Posted March 25th, 2009 by Exhibitslist Team
Exhibitslist was recently at a large medical exhibition in Europe and were surprised to see the differences in exhibit building methods. At the end of the show many of the exhibits were built and all that was left was a few skids, a crate and some job boxes. What is the difference? In Europe nearly all the exhibits are rentals!
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Why has the business model developed so differently? Is it economics? Is it a lack of storage facilities? Or is it a push to quality? It seems to us at Exhibitslist that while rentals are oftentimes more expensive per show, they allow for more creative exhibits. Exhibits that are custom built for multiple shows often have to be reconfigurable to many different sizes. A custom rental can be configured into whatever is necessary for the need of the show. We noticed that the teams that were building the exhibits were quite large. A 20' x 30' exhibit had a team of 7 exhibition stand builders working on it! Often times a similar custom built North American exhibit can be installed by 3 or 4 installers.
Is it time for the North American industry to change? It likely will take a long time for that to happen. There are entrenched business practices in North America that revolve around storage, drayage, installation practices and pricing and more. But the business model in Europe is one that slowly will be coming over the pond.
Do you think that rentals are the way of the future? Why are European methods of construction better?
The only thing that holds companies back from custom rental is money. I hear it all the time, and it's as though an accountant has been running the marketing department - many exhibitors do not understand that larger companies do massive rental exhibit programs. Because they can afford to, they do a new exhibit at every show - which is the ultimate marketing experiment. Analyzing what works in your exhibit space allows you to cultivate the ultimate show ROI.
Does rental cost more in the long term? Yes. But are you exhibiting to save money, or sell your company and/or its products? If the goal in every marketing effort were to save money, why would you even have a marketing department?
Very well put. Now how do we say that to our clients???