Best live B2B marketing event initiative
Winner: Robert Horne Sign & Display
Agency: BMB
Campaign: Inspired by Experience
Live event: Sign UK 2007
With a maximum budget of £39,000, Robert Horne wanted a presence at the show which would make an impact and turn heads. The company needed to stand out from its competitors and to communicate a clear message about why it is the company to deal with.
At the event the main objectives were to have an intriguing, relevant, totally original stand design with a single clear message which encompassed the varying interests of different customers. The design needed to strengthen recognition and understanding of the brand and yet be original enough to be eye catching. It needed to inspire a broad target audience and yet have an intimate dedicated area where customers could be registered for online purchasing.
The theme Inspired by Experience’ was developed because it works on several levels. It says that Robert Horne Sign & Display has become the company it is today by learning from and being inspired by the experiences of the companies it works with. New technology, methods and materials have been developed in order to help and fulfil the ideas of those we work with. The learning experience and the technology together underlines the importance Robert Horne Sign & Display places on the partnership with its customers.
It says to our customers:
– We find it inspiring to work with you
– We’re only as big as we are because we listened and learned what it is you want
– It’s not just about us, it’s about you in equal measure.
Taking Inspired by Experience’ as a platform BMB developed an interactive event showing inspiration at work. Featuring many of the materials that Robert Horne supplies, the stand was designed and built to look like an art gallery, with a different work of art’ created to promote each product. One wall of the gallery visually demonstrated the lightness of certain toughened products by showing them suspended from a series of helium filled balloons.
Another wall featured a new range of vinyls and showed inspiring ways of using them. Themes were drawn from famous design styles including the punk and De Stjil movements. Other features included four large plasmas housed within a large picture frame and playing separate brand, product and service presentations.
Probably the most striking aspect of the stand emphasised Robert Horne’s commitment to environmentally-friendly materials and featured a tree constructed out of recyclable products used by the firm. It has since been replicated for various offices at Robert Horne and for its partners.
The results exceeded all expectations and illustrated just how effective the creative strategy was. Many of the people attending the show came back time and again, making the original and cutting-edge design by far the most popular stand on each of the three days. Not only were the corporate objectives achieved, including strengthening the recognition and understanding of the brand, all sales targets were also easily exceeded. From equipment sold at the time, plus customers gained as a result of their visit to the stand, the event produced sales in excess of £1 million.
Throughout Robert Horne the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and there are plans to extend the Inspired’ theme and brand development work across other areas within the business – not bad for a one-off exhibition stand. The live event was undoubtedly the best way for Robert Horne to create a positive lasting impression.
Terry Castle, Robert Horne Sign & Display comments, “BMB mixed an impressive understanding of our business with their outstanding creativity to create a brilliant stand. The feedback from customers and staff has been tremendous and sales results have exceeded all expectations.”
