CREATIVE DIRECTION IN THE TRADESHOW SPACE
As creative director for KONG my number 1 goal was to make sure that the brand was represented in the best light possible. Part of this goal was tradeshow booths and graphics. This ranged from large, international shows, such as Global Pet Expo, where the booth footprint was 60ft x 20ft, to small distributor shows, where the booth is 10ft x 10ft. Please find a sampling of a few of the booths that I creative directed the structures and acted as graphic designer on the graphics.
Graphic light box with product tower.
Inflatable KONG from across the show.
Global Pet Expo 2020
In 2020, after 10 years of using the same booth at large shows, I was tasked with designing a new booth and finding a new vendor. I wrote a project brief and sent it out to 10 vendors around North America, I was able to narrow it down to 3 and start the process picking 1. After many excellent designs, I picked Condit Exhibits in Denver.
With help from their amazing team of designers and project manager, I was able to creative direct the new KONG 2.0 booth and create the graphics that brought it to life. The goal was to have an open booth that allows the attendees to walk through and and around the booth and never feel like it is busy. The main features were a 8 ft inflatable KONG shape that can be seen from across the tradeshow floor. In addition, there are 4 double sided tower to showcase new products being launched at the show. Each quadrant of the booth is connected to the tower with light up graphics and utilize one of the 4 main rubber strengths of the flagship toy.
Creative Direction & Design
Andrew PfeiferManufacturer & Structural Design
Condit ExhibtsProject Manager
Haley GavinDistributor Booth
As a company, KONG utilizes a distributor network around the globe. It came to my attention that there was a serious need to bring the United States, Canada and Australia inline with each other in order to maintain the brand and messaging in a consistent way.
After speaking with the sales team, I was able to distinguish a list of needs for these events. The events consist of showing off new products in a 10ft x 10ft space. The booth needed to be able to travel light, able to be assembled by a single person, and have 2 sets of graphics based on needs of the show. I was able to work with a vendor that offered 10ft booths that included a main graphic panel and 2 slatwall sections for products. For the middle graphic section, the panel is double sided so the sales person an pick which message to feature.
New Product Showcase Banners
These 2 table-top pull up banners were created for Global Pet Expo 2023. The new product showcase is an area of the show, that allows attendees to learn about featured products on their own. For 2023 these 2 products were featured for KONG.
The banners include callouts to show off the various features of the products, in a simple, easy to read format. The Fill or Freeze Tray is a bit less obvious of its purpose, so a QR code and mocked up examples, utilizing faux ingredients were used in front of the banner to help reinforce its purpose. These table-top banners travel easily for use at other event as a tool for the sales team.
Flagship Product Banners
The flagship toy at KONG is the shape that is used in the logo. It is referred to as the classic shape. It comes in 4 colors, which represent different rubber strengths, based on the needs of the dog. These 4 banners are used at various event and shows in order to not only act as a backdrop to the event, but to also educate the participants on the core values of each toy. In this case each banner tells the story of the product. The product logo at the top, with its main feature just below it. This feature reflects the same copy that is used on the packaging for the product itself, for consistency. Then the main image shows the product in use, with a size appropriate toy and a dog that represents the line as a whole.
I had the fun opportunity to feature my dog Jude in the Extreme banner. As you can see, Jude is super excited to be posing in front of himself.
