The Exhibitor's Resource – Trade Show Marketing Blog

Exhibit Resources is proud to host the Triangle AMA’s February Social Event, “Green Marketing Challenges and Benefits in the 21st Century,”. Join us to learn more about Green Marketing (Challenges and Benefits) from IBM’s Program Manager, Steve Cole, and connect with other marketing leaders.

When: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Where: Exhibit Resources, 7521 Exhibit Court Raleigh, NC 27617

Attire: Business Casual

FEE: View Event Fees

RSVP Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Sustainability is an imperative for 21st century business —one that not only encompasses conservation and pollution prevention, but also enables the creation of entirely new marketing opportunities, such as strengthening brand reputations and creating products and services that give rise to new markets. How do you do this and enable your workforce, dematerialized operations, prepare for pending regulatory compliance and still keep cost in line? Mr. Steve Cole with IBM’s Energy and Environment Division will address these questions as well as how to identify and manage the marketing responsibilities in this new “low carbon economy” and be environmentally responsible at the same time- to the benefit of both the planet and the bottom line.

Steve Cole works as a program strategist for IBM Smarter Plan ―Green & beyond initiative. He is responsible for IBM’s end to end “green” segment business plan, working closely with IBM Systems, IBM Systems Storage, IBM Global Technology, IBM Software Group, IBM S&D Industry Solutions, and IBM Sustainable Business Services and Solutions. Steve is a two time recipient of the prestigious Gerstner Award for Customer Excellence for his contributions in the creation and execution of IBM On Demand and for IBM Project Big Green. Previous experience includes Vice President, Telular Corporation and Vice President of Marketing, ITT Telcom Systems.

Business Sponsor:
Exhibit Resources is a full-service exhibit design and event marketing agency based in Raleigh. We provide total trade show management, including the design, fabrication and installation of trade show exhibits and corporate interiors for clients worldwide. Our portable, modular, and custom displays, combined with our full-color large format graphics, support face-to-face marketing efforts for organizations of all sizes.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Exhibit Resources hosted the fall Raleigh Durham AAF presentation at our showroom on Thursday. Dr. Rob Britton, former Managing Director, Brand Development and Advertising for American Airlines, discussed how the airline rebounded after the tragic events of 9/11, and how the marketing lessons learned through that process can inform marketing efforts in other turbulent times. American asked Rob Britton to lead American’s advertising and marketing team just three weeks after the attack.

Airline management is often crisis management, but that doesn’t even begin to capture the challenge American’s marketing team faced in 2001 and 2002. But Rob had experience with a previous American challenge, he had successfully managed the media and maintained American’s corporate reputation before and during the February 1997 pilot strike.

Rob explained what American did to nurture a strong brand, instill confidence in customers, employees and the larger public, and to generate sales. The new direction was a gradual evolution, starting with an initial campaign to honor those lost in the tragedy through print pieces that were tributes more than ads. Following that was a message that spoke more about the reasons people fly than the specifics of airplanes, airports or the logistics of travel. Rather, the stories behind why people fly, such as visiting family and friends, were brought to the forefront. The campaigns gradually built up to advertising that ultimately did bring in the use of triumphant, soaring imagery of American Airlines planes, and a strong, re-emerging brand.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Exhibit Resources hosted another ICA (Independent Communicator’s Alliance) meeting Wednesday night at our showroom in Raleigh. And this time, in addition to providing the venue, we also offered the insight by presenting our talk “The Value of Face-To-Face Marketing.”

The trend in recent years has been for marketers with tight budgets to allocate their limited dollars to customer-facing and lead-generating efforts, including trade show and event marketing. At Wednesdays talk, I provided an overview of what it takes to create successful trade show displays and face-to-face marketing programs. I discussed how exhibiting benefits the broader marketing effort, how exhibitors can realize the greatest return on their event marketing investment, and I gave a sneak peek at emerging trade show display design trends.

Highlights from the talk were mentioned in a press release written about the talk by ICA member Cindy Turner.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Lana Calloway, President of Exhibit Resources, presented “The Value of Face to Face Marketing” at WBON-Cary’s August luncheon on Wednesday, August 5th 2009.

Marketing budgets are often on the chopping block when recessions hit.  But the trend over the past few years has been for marketers to move tighter budgets away from advertising and mass marketing and instead allocate those dollars to customer-facing and lead-generating endeavors.  It appears that this trend will continue. 
 
At the luncheon, Lana explained how to:

·  Leverage this trend in your own marketing practices
·  Use steady marketing as a tool to INCREASE your sales during a recession
·  Make gains in your market that will last for the next few years
·  Get the most value out of your face-to-face marketing efforts    
 
About Lana Calloway
Lana Calloway is President of Exhibit Resources, a Raleigh-based full-service exhibit design agency that designs, builds and manages trade show exhibits for clients throughout the Southeast.  Lana has over 25 years of experience in trade show and event management, and her company, Exhibit Resources, will be celebrating its 18th year in business in September of this year. 
 
