When you need to create new trade show display, plan to discuss your schedule, budget, exhibition space, how many times the booth will be used, and if there are any special requirements for the exhibit. If you would like to develop a breakthrough display stand, also take time to compile your creative requirements.

 

In my experience, people rarely organise and formalise their creative requirements prior to beginning work on a new project. They often begin with providing some elementary verbal instructions concerning the design requirements and then spend time gathering information as a result of questions from the creative team.

 

Letting an exhibition supplier work solely from verbal input is the simplest way to waste money and time. Often it produces a flashy but generic exhibit stand, creating a disconnect in communication.

 

If you collaborate with your design firm to produce a formal creative brief, you may be on track to creating an exhibition design that fully represents your brand and engages your target customer, and also increases the level of professionalism communicated by your brand.

 

Try to find someone who will collaborate with you and build a proper brief – a clear statement of all that you want to achieve and communicate with the new trade show exhibition stand. After you have a formal brief, it is easy to run it by key stakeholders and be sure that you are actually on the right track. This will act as a guide for the creative team ensuring that they clearly understand their mission.

 

Much of what you require to supply is readily available. A handful of telephone calls or quick visits with co-workers and you'll have almost all of the answers. The format you use really doesn't matter. Just gather the answers to the key questions and work with us to produce a brief.

 

Here's a selection of preliminary questions to use as a starting point:

Brand and Company Mission:

  • What is your brand position?
  • Exactly what is your corporate mission?
    These are usually brief formal statements prepared by the Marketing Department.
     

Background:

  • What do you want to achieve with the exhibition stand?
  • In what way will you measure the success of your trade show effort?
  • What's going on in the market? Any opportunities or problems in the market?
     

Your Target Customer:

  • Who is your target customer?
  • What could be avoided in talking to this audience?
  • What do they believe about your business before we tell them anything?
  • Is there a key secondary audience?
     

The Message:

  • If you could get one sentence through all the clutter, what would that be?
  • If they asked you to prove it, how would you do it?
  • Do you think there are other major points you need to communicate?

Be critical and honest concerning the answers to these questions. It is fantastic to focus on your company's strengths, but it is also crucial that you make sure the creative team knows your company's weaknesses and challenges.

 

Once you have the answers, partner with us at Spyder Displays to build a creative brief that gives a clear statement of expectations and layout a good framework for the creative team.  The most effective creative briefs result from collaboration between the client and their design team.