show attendees revealed that 76% had a favorable attitude toward the company that gave them the premium.

We proved this at the 2006 Exhibitor Show with our mini shopping cart and gift card. The 5-inch tall shopping cart was branded with our new online shop’s site address. Each cart came with a gift card that gave an exhibitor free Rolluxe cases for any 8’ or 10’ Instand display purchased online.

Our exhibitor show premium was such a big hit that attendees lined up to sit through our booth presentation in order to receive it.

To help you select your promotional giveaway, here are some pointers for you to:

1. Consider your target audience. Plan to get qualifying information from visitors before dispensing gifts. You may want to invest in higher priced gifts for key clients and have lower cost items for other visitors.

2. Determine what you want the premium to do for you. Do you want it to:

• Generate traffic to your booth?
• Increase awareness of your message to attendees?
• Promote the introduction of a new product/service?
• Educate visitors about your key advantages?
• Serve as a token of appreciation for stopping?

For more exhibiting tips, request a copy of our new Event Professional CD.

Mabel Kenyon
Marketing Communications Coordinator

I was speaking with a new salesperson recently about all the changes happening throughout the pop-up segment of our industry. Imports driving prices down. Consolidation. Relationships between Manufacturer, Distributor and Customers torn down and then reinventing themselves. The Internet — the only constant seen throughout the past 30 years is the presence of change itself.

After a few minutes of what was probably a boring history lesson for this young salesperson, I was intrigued by his first question— if the pop-up market is getting more and more aggressive in lowering costs, why is Nomadic launching accessories that seem to add to the average cost of a pop-up display? Excellent question, I told my young squire.

The vast majority of today’s pop-up displays – and there are dozens if not hundreds that I can see, are being marketed as one thing and one thing only… large graphic backwalls with little more functionality than providing its owner with a temporary, portable billboard. If that is how all pop-ups are being judged, then why WOULDN’T a savvy buyer want to buy the lowest priced version that provides that capability?

In order to answer the salespersons query, I had to go back to my history lesson. More than 30 years ago, when Nomadic’s founder, Ted Ziegler, invented the world’s first pop-up display system, he over-engineered it. Back in 1975, Ted wasn’t trying to make a graphic backwall. Ted was trying to make portable buildings. These portable buildings (temporary field hospitals for the military) would require stability and strength while still offering ease and speed of set-up. The rest, as they say, is history.

It’s Ted’s original engineering that provides Instand the strength to support more weight than any other pop-up on the market. This over-abundance of strength has allowed Nomadic to recently develop a line of new accessories for the Instand that transform “a simple graphic backwall” into a multi-functional display system that just happens to be lightweight and easy to set-up.

So, I explained to the young salesperson, the reason Nomadic has launched this new line of accessories in a world of low-cost pop-ups can be summed up like this— Instand should not be judged as a pop-up display system at all. Rather, it should be judged as a highly customizable display solution that happens to come from pop-up stock.

Check out our new Instand accessories and see the Nomadic difference.

Harold S. Mintz
Vice President
North American Sales & Distribution

More often than not, exhibitors find themselves at a dilemma when it comes to cost management. At least one component of the event gets the budget cut. But what exhibitors don’t often think about is that a “ budget cut” in one aspect of their event-marketing program, may cost them even more in the end. That’s why nothing beats proper planning when it comes to exhibiting.

Let me share with you some tips that will help you save money without cutting corners:

• Establish a list of key dates and activities. Push due dates back a month so that you always meet your deadlines.
• Produce all of your pre-show mailings at the same time to save on printing expenses rather than printing several times throughout the year.
• Consider lightweight custom modular displays that can be reconfigured easily for different spaces. Such displays are easy to set up and pack compactly enabling you to save on storage and shipping costs.
• Design and produce your graphics ahead of time to avoid overtime or rush charges. Have someone proofread your copy to avoid change charges. And don’t scrimp on shipping containers for your graphics—re-doing damaged graphics can be expensive.
• Pre-order show services at least 10-30 days prior to the show–electrical, phones, cleaning services, etc. The floor price is often 10-20% higher. Order more wattage than needed so you don’t risk an electrical breakdown and then have to pay a higher floor price.
• Schedule setting up during straight time and avoid weekends and overtime hours as much as possible as it can cost up to twice as much. If possible, use your own personnel to set up your display.

Mabel Kenyon
Marketing Communications Coordinator