Ms. Calloway was among 25 winners honored by The Triangle Business Journal at the 2000 Women in Business Awards Ceremony.   She accepted a Pinnacle Business Award from the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce in 2005 on behalf of her company, which was recognized as one of five established Triangle businesses that have exhibited exemplary success in staying power, business growth, community involvement, and innovation.    In November of 2006, Exhibit Resources was honored with a Fast 50 Award, and most recently was also named one of the top 100 Small Businesses in North Carolina by Business Leader Magazine.

About WBON-Cary
Women Business Owners Network (WBON) of Cary meets the first Wednesday of every month, 11:30 AM, at the Matthews House, located at 317 W. Chatham Street in Cary. WBON-Cary was founded in 1995 as a non-profit organization comprised of women in leadership positions.  We welcome all women in the Triangle Area who are owners, part owners, and prospective business owners, or are employed by businesses that support women in business. 
 
The mission of WBON-Cary is to provide experiences that educate, enlighten, inspire, support, motivate and foster growth professionally as well as personally.  Monthly meetings and guest speakers provide a forum for discussing issues and experiences relevant to professional women. Networking and local philanthropic projects help stimulate individual development and provide a positive presence in the community.  For more information about WBON-Cary, please visit the WBON-Cary website or contact Ruth Drum at Crossroads Business Center at 919-424-3801.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Although the West Coast is home to the lion’s share of computer gaming industry, the Triangle is becoming a strong East Coast rival. And last week’s first annual Triangle Game Conference at the new Marriott City Center in downtown Raleigh is proof. Exhibit Resources was pleased to be the exclusive exhibit sponsor of the conference, attended by more than 300, and provide all event signage and the furnishings for the EA Sports Career Lounge. We also enjoyed working with Epic Games and Lenovo on the exhibit spaces they set up for the event.

There are now more than 30 game development and related software companies in the Triangle, including Emergent Game Technologies of Chapel Hill, Vicious Cycle in Morrisville, and Virtual Heroes in Durham, making it the 5th largest game development community in the nation, and the top spot for game engine development.

Our installation of a floating Vikuiti screen to showcase trailers from upcoming video game releases was a big hit. Exhibit Resources has been installing more of this type of integrated AV for clients as video and interactive media become more prominently featured in exhibits and displays.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Exhibit Resources hosted another Independent Communicators Alliance meeting on Wednesday night. About 25 designers, marketing professionals, and corporate writers attended the talk, entitled “Creating your BUZZ on the Internet: Marketing that gets results!” The talk focused on non-traditional marketing via Social Media and was led by Deidre Hughey of The BUZZ Builder.

Exhibit Resources has hosted several events similar to this one in an effort to support professional design and marketing organizations.

Popularity: 13% [?]

We enjoyed very much having Tom Bowman here at Exhibit Resources to speak about sustainable business practices, and how all businesses benefit from developing a “Green Business Plan.” We had over 100 people RSVP for the event, and were happy to host so many members of our community as we learned more about moving forward into a better, more sustainable business future. Stay tuned for a full recap of Tom’s talk, and links to online resources to help your business kick start it’s Green Business Plan.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Our Spring Event, “Meet Mr. Green” is fast approaching. Tom Bowman (AKA Mr. Green), will be here on Thursday, April 16th to give his presentation on Sustainability, Green Exhibiting, and how Green Business Practices are the way forward for businesses, both from an environmental perspective, as well as an economic one.

Attendees will learn how to reduce the impact of event marketing, how to improve their company’s overall sustainability effort, and how to turn the huge challenges we all face into opportunities.

Tom Bowman is an advisor, strategist, communicator, and producer with a focus on global change, climate and energy science, and green business strategies. Through his work with the National Academy of Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and energy companies across the country, Tom discovered an urgent need to improve science communication and employ its results to make better, more sustainable decisions.

His team created the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences, and award-winning exhibitions on global warming, health, and ocean science that set new standards for engaging the public with authentic, unbiased information. Tom has written about climate change and communication priorities in the academic and popular press and has contributed to NOAA’s Essential Principals of Climate Literacy and NOAA/CORE Public Ocean Literacy publications. More Info at Bowman Global Change

Popularity: 13% [?]

We had a blast at the “Southern Fried” ADDY Awards at the new DPAC in downtown Durham last night. Exhibit Resources took the Gold ADDY in the “Trade Show Exhibit” category in this year’s competition for the “Burt’s Bees Green Exhibit” we produced.

In addition to the fun of winning, we also got a kick out of all of the myriad of interpretations of “Southern Formal” style. There were enormous cowboy hats, frilly Southern Belle dresses, “Colonel Sanders” style string ties, and lots of retro southern panache.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Exhibit Resources will be hosting the 2009 WorldQuest for Business event on Thursday, March 26th.

There is no question – the world has changed and continues to change. For better or worse, we are all being pushed into the global arena and must be quick on our feet. WorldQuest for Business is your best opportunity in the Triangle to grow your knowledge of world affairs and culture. And because WorldQuest for Business is comprised of four-member teams, you and your colleagues will benefit from the opportunity to work together toward an end goal. You’ll also enjoy outstanding networking opportunities among companies of all shapes and sizes as well as local professionals who register individually. Best of all, you’ll have a GREAT time!

WorldQuest for Business 2009

Popularity: 11% [?]