THE CHALLENGE
As an exhibitor showcasing emerging products at different shows within different industries, recreating the same experience over and over just didn’t fit HD Supply’s event marketing objectives. The last thing the HD Supply event marketing team wanted was for attendees to feel like they’ve already “been there, done that” with their brand.

THE SOLUTION
So how do we help exhibitors like HD Supply maintain a fresh and unique booth design while also providing the flexibility needed to participate in a wide variety of trade shows each within very different verticals? The short answer, our rental-only Access Model. For HD Supply, the process began back in 2019 when they decided to switch to an access model instead of owning their trade show booth assets. Forcing the same materials to represent different goals at each of their events wasn’t the best use of their event marketing budget.

THE PROCESS
HD Supply created a communication plan with us to clarify its goals and objectives for each trade show they attend. Then, they worked alongside our design team to creatively bring that vision to life. HD Supply emphasized the importance of creative freedom and flexibility in designing for the moment. They wanted to develop a fresh concept for each show to keep attendees intrigued. Once we gained a clear understanding of the target audience for each show, we worked together to find creative outcomes to bring HD Supply’s vision to life for each unique exhibit.

THE OUTCOME
Since 2019, Steelhead has created innovative and diverse environments at five different marquee events. Exhibit footprints have ranged from dimensions as small as 20 x 20 at the IHG Americas Investors Leadership Conference, to 40 x 40 at NAA Apartmentalize, to as large as 60 x 20 at the Choice Hotels Annual Convention. And as of late 2020, HD Supply announced some exciting news by becoming part of The Home Depot^® corporation, which they proudly showcased via a 20x30 footprint at ISSA 2021.

TAKEAWAYS
It’s important to understand what the market requires when developing a trade show environment. What is the unique concept of each exhibit and what specific audience are you trying to reach? We thoroughly worked through these details to create the appropriate sensory experience as we collaborated with HD Supply to design each environment.

By collaborating closely with HD Supply, we were able to maintain flexibility in both the scale of the exhibits and the customization of each environment, which in turn had a significant impact on the specific audience being targeted.