What colors, materials and finishes are trending for trade show exhibits? Cole Hauschildt, 3D Exhibits' creative marketing manager, recently spoke at Color Marketing Group's 2-Day Super Chromazone event in Cleveland, OH—and participated in an online interview.

Cole's presentation explained how trade show exhibit designers, including our design team at 3D Exhibits, uses light, movement, texture, natural tones, and color to create environments that accurately reflect the brands they represent. Cole also participated in an online interview with CMG. Here's an excerpt: 

Q: What color, material, and finishes are trending for exhibits? 

Cole: Companies are moving away from the sterile white and blue environments and focusing on creating warm, inviting presences in their exhibits. Currently, we're seeing earth tones and wood grain finishes being applied by exhibitors across many different industries. There is a large push towards being more environmentally friendly and the use of earth tones is part of that initiative. Some companies are even moving away from using plastic laminates in their exhibits and instead using more sustainable materials such as wood veneer and reclaimed wood.


 We're also seeing a robust use of printed textures as finishes. Printed fabric has been used for some time now but the advances in printing enable us to create very large textures to appear seamlessly across very large surface areas.


 It is also becoming more common to see digital content replacing the use of material finishes. High definition LED tiles can be manipulated to appear like a flat, printed graphic. This use of digital content creates a whole new realm for trade show exhibits, where content can change easily from show-to-show or rotate throughout the day without the incurred expense of printing multiple graphics.

 Q: What are the top five things that are important to transforming trade show booths into engaging marketing experiences? 

Cole: The five most important things when it comes to creating a trade show exhibit that is an engaging marketing experience are:

1. Pre-Event Promotion. Companies create interest and drive traffic before they get to the trade show.

2. Minimize Attendee Sacrifice. At a trade show, attendees have many exhibits and events competing for their attention. In order to get their time, your exhibit and your content have to be easy and accessible to attendees.

3. Engagement. The exhibitors who achieve the most success are the ones who utilize interactive and tactile differentiators to keep attendees engaged and educated once they arrive at their booths.

4. Measurement and Data Collection. Tracking ROI and capturing attendee data are key to evaluating the success of your trade show.

5. Post-Show Follow Up. No matter what happens on the show floor, it's the post-show follow-up that closes the deal.

 

Read the full interview here.