EuroShop is the world’s largest retail trade fair, taking place every three years in Germany, and showcasing the latest retail, display and exhibition industry trends. The Scan Display team identified five trends at this year’s show.
Trend 1
Digital innovation
Advances in digital technology are having a huge impact on how we communicate with our customers. Video is taking off, and LED screens were everywhere, sometimes occupying whole walls of stand structures.
Improvements to LED screens mean the resolution is incredibly high, while screens are thinner and can be flexible or curved. Ultimately, any surface or shape can become the canvas for AV.
Holograms and projections offer another way to create moving and changing visual displays. And just as LED screens are going onto all kinds of surfaces, so too are projections – onto floors, mesh fabrics, Perspex and other transparent materials, all of which creates interesting effects and textures.
In some cases, AV is even replacing lighting, because it creates enough ambient lighting.
Trend 2
Lighting leaps forward
Technological advances are also impacting the lighting industry, allowing for new ways to light displays. Front lighting, back lighting, down lighting and lights in the edging of shelves and in other structures all offer different techniques to draw attention to displays.
Flexible LED lights give designers a tool to ‘draw’ with lighting.
Lightboxes remain hugely popular and have in many ways displaced the traditional graphics panels with spotlights. The lighting quality of lightboxes ensures the graphics are vibrant, and there are no spotlights to detract from the graphic.
Fluorescent lighting has disappeared, and LEDs rule the display space, offering improved colour intensity, as well as cost savings because of their energy efficiency.
Trend 3
Texture, texture and more texture
Interesting textures remain a popular feature of modern displays.
Another way to create texture is by using cut-outs, especially in stand walls where cut out patterns allow partial visibility into the stand, adding depth and perspective.
Floating beams add to this effect, as does the use of interesting materials like patterned carpets and marbled floor vinyl.
Texture is a useful design feature, as it attracts and holds the eye of visitors as they pause to make sense of what they are seeing.
Trend 5
Telling Stories
Experiential design – using your display to tell a story that engages your client’s senses and imagination – is another trend that continues to dominate displays.
AV lends itself to telling stories, and interactive technology opens the door to more personalised experiences But the overall stand design, choice of colours and materials and the finishes used all help to tell the story of your brand, and this needs to stay top-of-mind when designing an exhibition stand.
It’s critical that your story remains authentic and true to your brand.
Trend 4
Sustainability is growing
Many of the stands at EuroShop included messaging about their sustainable initiatives. From going plastic-free, to offering energy-efficient and low-carbon solutions, many eco-friendly labels and statements were prominently displayed.
Exhibitors are also exploring how best to use sustainable materials – from natural wood (free of varnishes and paints, which can be environmentally harmful and reduce its re-use applications), to lightweight fabrics, cardboard and even paper.
There were splashes of greenery, although many exhibitors used plastic plants. While plastic isn’t a sustainable material, it is low maintenance, re-usable and transports easily, which could be seen as having advantages in the long-term.
Get Your Company Ready for the 2013 Expos with the Scan Display Range
Getting your business brand out there and notices is vitally important if you want to ensure that you are always ahead of the competition. Grabbing the attention of your potential clients is not always easy, especially in such a competitive market place which seems to be the case these days, but remaining productive and successful should be your driving force. The best way to get your company ready for the various upcoming 2013 expos is to ensure that you have all the gear for an eye-catching and professional display. At Scan Display we can assist you with this and will ensure that you are not only presented with the best products on the market, but are also guaranteed affordable rates.
At Scan Display we have a number of years of experience behind us which means we have been watching as the trends change and differ from year to year. We have an understanding of various markets and will be able to provide you with useful information and advice when it comes to presenting your brand at an exhibition, expo, and trade fair or similar. Investing in the right products is absolutely essential and if you choose wisely and ensure that they are well looked after, you can expect to be able to use them numerous times in the future too.
With our assistance you can shop online and have a complete stand made up, fully branded and ready to wow your clients and target audience. When browsing through our extensive product range you will find items such as roll up banners, show cases, brochure stands, poster displays, folding systems, outdoor displays, portable stands, drums, furniture, audio visual systems and so much more. What’s more is that when purchasing these items you will have the option of having them branded with your company details so that your clients can see where you are and what you are offering from anywhere in the exhibition or expo area.
If you are looking to get your company ready for the 2013 expos that are coming up, don’t waste time. Make sure that your order your outdoor and indoor advertising items as soon as possible and work with our designers to ensure that your printed materials are eye-catching, though provoking and effective. At Scan Display we will be able to advise you professionally and ensure that you are presented with options that you will be proud to advertise and market your business and brand with.
Business is all about branding and making your mark on people so that they remember who you are and where you come from. In the same way a cattle brand leaves a permanent mark on a farmers cattle, so too does company branding on the minds of people. The only difference is the branding is mental and not physical, so instead of seeing the image stuck on your body somewhere, you vividly remember it in your mind without any question.
