Your Tradeshow Forecast: Experiential with an Abundance of Technology!

We are certainly living in an interesting time, especially when it comes to connecting people to products on the tradeshow floor. By nature, human beings need to feel part of something bigger, engaged with our surroundings, communities, nature and products. This physical engagement enhanced by technology in the tradeshow environment can have an enormous impact on how attendees experience a brand. It can result in a lifelong relationship of loyalty, awareness and trust toward that brand.

The numbers behind tradeshow marketing prove how it’s an effective, even essential tactic for a brand. A recent study from Bizzabo shows that most marketers see ROI from events that utilize technology to engage with their audience. According to the report, 80% of marketers believe live events are critical to their company’s success and that events are the most effective method for promoting a brand or product, at 31%. Additionally, 86% of event marketers believe that technology can have a major positive impact on the success of their events. (https://blog.bizzabo.com/event-marketing-2018-benchmarks-and-trends)

 

 

 

Ask yourself, how do I engage and excite my audience and capture a real-time measurement of the impact? Integrated Experiential Exhibit Technology – or IEET, as I would like to dub it here first! – is a pretty cool concept that allows an audience to interact and have a profound multi-sensory experience with a brand or product. The show floor is where the right audience marries with great exhibit installations, immersive informational technology, and face-to-face engagement. Worlds collide when a captivating exhibit space employs experiential marketing with an element of technology. It creates a perfect storm of deep engagement. It increases the value of a tradeshow for the exhibitor and attendee. The more marketers embrace IEET, the more it can transform the way audiences see, hear, feel and experience the world.

 

[bctt tweet=”The more #tradeshow marketers embrace integrated experiential exhibit tech, the more it can transform the way audiences see, hear, feel & experience the world. #IEET” username=”emcoutdoor”]

 

The upcoming 2018 EVENTtech Conference, one of the largest tech conferences in the world, is taking place in Las Vegas, this November. As the event approaches, it’s the perfect time to look at some unique experiential technologies on our radar. Perhaps, some of these could be integrated into your next tradeshow marketing campaign.

 

Enhanced Virtual Reality

Wouldn’t it be cool to be entirely immersed in an out-of-world experience? Imagine having the ability to physically pickup objects and examine small grooves, textures and contours, all with VR technology. Well, HaptX Inc. has been pioneering this technology and taking VR to a whole new “world”! The HaptX Gloves allow a user to actually “feel” with over 100 points of high-displacement tactile feedback, up to five pounds of resistance per finger, and sub-millimeter precision motion tracking. (https://haptx.com/press-release-haptx-glove/)

For example, a manufacture of fabrics and linens in Turkey can display all their fabrics at a tradeshow in another country using a smaller, smarter footprint enhanced with VR goggles and the HaptX Gloves to bring the buying experience right to attendees. This way marketers with buying power can quickly place an order right there on the spot. They don’t have to wait for fabric samples to arrive weeks later or delay productions. This creates a more meaningful brand experience with faster, more precise measurement of ROI.

Disney recently came out with a haptic jacket, called “Force Jacket”. It’s comprised of 26 miniature airbags connected to tubes and sensors that inflate to generate a sensation. The user can feel a snow ball hit or a bug crawl up their arm. The technology will allow brands to add to their tradeshow campaign with a fully sensational VR experience. It gives the phrase “seeing is believing” a whole new spin! (https://www.popsci.com/force-jacket-virtual-reality#page-2)

With VR technology evolving every day, it’s easier than ever to integrate, transition and package for tradeshow exhibits. Exhibitors can find out-of-the-box concepts that create new possibilities for buying power, measurement, branding and amplified engagement.

 

Hologram Technology

Remember the scene in Back to the Future 2 where Jaws pops up out of nowhere and almost swallows up Marty McFly on the street? Well folks, that technology is here! Startup hi-tech companies all over the world are developing their version of hologram technology. A company out of London, called Kino Mo, is making some huge waves with Hypervsn. It’s a device made of spinning, LED-covered arms that delivers unique and immersive 3D visuals in midair. It has the ability to handle fast creative customization, perform real-time content scheduling, synchronize with multiple units, be remotely managed, and gather impression data.

 

 

A quick side note: The Out of Home environments for holograms are virtually endless. The impressive creative wow–factor and ability to change content on the spot make it viable for use beyond the booth. A company could use this to drive traffic to their booth space, present a call-to-action or enter-to-win, roll out a new brand, or feature a celebrity spokesperson! As the audience views the technology, it collects data of who, where, when and how long they’ve captured the audience’s attention.

Hologram technology is proving to be fully interactive, too, with the added component of experiential gaming. VNTANA has created an interactive platform designed to give tradeshow attendees a realistic brand experience. Lexus uses the technology at auto-conventions to give consumers a fun, interactive experience while capturing lead data in a CRM system. The lightweight kiosk has a small footprint but packs a big punch. It’s further evidence that marketers can offer attendees interaction with endless brands, products and games, maintain a personal connection, and capture critical audience data. Also, integrating the kiosk with social media platforms yields even deeper engagement and measurable results. (https://vntana.com/portfolio/lexus-hologram-case-study/)

 

Conductive Electric Paint

Last year, Toshiba Global exhibited at the 2017 National Retail Federation Expo and utilized conductive electric paint. This was part of their unveiling of Brilliant Commerce, a new shopping and check out experience. The installation drew-in onlookers to interact with the life cycle of the new, innovative experience. Enticing copy and graphics encouraged the guests to touch the walls, revealing a delightful array of hidden messages! An entire story appeared, simply with the touch of the user’s fingertips, resulting in an abundance of multi-sensory experiences. This technology can even be integrated with other media solutions, like projection mapping, audio, and beautifully executed visuals. By creating a narrative with this immersive fabrication, brands can build a relationship and rapport with their audience.

 

 

A study from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) says that 92% of tradeshow attendees go to see and learn about what’s new in products, services and technology. This positions IEET on the cusp of a futuristic frontier, poised to reach an eager audience. It’s redefining how we reach a captive tradeshow audience and have a global impact. The virtual and augmented worlds are innovating new markets, bringing value to products and brands, and introducing a new environment for real-world consumerism. These disruptive technologies are creating multi-sensory experiences that elevate engagement with audiences. They forge an undeniable trusting relationship with brands and are changing how we communicate. As these advancements in technology improve the tradeshow experience, they’re also increasing the power of an impression far beyond the tradeshow floor.

 

Your goal is to create an impactful booth experience. Our team understands the technology that can get you there. Let us know how we can help!