Posts

Photo of logo and brochure design for Ben E. Keith's 2015 Mid South Food Show

Ben E. Keith Eats Up their Food Show Branding

/in , , /by

Ben E. Keith, a distributor of food service products and premium alcoholic beverages, located in North Little Rock, Arkansas, hosts an annual Mid-South Food Show. The one-day show featured technology demonstrations, over 150 of their vendors showcasing their latest items, an American Culinary Federation Culinary Competition, guest speakers, and even a party the night before.

They wanted a special look for this years event. It was important that the look communicate their overreaching focus of simply providing customers with fundamental tools they need to succeed. They also desired an fun, creative and edgy look that fell in-line with the spirit and goals of both the company and the event.

The solution was a logo that literally spotlights a spoon in front of an audience. The logo would be used on specially die-cut hexagon shaped brochure that would be distributed to customers during food deliveries. They also used JPG images from portions from the design to promote aspects of the event in their client email campaigns during the weeks leading up to the event.

IMG_4492_edited

Historically, the speaking portion of the event had not yielded a great deal of interest from participants. However, this year they had made a special effort to acquire speakers they thought would generate interest and likewise wanted to be sure those seats were filled. Because of the time constraints of the show, the keynote speaker would present one hour before the published event start time. The night before the event the staff cut-off the portion of the leftover brochures that featured the speaking schedule on one side and the cover graphic on the other. They handed those out to guests at their party the night before in an effort to drive traffic to both the early speaking event and the mid-day presenter. The result was great. Both the speaking events and the food show was well attended. They indicated that not only was the design creative and very fitting for the event, but that the hexagon brochure design was also key in getting attention and sparking conversation. Their only wish is that they had utilized the logo design in more of the event’s promotional items like tee shirts and banners.

IMG_4494

 

Photo of Ben E. Ketih sunglasses - lumpy mail

Ben E. Keith Uses Lumpy Mail to Increase Trade Show Appetite

/in /by
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

Ben E. Keith, a distributor of food service products and premium alcoholic beverages, located in North Little Rock, Arkansas, frequently uses hospitality and food trade shows to showcase their newest products. The company had committed to participating in a new event in Memphis, Tennessee and wanted to maximize their return by attracting restaurant owners, chefs and others in the industry to this event. They engaged CustomXM to assist them in their marketing efforts to drive booth traffic to this single-day food expo.

RESULTS

Over 160 individuals stopped by the booth and registered, which yielded a 52% response rate. Glenda Clark, part of the Ben E. Keith Marketing team, was ecstatic with the results.

“The turnout at the Memphis show was great! That is well over what we expected. At the last tradeshow we had in Memphis several years ago, we had less than 20 visitors.” 

TARGET AUDIENCE

The targeted audience was restaurant owners and chefs in the Memphis, Tennessee area.

SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE

Ben E. Keith engaged CustomXM to assist them in marketing an upcoming food show in Memphis, TN. It had been a while since they had participated in this Memphis event, and they wanted to use unique techniques to engage prospects and drive booth traffic. After determining the objectives and incentive, an Alaskan Cruise, two mailings were created to attract and engage the target audience. Ben E. Keith had a database of 305 prospects and sent them an invitation via a traditional style A6 mailer.

This was followed with a lumpy mail box that included a customized card and luggage tag, inviting recipients to stop by the booth and register for the grand prize of an Alaskan Cruise.

 

The mailer box, which was approximately 3.75” x 6.5” x 2”, looked very similar in shape and size to a “fried pie” box made famous by a national fast food chain. After getting postal approval that this box could in fact be mailed, CustomXM proceeded with the graphic design and production.

On the outside of the box, the words “Need A Vacation?” were boldly and prominently displayed along with the Ben E. Keith logo. Anyone in the restaurant or food industry knows how few and far between vacations are, so these words were chosen as they would certainly resonate with the recipients. Additionally, the unique size alone of this lumpy mail piece would capture the attention of the mail recipient. Inside the box was a personalized note card inviting recipients to visit the Ben E. Keith booth during the food show and register to win the grand prize of an Alaskan Cruise. Additionally, to reinforce the idea of a much needed vacation, a Ben E. Keith branded luggage tag was included in the box as well.

REASONS FOR SUCCESS

The main reason for success was a clever design that caught the attention of the recipient combined with a great offer (free cruise).

The $1,000,000 News Conference

/in , /by

With the announcement of a $1 million dollar grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, The Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub needed a polished and attractive backdrop for the press conference stage.  Not only would it be in the spotlight of the media, but also be host a number of important local, state and federal leaders.  SignsXM provided them with a 9’ x 7’ step and repeat backdrop, as well as two 3’ x 6’ foot retractable banner stands. customxm_hubconference_casestudy2

“In addition to helping us prepare for a major news announcement, we looked to the creativity of CustomXM to give our new location a sense of permanence. The interior and exterior signage and graphics they produced accomplished both with great success.”  – Warwick Sabin 

SignsXM also provided The Hub with window decals to add additional exterior branding to an exterior that is still a work in progress. A large acrylic contour cut Launch Pad sign greets the guest from the entrance facing Broadway.

customxm_hubconference_casestudy3

“The banners and backdrops created by CustomXM not only allow us to brand internally, we also use them for events and activities outside of the Innovation Hub.” – Warwick Sabin

The $1 million dollar grant will allow the Hub to complete building renovations, including establishing the Silver Mine co-working space.

 

Garver Engineering Trade Show Success!

/in /by

Garver is a multi-disciplined engineering, planning and environmental services firm. Garver utilizes exposure through industry trade shows targeting government, municipal, transportation and energy-related entities as a primary marketing channel. They wanted to improve trade show presence, increase awareness of the company’s services, drive traffic to the booth, social media outlets and hone in focus on qualified leads.

CustomXM developed a cross-media campaign utilizing email blasts and postcards personalized to each attendee. The communication encouraged recipients to follow Garver on social media outlets, and enter an iPad giveaway contest via a personalized website. Printed cards with a generic URL and QR Code were distributed at the show allowing attendees to register while visiting the Garver booth. Once in the website, they were asked to give general contact information, as well as potential interest in Garver’s engineering services, to which 28% of survey respondents indicated they did in fact have a need for the services.

“We are so excited to see that we have people who are in need of an engineer and are interested in knowing more about us, and we know that BEFORE the tradeshow. This is so awesome!” says Garver’s Kerrie Diaz

Overall, the campaigns drove a 29% response rate and increased traffic to their booth by 10 to 50% from the previous year. At one show, it was publicly announced that more attendees than ever before had stayed through to the end of the conference, credit was given to Garver’s iPad giveaway winner announcement.

“We’ve had a really positive response to this campaign from both our people here [at Garver] and visitors to our booth!” added representative Alan Watsongarver_tradeshow_2

 

Arkansas Department of Human Services

/in /by

 

The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) was participating in the  Arkansas Early Childhood Association Conference. Their goal was to introduce “Better Beginnings,” a new Quality Rating Improvement System for childcare providers. They wanted a campaign that would drive conference attendees to the DHS booth, introduce the new childcare rating system and educate attendees about online resources available to assist them in meeting federal standards for childcare providers. They needed to gather valuable data about the attendees’ knowledge and raise awareness of the new regulations through the list of survey questions.

Utilizing CustomXM’s interactive tools, attendees of the conference were given printed cards encouraging them to visit the DHS booth and access a survey via either a unique URL or a QR code. 900 cards were printed and handed out to attendees. 282 people visited the booth and completed the survey, which resulted in a 31.3% response rate from the survey of attendees. DHS learned that there was a great need to educate childcare givers.