Essentially that is all that branding is as mentioned on https://www.scandisplay.co.za; a way to create a lasting impression on people so that they always see you in the places that they expect to see you and they think about you when the time is right. If you take coca-cola as an example, when you sit down at a restaurant and you are unsure what to drink when the waiter arrives to get your order, the first thing you usually think about is a coke.
As strange as that may sound, it is often quite true and people generally have no sensible explanation why they do it. The answer to this great mystery lies in the branding of coke, and how they have managed to get themselves positioned and advertised in just about every corner of the globe. In fact, you’ll be surprised to know that Coca-cola doesn’t even make coke anymore, they outsource all of their production to other companies and then they focus entirely on marketing the brand.
How Branding Fits Into Your Marketing Strategy
If your potential customers don’t know about you or where to find you for that matter, you are going to have a hard time trying to generate business. You will effectively spend most of your time trying to get the people to come to you, instead of letting them come to you on their own. Not only do you give yourself much better awareness, but you also have a much easier job trying to sell stuff when the people are coming to you for your products and services.
The whole purpose of marketing is to give people the necessary information they need to make an informed buying decision before or during the process of purchasing your products or making use of your services. If you want to be the first thing people think about when they need a product or service like yours, then you need to have created enough awareness and impact on the people that would most likely be paying attention. You need to create informative and effective marketing communiqués that will stick out when the time is right.
The process of developing a marketing strategy usually entails defining who your potential customers, how they think and what makes them decide to buy a particular product. That usually falls under consumer psychology and understanding the decision making process in people, but at least it is usually included in most business management training courses so the people dealing with it will know exactly what to do.
When you are formulating your strategy you have to keep all of that in mind, so that when the time comes for you to start creating your marketing messages, they will have the impact necessary.
Create a Brand for Yourself So You Can Get Recognised
A brand is just a name that differentiates your own company from all the rest. You need to be able to show people that you are different and you have nothing to do with all the others on the same bandwagon. You need to place yourself in places where you can get noticed and you need to do it often enough for people to realise who you are and that you actually mean business.
Instead of just sitting around and hoping for people to notice you, or actively going out to find business you can work on getting people to find you instead. That means that you just have to put in a bit of effort in the beginning to make sure that you are visible and that you stay visible, and you can sit back and watch as all the new sales and new clients start rolling in to your doorstep, looking to do business with you.
Good Morning Africa interview with Scan On Show, the official event organisers behind Meetings Africa 2011. Scan On Show is a partnership between Scan Display, On Show Solutions and Tau Management.
Scan Display to exhibit at #1 retail trade fair, Euroshop
This year Scan Display will be among the 1 800 exhibitors at Euroshop, the world’s leading retail trade fair. The show will run from 26 February to 2 March 2011, in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Justin Hawes, MD of Scan Display, strongly agrees that Euroshop is the ‘premiere’ trade fair of its kind. He says: “No other retail show is as big or as globally inclusive as Euroshop. Exhibitors and visitors from around the world attend it. This creates a unique opportunity to network, see the latest products and technology, and get an injection of creative inspiration – all in one space, on an international scale.”
In previous years, members of the Scan team have attended the show, but this will be the first time the company showcases itself on the Euroshop platform. Scan will co-exhibit with German partners, Mo Systeme, the creators of the Modulbox, a portable marketing system. Scan manufactures and markets the Modulbox locally, and this inspiring tool will form the basis of the Scan-Mo Systeme exhibit.
Justin strongly believes that exhibiting is a valuable marketing tool, as it is the only medium that allows for face-to-face interactions with key industry players. He says: “The opportunities that come out of exhibiting at Euroshop, such as new business partnerships and exposure to new clients, represent a huge return on investment on the cost of exhibiting.”
Euroshop is only held every three years, and 2011 will be its 17th incarnation. This year 104 000 trade visitors from 93 countries are expected to attend, while the exhibitors will be representing 50 countries and filling up a floor space of 200 000m².
It was fascinating to observe how the World Cup affected business in our industry. Hopefully we have learnt some lessons from the 2010 experience and we can be prepared for next time – the Olympics, maybe? Read more.
The future of exhibitions: fabric graphics and green power
At the August Markex Jhb exhibition, Scan Display used new technology in the form of fabric graphics (called tension fabric systems) and green power. Both of these innovations are expected to become popular choices for exhibitors. Read more.
Scan’s bold look for Travel Expo
Scan Display used its expertise to design and set up the Travel Expo, hosted at Sandton Convention Centre from 23 to 24 October 2010. The show’s look-and-feel was defined by the colourful rolled carpet, which was laid out in bold patterns around the shell scheme. Read more.
New appointments
Scan Display has recently made several new appointments at its Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg branches. Read more.
SA exhibition industry supports Soweto Sewing Company
The Soweto Sewing Company recently benefited from the generosity of the South African exhibition industry. Three exhibition organisers gave the group free exhibition space, and Scan Display provided them with a branded pop-up stand and counter. Read more.
