EXHIBITOR magazine survey shows the popularity of exhibit refurbishment
EXHIBITOR Media Group, the leader in trade show and corporate event marketing education, recently announced the results of Exhibitor Magazine's 2011 Rental/Refurb Survey, sponsored by Lynch Exhibits Inc., which indicates that a great many exhibitors refurb their structures to extend exhibit life.
The results show that 89% of exhibitors own at least one exhibit structure with nearly a quarter of respondents owning five or more exhibits and 31% of exhibit managers are planning to build a new custom exhibit in the next 12 months.
Nearly six in 10 exhibit managers have refurbished an exhibit in the past. The vast majority of respondents who have refurbished an exhibit agree it was worth the investment, regardless of the extent of the refurb. Most said it extended the life of their structures by approximately one to four years.
Travis Stanton, Editor of EXHIBITOR magazine, commented: "Custom is apparently still king, but it's clear that rentals and refurbs are viable, cost-efficient options that offer exhibit managers their own unique benefits."
Rob Russell of RGL Displays Ltd extols the benefits of replacing graphics rather than paying out for a new banner/pop up stand: “We print and fit replacement graphics for most makes of banner stand and pop up stand. Not only do replacement graphics save you money, they also help to keep your carbon footprint down, thus helping the environment.
“With the very latest in inkjet technology we print using photo quality 2400 x 1200dpi printers to give you the best possible result from the artwork that you supply. The images are guaranteed not to fade for 3 years with a laminate in direct sunlight or up to 200 years away from sunlight. So you can extend the life of your exhibit structure quite dramatically while also keeping costs to a minimum.”
Joe Plosky from POD Exhibition Systems also finds that many exhibitors are interested in using replacement graphics rather than paying for a new structure or renting exhibits: ‘we often re-skin existing portable stands like pop up stands, banner stands and the like with new graphics.’
POD have also come up with an innovative new modular stand system that capitalises on this area of business as well as providing exhibitors with a cost-effective structure that enables them to make change after change to fit in with their marketing or brand message:
‘We sell a new modular exhibition system which is solely designed for getting the maximum from your investment, because you can re-configure, re-design, re-brand the stand as many times as you wish to get the most from it, as shows come up. We redesign FOC and you can print new graphics for it, add to it, take away from it and even hire parts or the whole stand.
‘The new system is very flexible and we are getting a lot of demand for it.’
This is a very good move by the company if you consider the survey results. Not only are exhibitors taking full advantage of refurbishment possibilities but it is far more popular than hiring structures. The survey results show that even though three-quarters of marketers understand the benefits associated with renting exhibits, only about one-fifth have taken advantage of rental options in the past 12 months.
Total Displays, the one stop display shop, also offer a refurbishment service for exhibition and display structures.
Layth Karagholi says “We get a high percentage of customers new and old looking to extend the life of their existing system.” Many of the products Total Displays offer online are simply hanging systems for graphics. For the end user purchasing these systems the benefits are that all graphics are easily interchangeable, something Total Displays sell as a customer feature.
Layth continues “as a graphic manufacturer for almost any system application, we see customers purchasing new products as well as refurbishing old products in many of our sales. Companies are more frequently changing their message to market – so in turn changing their graphics.”
With leading exhibition suppliers offering so many excellent options for refurbishment it is no wonder that such a high percentage of exhibitors consider this service as extremely valuable.
Comprehensive results of the 2011 Rental/Refurb Survey will be published in the September issue of EXHIBITOR magazine.