Have you attended a tradeshow lately? If you have, you’ve probably noticed that each booth is set up to not only grab your attention, but compel you to take action. Some are so enticing that before you know it, you’ve touched, tasted or tried whatever they are selling and even signed up for the free gift. From the sounds of this blog, you would think we frequent tradeshows every weekend. In actuality we don’t, but our designs do. Which means we better know what it takes to stop a show attendee in his or her tracks.

For starters you should have a darn good-looking booth. We recently helped our client, Doug McWhorter of Taste of Florida, do just that. Taste of Florida is a family-owned and operated drink mix company, known for their real fruit and real fruit puree mixes such as Bloody Mary and Margarita. Having partnered with Doug on a variety of projects from his website design to business materials we know he likes a vibrant, beach-y aesthetic. So when he said he wanted to create a theme for his trade show materials, we immediately thought beach bar.

With Doug on board, we set about designing table throws that mimicked a driftwood, sand-weathered bar. On the front of the “bar” we placed a surfboard with the Taste of Florida logo and a message to “Take the Taste Challenge”. The sides of the “bar” show unique branded elements, a beach bag complete with branded beach ball and stacked shipping crates with Taste of Florida bumper stickers on them.

In case that wasn’t enough, the top of the “bar” has eight “Take the Taste Challenge” coasters laid out and at the foot of the bar there’s a strip of fabric made to look like sand. To accompany these three table throws, we designed four banners. Three of the four banners were designed to stand together to create a full scene, while the fourth could be used alone or as an accent. The three-part banner wall displays a life-size Taste of Florida surfboard and beach ball with a full display of the drink mixers available. The background utilizes the same white sand beach and crystal blue sky from the website and the messaging, “Some say we’re the best, taste for yourself” encourages a passerby to sample a mixer.

When fully set-up, the Taste of Florida booth is a masterpiece for the senses. Not only do the throws and banners instantly import you from the tradeshow floor to a beach chair, but the array of mixers available to taste are tantalizing. The mix of colors, tastes and friendly competition make for a tradeshow booth that has you stopping, looking, tasting and staying for a while.