Libbey trade show display vignette ambiente 2

One of the best ways to showcase product in your trade show booth is by creating one or more vignettes.

Vignettes are merchandised areas that incorporate props, themes and/or environments to help your customers envision how your product will look when they use it. Vignettes can be as small as a tabletop, reside inside a display case, or be an actual full-scale environment visitors can enter.

Well-designed vignettes guide your trade show prospects to key products, illustrate how products work together, deepen immersement and engagement, elicit an emotional response from visitors, prolong attendees' visits to your trade show booth and moves customers through the sales funnel.

According to author R. Srinivasan in the retail world, merchandising influences two thirds of all sales. And several 3D Exhibits customers have had great success with this technique lately.

Here's a deeper dive into how this works and how to apply the same principals to your trade show display:  

Vignettes draw attention

People are instinctively drawn to vignettes. This is because the human brain has been programmed to puzzle out clues from our environment to figure out what they mean. (This goes back thousands of years to the cave man era when our brains had to tell us that the scent of fresh berries meant food—and that the presence of fresh bear scat meant danger.)

In other words, when we view a vignette, our minds immediately start trying to fill in the blanks: What is this? Where would this be? Who would use it or be here? How would they use it? And why—or what does it all mean? So just having one or more in your exhibit is going to improve your ability to draw attendees.  

Vignettes evoke imagination and create understanding

As trade show booth visitors view your vignette, their brains will automatically look for connections—specifically how what they see relates to themselves. Retailers know this and create aspirational window displays. The best examples encourage customers to envision themselves living a life they'd like to lead and feeling a way they'd like to feel—surrounded by the retailer's products.

For business-to-business selling, trade show attendees are more likely corporate buyers, retailers, manufacturers or distributors—rather than end users. But this tactic still works. For instance, use vignettes to illustrate how sexy customers' product look in your packaging, how well your products fit with the end user's lifestyle or how sexy these products are going to look in the retailer's store or showroom.  

Vignettes forge a personal and emotional connection

Another aspect of the human brain that works in your favor is that specific details evoke personal memories. For instance, if you see a vignette decorated in the same style as your Aunt Frieda's lake house—not only will you remember what a good time you had the last time you visited Frieda—you will actually re-live the pleasing emotions you felt during your visit.

This sort of reaction can be triggered by an image, object, a distinct setting, an ambiance, a style—or even a scent, color, texture or taste.

When a trade show display vignette reminds visitors of window-shopping in New York, a wine-tasting trip or dinner at a favorite restaurant—the feelings related to that experience become attached to this new experience, increasing buyer preference and forging an emotional connection.

amcor trade show exhibit booth display vignette

Vignettes articulate brand and communicate value

The style of your vignette communicates the feel of your brand quickly and effectively. Think about the difference between how meat looks displayed in a cooler in the grocery store versus showcased at a boutique butcher shop. Or how differently the same white dinner plate looks on the shelf at Walmart, in a kitchen vignette at IKEA, or placed on a flowered tablecloth next to a svelte vase and paisley tea cup at Anthropology.

The vignettes you design for your trade show booth should help prospects quickly understand your company by expressing your distinct brand personality and support your positioning and your price point. Create vignettes that let trade show attendees experience whether your company and products are streamlined and useful, elegant and high end, or fun and irreverent.

Other benefits:

  • Vignettes lengthen visitor engagement by making your products appear more interesting—and visually communicating which are used for what.
  • Vignettes educate by answering questions such as:How will this work in our office or factory? What do I need to make this work? How do I make this look good? Are there uses and applications I may not have thought about?
  • Vignettes cross-sell by illustrating how your products interrelate, work together—or just look good together.

Do you use vignettes in your exhibit? Learn some best practices for incorporating vignettes into your trade show displays here. If you'd like to explore how this might work in your exhibit, shoot an email to ngenarella (at) 3DExhibits (dot) com and I'll hook you up with one of our exhibit designers.