When I started in the trade show industry back in the early 1990’s (cough, cough…yes we are all getting older) a custom exhibit meant heavy. It meant solid. It meant huge shipping crates. It meant lightboxes with heavy bulbs and heavier duratrans graphic panel inserts. The first exhibit I managed was a big grey elephant. It literally was grey, though not really an elephant; it was a gargantuan artisan piece with laminate counters and elements that took an entire paid crew several days to install.
The good news is that today, over a quarter of a century later, a lighter weight, money-saving, self-install exhibit system, that looks just like a hand-crafted custom display, exists. That system is ISOframe. With ISOframe, this is no longer my father’s, or even my, exhibit experience!
The best way for me to explain how revolutionary ISOframe can be, is to tell you a story about an exhibit transformation project, completed by one of Mark Bric ISOframe’s distributors located in Singapore, for a client in Australia. The tale involves money savings, labor reduction, shipping weight & drayage cost reduction, friendly on-site training, convenient self-installation and environmental happiness. Who can resist that? Hearing about ISOframe might change your custom exhibit paradigm so hang on!
In 2015 Amber & Green, an exhibit house and a Mark Bric ISOframe dealer in Singapore, took a proactive approach to garnering new exhibit display clients by targeting a few potential clients with larger exhibition spaces for the annual ADEX Asia Dive Expo in Singapore. One of these clients was the Professional Association of Diving Instruction (PADI), the world’s leading scuba diver training organization. Amber & Green was asked to submit a bid for a client pre-specified design for a 6m x 3m (approx. 20’ x10’) traditional custom booth consisting of a dual height backwall and two front counters. Unfortunately, Amber & Green did not get this job as their quote for the traditional style custom exhibit was simple too much money for PADI’s allocated budget.
Not one to give up, Amber & Green approached PADI again in 2016. This time they came to PADI with the fresh idea to use the ISOframe family of trade show displays to create the same look as they had suggested before. PADI was in a decision-making time crunch and was unable to commit to the switch to ISOframe. However, they decided to allow Amber & Green to build its traditional custom booth because, in effort to earn this company’s business, with a long-range plan of ISOframe conversion in mind, Amber & Green had reduced the cost for the “disposable” one-time-build-use-and-destroy custom exhibit. Simply put, Singapore based Amber & Green would build the custom exhibit for Australian based PADI on site in Singapore, then destroy it when done to eliminate the exorbitant fees of shipping a heavy traditional style custom booth to Australia after the show. See PADI’s traditional custom style booth pictured below:
In 2017, still convinced that ISOframe Intelligent Exhibiting products could save PADI money in the long run, and now understanding PADI’s timeline and decision-making process, Amber & Green resurrected the ISOframe Custom proposal process. Amber & Green researched the following:
- Recreating the traditional style custom stand with 2 ISOframe lightboxes and 1 ISOframe Fabric structure, complete with door and LCD mount. In addition, the large traffic blocking counters would also be replaced by two ISOframe ISObar counter components to make it more functional. In short recreating the same design as the traditional custom stand but with the lighter weight and reusable ISOframe display elements.
- Shipping estimates for PADI’s 4 annual shows located in Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Notice this required shipping the stand to and from Amber & Green’s location to the 3 overseas locations.
- PADI’s past costs in having their old custom stand built at each of the other 3 shows compared to one new ISOframe exhibit.
Armed with all of this information, and because of ISOframe’s easy to use fast-clamp self-build system, it was determined that over the course of 2 years and 8 shows, PADI would save over $21,000 by switching to the ISOframe system.
After seeing the numbers, and seeing the free, 3-D, full-color renderings created by Dedong, a graphic artist at Mark Bric Display in the US, PADI was convinced ISOframe Custom was a wise choice. ISOframe also provided the added benefit of and ability to be environmentally friendly; now, instead of just wasting exhibit materials after each show and creating unnecessary trash for local landfills with a “build & burn” exhibit, they were able to keep and reuse ISOframe.
Knowing that PADI would be using some very colorful underwater images ideal for the ISOframe Fabric Lightboxes, the regular left and right 2m wide x 2.5m tall (approx. 6.6’ x 8’) graphic walls were replaced with lightboxes of equal sizes.
The ISOframe Fabric system replaced the 2m wide x 3m tall (approx. 6.6’ x 10’) custom tower. The fabric graphic, a one-piece, tension graphic, also accommodated a standard ISOframe Monitor Bracket to hold the 42″ LCD screen. An ISOframe Fabric door section was installed on the right hand side of the structure, giving access to the storage area created within the tower.
By using a combination of ISOframe Fabric and ISOframe Lightboxes, not only was the original custom stand recreated but it was improved. The use of lighting on an exhibition stand can make a crucial difference in attention-getting power. The effect of the two lightboxes, really made the stand come alive. The fabric and lightbox systems complement each other very well. Combining the two ISOframe systems together seamlessly transformed PADI’s custom-built, disposable exhibition stand into a stunning, re-usable, long-lasting and money-saving exhibition stand.
The ISOframe family has many available options such as Ripple, Wave, Fabric, ISObar counters, and Lightboxes. All of these modular units can be combined in an individualized way to give you what Mark Bric calls the ISOframe Custom.
As with all ISOframe Custom Exhibits, personalized instructions, including photos of PADI’s exhibit, were created so that they could install their exhibit themselves – no heavy lifting…no need for show labor! Like Mark Bric in the US, Amber & Green offered their client a pre-show ISOframe installation learning session to ensure they were comfortable installing all elements of their display before show day arrived. The client found the process simple and much quicker than a custom display install.
Saving money, saving time, plus environmental friendliness and self-installation…ISOframe Custom is not your father’s custom exhibit! Heck, this is not even my old version of a custom exhibit. If you are using anything but one of the ISOframe Intelligent Exhibiting choices, you have missed the mark.
Don’t be afraid of change… choose ISOframe, it’ll be the best change you will make all year.
- By Stacy D. Poole, Marketing Professional at Mark Bric Display Corp.
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