Exhibit builders are increasingly challenged to be all things to all people as clients push for one-stop shopping to make their lives easier and their budgets more accommodating. While the added revenue channels can be great news to an exhibit company, there's always the double-edged sword of being able to deliver beyond your core business strengths.

In many ways, the whole industry is changing and going this way. Clients prefer a single source supplier. The key to meeting this demand is to be able to select project partners that ensure success, no matter the scope of the project. And nothing happens without good, solid project management coming into play.

Exhibits International has built a 20-year reputation on being able to anticipate our clients' evolving needs. We are an international company with offices in Toronto and Amsterdam and have created venues and attractions around the world.
A recent challenge for Nissan at the 2004 Canadian Auto Show illustrated just how Exhibits International was tested to adapt proven skills as exhibit builders to the requirement of producing two live events.

Changing Requirements

Just how did the company go from designing and fabricating previous Nissan booths to being stage-show producers? As the 2004 host manufacturer at the Canadian Auto Show, Nissan Canada was also responsible for the production of the opening ceremony. They wanted to use this opportunity to also launch the new Nissan X-Trail vehicle -- presently available in Europe, but about to be launched in North America, strictly for the Canadian marketplace.

What was interesting was that these events came out of the exhibit record Exhibits International had already established with our client. If you have built a reputation with your client and they respond to your creative and your way of thinking, it becomes a natural extension to be asked to apply that expertise to other disciplines, including live events.

Nissan asked Exhibits International to work with them to design, script and produce their two events: a host manufacturer opening ceremony and the X-Trail launch. Nissan had strong feelings about creating an original, dynamic show that maintained brand visibility during the press coverage, while also creating an intimate feel -- without looking extravagant.

The audience invited to the event was Toronto and international media. Nissan was very aware this group would be passing on information to their existing and future customers through their coverage. So they considered the general public an equally present target audience.

Understanding The Specs

One of the first challenges any exhibit company faces is in understanding the limits of the space. In this instance, the host event is always performed in the manufacturer's exhibit space. Exhibits International could draw on its design experience for auto shows worldwide to meet the demands. Understanding what can and can't be done within the hard elements of a space often drives the creative and sets the design limitations.

One restriction on this design was that the set for the live events had to be built for easy installation and dismantling, so it could be removed before the opening of the public show. Lightweight stage props were chosen to ensure portability. Stage elements included organic stretch fabric projection screens and crystalline structures. Everything was portable and easy to strike at the end of the show. Next was using these specs to develop out the concept.

The theme for the Toronto International Auto Show was already determined: Design Meets Desire. But it was up to Exhibits International to develop a show script and stage design that reflected that message and Nissan's core goals. In addition to some formal speeches from Nissan executives, the event had two components: an intimate welcome by Nissan as the host manufacturer and the launch of the Nissan X-Trail.

Like any exhibit company, most core teams rely on a series of brainstorms to come up with the creative. By pulling in talented people from many areas of the company you get more productive sessions that come at things from slightly unusual angles -- because the best ideas are often not the first thing you think of.

The Show: Two Events Come To Life

The theme of the event was DESIGN meets DESIRE, communicated in multiple languages moving slowly and evocatively across the backdrop. The audience begins to notice something dramatic is set to happen. The chief story-telling medium is a massive, organic stretch fabric to the left and right of the set. These pieces will move the audiences' hearts and minds, impressing upon them the vision of corporate logos, which are projected and seen prominently from all camera angles.
Towering videoscapes play on the two stretched fabric screens drawing the audiences' gaze upwards. The audience sees a rocky, crystalline structure between the two screens that leaves, but they don't yet know that this is the bond between them, the rough and tangible between the soft and ethereal. They see powerful images of men, women and children projected on one tower, while the other shows close-ups of vehicle designs. The images are stunning and reflect the two realities -- human desire and automotive design.

New Age electric violinist, Dr. Draw, enters to show off his improvisational playing and break-dancing moments between the two projections. His music is strange at first, changing tempo and actually directing the visuals. The audience is drawn to compare the images on one screen with the other. In a fiery and percussive crescendo, the stage goes dark in preparation for part two of the performance, the upcoming launch. An army of dancers takes over the stage.

In STOMP-like style and costumes, they hammer and drill at the rocky, crystalline structure to show that design is being overtaken by desire. Fire, rain and snow are projected on the screens to mimic the typical weather conditions in Canada. Dancers follow up by depicting wind, rain and fire. From above, dancers bungee and invade the stage, removing more of the structure.

Just when everyone expects the monumental reveal, the pace changes. After the cacophony, it's suddenly calm and still. We see warm images of young families -- the new vehicle's target market. Everything ends in a triumphant burst of light and smoke -- two shiny, new X-Trails emerge from the cloud.

The Result

Very few exhibit companies have performance artists in the wings waiting to be called into action. What they do have in-house are project managers, used to being resourceful and under stress. In our case, it was their efforts in sourcing this talent and the right choreographers that ensured every element of the show converged to become a success.

The ability to manage multiple details is an exhibit company's strongest asset and gives it the flexibility to respond to client expectations. Project managers at Exhibits International come from a range of backgrounds, some technical, some artistic, some administrative. The range of skills allows Exhibits International to customize not just the team, but also its project managers to specific events. The result is often noticeable by clients who feel they have a highly knowledgeable point person to troubleshoot all eventualities.

In the end, the event was deemed a massive success. It resulted in multiple hits on Canadian national TV and media -- on four news broadcasts over a 12-hour period. Nissan believes it got great value for its investment since purchasing advertising time during these key time slots would have been a great deal more expensive than the free news coverage. eb