Pick a card, any card. That’s what
Freeman employees will be asking their exhibition clients to do
when they undergo the newly minted Brand Sensory Exploration
process, which the Dallas-based exhibition services company has
devised to gain deeper insight into clients’ marketing strategies
and to produce more effective exhibits.
For each of the five senses, Freeman
has a stack of 10 cards, each displaying a different photo or
concept. (“Sight” cards, for instance, offer images such as candles
or Daffy Duck; “touch” cards depict items such as flannel or coal.)
Clients select pictures that most closely align with their vision
of their own company’s brand, which gives Freeman representatives a
starting point in designing the exhibit booth.
“It’s definitely an ‘Aha!’ moment,”
says Jeffrey Cameron, Freeman’s vice president of design and
creative. “As much as we walk away with a greater understanding of
the client, they gain some insight into what they’re doing.”
While not new, the concept of branding
is hotter than ever in the trade show industry. Los Angeles-based
GES Exhibition Services recently acquired Ethnometrics, a company
that studies face-to-face marketing environments to help clients
analyze their exhibits. Other firms, like the Kansas City,
Mo.-based George Fern Co., hold that clients should brand every
communication with their customers, says Shirley Soltis, a vice
president at Fern.