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The largest and biggest exhibitions in the world are seen in Germany, the USA, and the Middle East. However, when it comes to exhibition stall design, or the process of conceptulising an exhibition booth that meets the requirements of the brand and also catches the eyeballs of visitors, India is making its mark steadily.
Exhibitions for long have been driven by the thought that ‘Form follows Function’ - however, now the world is coming to realise that space design goes beyond functionality and today aesthetics, brand guidelines, communication objectives, and competitor analysis all play an important part when it comes to designing temporary exhibits for shows.
Understanding the 7Ps of Marketing and the Importance of Physical Evidence
According to the book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach by E. Jerome McCarthy, the 7Ps of marketing are Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical Evidence. Brands are created in the minds of customers and hence all these P’s have a significant impact when it comes to branding. Why is it that all Mc Donald’s across the world look the same? Or all H&M stores? Or even all Facebook offices? It is because the look and feel of the brand is its ‘Physical Evidence’, and this plays a very important role when it comes to giving the brand a unified experience for today’s global consumer.
Exhibitions are a part of the Physical Evidence of your brand. Let us first understand what exactly is Physical Evidence: Physical Evidence of a brand most simply put includes all the aspects that your customers see when interacting with your brand. It includes but is not restricted to, website, logo, invoice and other documents, staff uniforms, offices, stores, communication design and many more aspects where your brand touches its customers.
Physical Evidence of A Brand at Exhibitions
Exhibitions are one place where a company can meet multiple prospects and customers in a short span of 3-4 days. They are a remarkable opportunity for brand building, market testing, finding new leads, and being updated with industry news and trends. They are the one place wherein direct customers can interact and experience your brand.
For example: An Indian pharmaceutical company goes to CPHI WW in Europe every year to meet new customers and close deals with global clients. These clients do not come to India to see the factory, or check the office. They close deals at the exhibition booth itself. This booth is the physical evidence of the brand. It is the one thing that the customers remember about the company when they leave the show, and it goes a long way in making a subconscious perception about the company, their products, their quality and their people.
Understanding the impact of stall design in branding, global brands are increasingly investing in creating a brand guideline for exhibition stall design and fabrication. It can be as simple as defining a mood board or a colour palette and as detailed as defining the kind of counters, displays, graphics, branding, logos and materials.
Five Simple Steps to Build the Physical Evidence of Your Brand
I. Always share your brand guideline with your exhibition stand designer and ensure that it has been followed. Many-a-times, a more colourful booth, or vivid furniture, or something new that a competitor did at a previous booth can be enticing to explore. However, do not go down that path. One time success is not what you are looking for, branding is a long term and game and to create a brand that stands the test of time, consistency is the key.
II. Define standard structures in your booth:
a. Ensure that your logo is always fabricated in the same way. Make a guideline for your logo defining backlit or edgelit, colour, material, intensity of light (warm/cold), and thickness of letters.
b. Define the colour scheme of your graphics along with the standard fonts and kind of imagery.
c. Define the flooring colours in terms of carpets and laminates
d. Define the kind of product displays if possible
e. Define the placement of standard elements like TV, Displays, and meeting rooms
III. If defining these structures is a daunting task then invest in creating a mood board. This will include a colour scheme and a basic material palette in terms of what output is expected. This will serve as an adequate cue for the designer to get a synergised output across shows.
IV. Try to work with a fixed set of agencies when it comes to exhibition stand design and fabrication. This way the agency will understand your expectations and will ensure that not only the same designers work on your exhibition stall each time but also the same partners for printing, logo, lighting, and AV. This will go a long way in getting a defined and desirable output.
V. Work with an exhibition agency who understands branding and thinks of exhibitions as a branding exercise and not a fabrication job. Your agency should be the one who consults you on structure design, graphic communication, material palette, as well as user engagement at your stand. They should not merely be experts in carpentry, but experts in brand conversation building and sales conversion.
In conclusion, Kshama Chhapkhanawalla, CEO SOL Brand Solutions, says “Exhibitions in India are upgrading fast. Brands understand that these are an unparalleled platform when it comes to measuring ROI and building your brand. Physical evidence of a brand is a vital factor to consider while designing a stall. We make it a point that when we design big booths, we visit clients’ offices and factories and get a general feel of how the brand communicates at these key spaces and try to bring in similar elements into our moodboard. Infact, for big shows like AutoExpo, CPhI, and CES, we even consult brands on how to dress and train their staff as these aspects are also part of the brands physical evidence.”
Lastly, building your brand’s physical evidence should never be a one-time thing, but should rather be an ongoing process of studying, learning, unlearning and relearning so that you are improving with each show with the single objective of providing a unified brand experience to todays’ global customers.
