Another Bloody Rushed Activation

A MarComm Manager's Showcase Nightmare

by Bryan Smith

Bryan Smith

The Experientialist - Fascinated by the effect colour, light and spacial ergonomics have on the human emotional state, Bryan loves feeling he gets from clients smiling faces when they see the end product complete.

Bryan started his humble career way back in 1994 at the Technikon Natal Durban, where he studied Theatre Craft.
After spending decades traversing the event, expo and activation landscape, he found himself drawn to conceptual, creative work.
This universal calling led him into discovering his innate, natural ability of translating key communication threads into real life experiential design. Hence the title Experientialist. (One of many “Bryanisims”)

In his spare time, of which there isn’t too much, he relishes the feeling of attacking a great single track MTB ride in the country. And of course the odd braai!

Brand Experience platforms such as activations, conference showcases' and expos provide a fantastic opportunity for a company to show off new products and generate awareness. With potential customers walking past your area in droves, you’ll need to stand out amongst your competitors, literally.

It makes sense then to prepare your brand activity well enough in advance, but this is often not the case. What does happen is that opportunities to showcase pop up with very short lead times or a directive arrives from above and signoff on budgets happen late. This creates pressure on the Marketing team, not only to ensure their products are display ready but that the Brand Displays can be designed, quoted and put into production in time for the expo or activation.

What's in Storage?

With a very short lead time, sometimes only days, marketing managers have to act quickly to find a suitable display solution. A junior scrambles down to the store room to investigate, another team member reaches out to secure a suitable stand builder or supplier. Often however, the store room is in disarray and the team rarely have a clue what’s available, let alone what condition it is in. Stand solutions can be expensive and often cumbersome, solving the problem for the current situation alone.

Because brands go through various sales cycles, buying various branding elements as they go, it makes sense they would put it in a store room for later use. These store rooms are often too small, so there’s always some panel that goes missing or the displays have been packed away so badly that they are damaged or dirty.

Impossible Deadline

Every industry comes with its stresses, but the world of marketing is particularly frantic, so impossible deadlines are commonplace. Many brand and communication managers have come to me because they’re on edge and need a fast display solution that looks good. We take that headache away.

Given enough time, we will design an intricate custom display utilising the power of T3.

Offering a longer term, flexible, high quality display solution that can be redesigned and configured for each opportunity. Maintained and made available from an organised stock and implemented quickly with a much lower cost. Enabling multiple use and multiple configuration. That’s why elasticbrand is nimble and agile, able to turn around an install in a matter of days.

I Hope it Looks Okay

There are two distinct categories of display solutions available to brands. The first is your workshop custom build, traditionally wood, vinyl, paint and so on. System, or Shell Scheme, is the second option and is made up of aluminium beams and panels that are often vinyl clad.

The question is why even look at traditional “custom” stands constructed from wood and clad in paint and vinyl?

T3 System, the world's most versatile display system. The lightweight aluminium beams can carry all types of display panels including rigid panels, flexible panels and fabric panels. All that’s left to do is meet and discuss the design, after which we produce the various elements. The best part is, it doesn't look like a traditional frame “system” at all, proving that although the brief may have been rushed, there has been no compromise in the quality.

Enough Budget?

The joy of this solution is that it’s completely reusable, meaning the next time you have an opportunity, there’s no sanding and repainting to delay things. It gets cleaned and shelved away for next time. On the house.

We also design your T3 Structure in such a way that you can use the various elements all together at the same time or reconfigure and rearrange them for different spaces or product lines at different markets.

Because you’re buying the fabric outright, all you’re paying for is the rental of the stand, which is lower on cost. We also handle the set up and pack up of the stand so you don’t have to. Then it goes back into our warehouse. Next time you need to jump on an opportunity or you’re in a panic to get an opportunity to showcase up in time and on budget, you simply send us an email and we run with your next impactful display.