Last year, humans learned the importance of flexibility. And today, exhibitors must flex their configurations and their components to fit not only different footprints but also new COVID 19 centric concerns. To celebrate the increasing role portable and modular exhibits play in the world of face to face, EXHIBITOR magazine hosts the annual Portable and Modular exhibits Awards. While the program continues to recognize innovative designers and forward-thinking system suppliers, it flexed a bit in 2020 as well, providing slightly altered categories and a four-year eligibility period. This year’s 10 standard-category winners were selected by a jury of marketing and design experts, who evaluated entrants’ functional and aesthetic merits. Meanwhile, one winner, which took home the People’s Choice Award, was selected by popular vote on www.ExhibitorOnline.com. And one project, which earned the highest score regardless of category, received the program’s top honor, The Zeigler Award.
93 square meters or more
Exhibitor: Aluvision
Design/Fabrication: Aluvision Inc., Duluth, GA, 470-252-3500, www.aluvision.com
System: Aluvision
Event: EuroShop, 2020
Budget: $250,000 – $499,000
Size: 25 x 15 meters
Photo: Ellen Goegebuer
In order to sell products, buyers must be able to envision themselves using them. Marketers at Aluvision, a modular-framing system provider, have this trick down pat. In fact, their mastery is evidenced in their EuroShop exhibit, which won over hordes of attendees and wooed the competition’s jurors. The latter crowned the 25 x 15 meters booth with The Zeigler Award, the program’s top honor.
Aluvision’s design is even more impressive considering the firm’s challenges. In addition to releasing its new corporate identity and 15 new products, Aluvision wanted to demonstrate the endless ways its modular framing system can coordinate with its compatible LED tiles.
Towering up to almost 6 meters tall and divided into three sections spanning two show-hall aisles, the resulting stand comprised Aluvision frames and profiles with integrated Hi-LED 55 tiles – all assembled without a single rigging point. Designers included new products throughout to show integration possibilities along with designated “product corners” where visitors could discover each offering’s novelties.
Furthermore, designers devised mesmerizing and colorful content for multiple LED installations, including an immersive cube, interactive floor, and engaging tunnel. Meanwhile, a hospitality zone offered both cozy conversation corners and open areas for discussions. In the words of one juror, “the stand provided a seemingly endless amount of surprise and delight, along with beautiful moments of discovery throughout.”
93 square meters or more
Exhibitor: The Coca-Cola Co. (Hubert’s Lemonade)
Design/Fabrication: ExpoMarketing Group LLC, Tustin, CA, 949-861-7344, www.expomarketing.com
System: Aluvision Inc.
Event: Natural Products Expo West, 2019
Budget: $40,000 – $79,000
Size: 10 x 6 meters
Photo: Exposures Ltd.
If Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” song were an exhibit, it’d be this cheerful creation for Hubert’s Lemonade, a brand of The Coca-Cola Co. Incorporating faux fruit, artificial turf, and the company’s logo featuring a lemon with a “winky” face, the 10 x 6 meters stand certainly brought a smile to judges’ faces. However, it no doubt made the firm’s marketers cheery too, as the booth was a rental structure with a price tag in the range of $40,000 to $79,000.
Debuting at Natural Products Expo West and featuring an Aluvision Inc. system, the booth served as a sizeable sampling station, allowing visitors to taste test lemonade flavors such as blood orange, watermelon, and mango. To foster an open environment and clearly brand the locale as Hubert’s hub, designers positioned a towering pass-through structure in the center of the footprint. While its height fostered visibility, the construction’s whimsical graphics and industrial lighting made sure the brand name didn’t go unnoticed.
To further amplify the sense of prominence and to offer seating areas for those who preferred to sit and sip designers incorporated a Plexiglas wall that protruded from the main configuration. While the wall was peppered with vinyl graphics of colorful lemons, it still retained enough transparency to maintain sight lines.
The stand’s 3-D logos, bright-yellow shelving, faux moss, and artificial turf flooring complemented the brand and wowed the judges. “This booth really stands out from the rest, The colors, graphics, and textures pair perfectly with the brand’s fun, happy feel.” said one juror.
Exhibitor: State of New Jersey, Division of Travel and Tourism
Design/Fabrication: Novak Birch Inc., Baltimore, 609-313-1428, www.novakbirch.com
System: Agam Group Ltd.
Event: International Pow Wow, 2019
Budget: $250,000 – $499,000
Size: 10 x 10 meters
Photo: Proto Image
When it came time to purchase a new stand, the State of New Jersey’s travel and tourism division had a list of objectives almost as long as the Jersey shoreline. First and foremost, it hoped to highlight the state’s diverse vacation and entertainment options. Working with designers at Novak Birch Inc., the team settled on a captivating design whose road-trip theme drove visitors to the Garden State and rose to the top of the Best Use of Graphics category.
The design featured a literal and thematic pathway down the center. Comprising printed vinyl flooring, the trail included imagery of winding thoroughfares and iconography referencing New Jersey’s roadside destinations. Along both sides, designers positioned freestanding wayfinding signposts whose directional arrows called out additional attractions, such as casinos, outdoor recreation, and farm-to-table dining options. Walls made from Agam Group Ltd. components enclosed the floor plan on two sides and provided space for ample messaging, including 3-D backlit letters and eye-catching photographs highlighting more popular destinations. While these thematic graphic elements likely wooed attendees, they definitely pleased Eighth Annual Portable and Modular Exhibits Awards judges, who lauded them as “intriguing,” “relevant to the objectives,” and “consistent and well-executed across different mediums.”
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