There really is no typical JKS project. Some of our clients come to us with a fully formed idea and ask us to execute it. The challenge with this approach is figuring out how to make their vision come to life within budget limitations. But others come to us with just a thought or an idea and lean on us to turn their idea into reality, which is more of a challenge.
Any partner you are working with needs to have three things to make it happen – experience, creativity, and resources. You can apply these three things to virtually any situation where you want to partner with a business to get something done.
EXPERIENCE
There’s no replacement for experience – it can only come with time. Because we’ve been in the business for so long, we understand that our experiential displays need to be fun AND functional, meaning quick to assemble and disassemble, and able to fit into the transportation vehicles. Those may sound like basic things any partner should be planning for, but you’d be surprised how often they get overlooked. We know logistics and display management so well, we can plan accordingly.
CREATIVITY
This doesn’t mean just being able to come up with an idea. It encompasses creating ideas that fit the brand, meet the needs of the client, and will engage with audiences. Because we have developed hundreds of experiential displays over the years, we understand what works and doesn’t work when trying to engage audiences.
RESOURCES
If your partner doesn’t have the resources needed for the project, then nothing will get done. Our clients know we have the proper resources: a large facility where we build out projects on-site; the personnel on-hand to assemble and test displays before it goes into the field; the materials on-hand to create virtually anything; the logistics and management skills to make sure the display gets where it needs to be and is set up quickly and efficiently; and the space to store the display when it’s not in use.
Recently, we were able to work on two projects from the beginning (idea generation) to the end:
E-Cigarette Exhibit
We designed a mobile exhibit for Zoom Marketing who has an e-cigarette manufacturer client. The exhibit was designed to take to large music festivals and other events around the country. There is a lot of activity at these events and people are looking for things to do, so the brand needed something very interactive.
They came to us with the idea, but very few details. They wanted a house-like environment where people could sit and try their product but wanted it to have the look and feel of a “cool New York bar.” They were aware of some of our BizBox projects (check out our previous blog post) and thought a similar concept would work well. Our job was to work out all the details. We developed a concept, which you can see below. Visitors enter through the front, get a product sample, and then get to enjoy the lounging area out back.
The finished display was just as we had envisioned it:
For this project, our combination of experience (with utilizing the BizBox in particular), creativity (in designing the right type of interaction and place for visitors to try the product), and resources (we built the whole display at our facility and transported it to the festival) resulted in a display that checked all of our client’s boxes.
Allstate Hot Chocolate 15k/5k Post Race Recovery Zone
The Allstate Hot Chocolate 15k/5k is run at cities across America at various times of the year to benefit the Make-A-Wish® Foundation. However, as they say on their website, “the chocolate really begins to flow at the Post Race Party”. The post race recovery zone is the first stop after the runners finish their race and it’s a pretty important stop before the party begins.
Octagon – the marketing partner- came to us to help design a cool venue for the post race recovery zone. The process started by asking, “What would people who had just run a 5k or 15k race want besides music and hot chocolate?” and brainstorming began from there. As you can see in this rendering, the Recovery Zone was designed for the runners to stretch their muscles, have access to massage tents, and a comfortable seating area where racers could sit and enjoy their hot chocolate (or other beverages).
Again, we used our experience and creativity to develop the idea, and our resources to make it a reality. The finished display was a big hit, and Allstate was very happy with the results.
So, when you’re looking for a partner, look for one with experience, creativity, and resources. That’s true for any project in any business, whether you need an experiential marketing firm to create a display, an architect to design a building, or an accountant to take care of your finances. If the partner you choose has all three – experience, creativity, and resources – you’ll be in good hands.