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Remember Me!
News of what causes a display to be remembered. October 4, 2007
Memory is a net,” wrote
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. “One that finds it full of fish when he takes
it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it
without sticking.”
Thirty years ago, what stuck to attendees’ mental nets after they’d
pinballed through hundreds of exhibits at trade shows was a mystery
harder to solve than why we keep forgetting where we left the car keys.
Since then, Red Bank, NJ,-based Exhibit Surveys Inc. has polled
thousands of visitors at hundreds of shows to find out which exhibits
are unforgettable and why.
In addition to asking attendees which exhibits they recalled, the
surveys also ask them to attribute each exhibit’s memorability to one or
more of eight factors, such as a product demo, booth staff, a
presentation, literature, exhibit design, and giveaways. The remaining
two factors, which have historically proven to be the most important
factors driving memorability, are product interest and company name.
Bottom line, if attendees are interested in your product and are
familiar with your company, they’re more likely to remember your
exhibit. But if you’re an unknown company with a never-before-seen
product, don’t lose hope. Other exhibit-related elements, specifically
product demonstrations, booth staff, exhibit design, and presentations,
also post high recall rates, indicating that a well-designed exhibit
with an engaging presentation, knowledgeable staffers, and an
informative product demo can still rank high on the memory meter, even
if the exhibitor’s brand is not yet a household name.
Ian Sequeira, vice president of Exhibit Surveys, says the
most-remembered exhibits of 2006 followed the trends we’ve seen before:
Recognizable names, buzz-worthy new products, and large booth spaces are
traits that put exhibits permanently on attendees’ minds. But Sequeira
warns exhibitors not to treat memorability as an end in itself. “Being
memorable isn’t always a direct measure of success in leads, sales, or
any other way you can measure your ROI,” he says. “The goal should be to
reach your target audience, and if you can do that and you are also
among the most remembered, then consider it a bonus. Memorability, after
all, is usually the byproduct of success.”
In both size categories
(shows 200,000 square feet or more and shows less than 200,000 square
feet), the most-remembered exhibits belonged to a household name — GE
Healthcare Inc. They also featured a slate of new products for each
exhibit’s target audience, and square footage that dwarfed most of the
competition at their respective shows.
At the Society of Nuclear Medicine show in San Diego, for example, GE
Healthcare’s molecular-imaging division showed up with all the raw
ingredients to create a memorable exhibit: a 50-by-130-foot exhibit
space rivaled only by two other exhibitors at the less than
200,000-square-foot show; seven new products to launch (an unheard of
total for such a focused, vertical-market event); and a name recognized
throughout the health-care industry. True to form, 66 percent of
attendees who remembered the GE Healthcare exhibit attributed its
memorability in part to their interest in the company’s offerings, while
61 percent attributed their memorability to the company’s well-known
name.
But GE Healthcare didn’t solely rely on its iconic identity, popular
products, and biggie-sized booths to top Exhibit Survey’s list. It
devised an exhibit promotion that combined a memorable in-booth
experience and a series of scrapbook-worthy giveaways that kept
attendees coming back throughout each show.
Specifically, GE Healthcare brought out the stars — Olympic stars, that
is. For two hours during each day, attendees were able to rub elbows and
get autographs from Olympic champions Mark Spitz, Dorothy Hamel, Bruce
Jenner, and Mary Lou Retton. As household names, the Olympic athletes
provided an incentive for attendees to flock to the GE Healthcare booth.
Once those attendees came to the exhibit, they were bound to return
multiple times throughout the four-day show. Each day, GE Healthcare
distributed a different card as an in-booth incentive. The daily cards
corresponded to the athlete visiting the booth that day. But to get the
card, a prerequisite for an autograph, they needed to play the Olympic
Trivia Challenge, an interactive, educational product demo/presentation.
The Trivia Challenge was designed to test attendees’ Olympic knowledge,
teaching them about GE Healthcare at the same time.
But the hottest part of the
program was something found only at the GE Healthcare exhibit. In the
Technology Pavilion, where attendees signed a release to acknowledge
what they were about to see was not-yet FDA approved, medical
professionals could discuss the company’s cutting-edge developments with
representatives from GE Healthcare in a casual, sales-free environment.
“Over half the attendees at the booth went to the Technology Pavilion,”
Benson says, adding they spent an average of 22 minutes in the
sales-free zone. Since doctors like talking to other doctors, and they
come to shows such as SNM to learn, the pavilion was a show highlight
for many SNM attendees.
By bringing attendees back each day and offering a unique, sales-free
area in its booth that catered specifically to attendees' needs, GE
Healthcare was able to score an impressive 52-percent recall rate in
Exhibit Survey's study.
For complete results of the Most-Remembered Exhibits study, along with
images and information about other top-rated exhibits and how they made
lasting impressions on attendees, visit
www.ExhibitorWebLinks.com
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