[interview] the project story
Image Credit : Vista
Project Overview
Hewlett-Packard wanted to showcase Service Anywhere and Service Manager, one of their most popular complete service desk software for IT professionals, at the UK’s leading exhibition and conference for ITSM professionals – SITS. They needed to generate demand for and awareness of their top product as well as their Big Data offering.
They also wanted a strong presence to improve on leads from SITS 2014, while making themselves known as accessible to smaller companies.
We 3D designed, built and produced an eye-catching exhibition stand with an immersive brand hub including brand theatre and demonstration zones. And when it came to improving footfall, we’re proud to say we increased the amount of leads and free trials generated from the year before, as well as attracting a strong attendance for an upcoming HP-owned Service Desk event we ran later that month.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Dan McCabe
Sarah Laud
Ben Kostzrewa
Mark Penman
Gary Morgan
Mark Walker
Paul Cox
Ecjis Buls
Adam Cowley
Project Brief
SITS is the UK’s leading exhibition and conference for ITSM professionals. HP tasked us with attracting high footfall and generating leads with clients old and new at the 2015 show. In 2014, HP collected 200-250 leads and were determined to improve on this by increasing the amount of customers signing up to and using their free trials for HP Service Anywhere and Service Manager.
This trade show is a massive event in the world of IT, so it was vital to pay attention to HP’s key drivers: generating demand, awareness and a strong HP presence.
We needed to tailor their high level messaging to two different audiences too – small- and mid-sized businesses and Enterprise. Our aim was to showcase the HP service and maximise brand exposure to 4,000 IT professionals, while also creating awareness that HP is accessible and interesting to smaller companies.
Project Innovation/Need
“The client thought the booth looked fantastic. Due to the large amount of work we do for HP, we’re also able to reuse their assets on a regular basis – saving them money and maintaining consistency across all shows.”
Ben Kostrzewa, Production Project Manager, Vista
We created a 3D design, build and production of a 13m x 8m exhibition stand, with a 104sqm brand hub with theatre and eight demonstration zones – a magnificent feat.
We also offered space within the stand for suppliers to showcase services that complement Hewlett-Packard’s, adding value to HP’s products and helping them to be seen as game changers in the industry.
By making our stand eye-catching, open and inviting, we created an exciting atmosphere with an unprecedented customer flow – doubling the leads and free trials generated the previous year, with 500 leads generated over two days through exhibitors scanning badges.
With a two-day build, two live days and five hours to de-rig at Olympia in London, our Build team showed their experience and our Vista standard, ensuring everything was completed with great speed and efficiency.
Design Challenge
Our biggest challenge was fitting eight demonstration areas, a theatre area, a reception desk and a casual seating area all into the same stand – while leaving plenty of space for easy delegate flow.
Our in-house 30,000sqm workshop gives us the unique opportunity to build our exhibition stands before transporting them. This means we can test our stands beforehand, ensuring we’re using floor space in the best possible way, as well as practice constructing it, minimising the build time at the actual event.
We use materials to their true potential by using locally-sourced FSE certified wood, in this case beech wood given a gloss lacquer finish for durability. It’s quicker, easier to assemble, more cost-efficient and time-efficient than using man-made materials like MDF.
Our clean, slick aesthetics were perfect for our professional audience. We wanted to create a comfortable, organic environment – something different, yet familiar. We kept sightlines open and content concise, with short, stimulating bullet points on the wall graphics, complemented with large visuals focusing on the customer.
Sustainability
We operate an award-winning CSR programme – Second Nature – which is delivered by every employee at Vista. We compile a sustainability checklist to see how and where we can reduce the carbon footprint of every communications campaign and event we deliver.
All our key exhibition services are provided efficiently in-house from our own 30,000sqm workshop, with specialist project managers who take care of everything from trucking to live event support.
We always go above and beyond to reduce transport costs and emissions. We used a local crew and joiners, and local graphics suppliers and fitters; we also used one lorry for the entire job, while our crew travelled by train when possible.
We used a CNC machine – a computerised cutter – to reduce waste and nest as many panels together as possible. We always buy our materials in bulk for numerous jobs, and we even reused assets from previous HP jobs – helping the client save more money and reducing our waste further.
Pop-Ups, Display, Exhibit & Set Design
This award celebrates innovative and creative design for a temporary building or interior, pop up site, installation, exhibition, fixture or interactive element. Consideration given to materials, finishes, signage and experience.
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