Home IBP at ISH in Frankfurt 2015

IBP | ISH | Frankfurt

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The Brief

ISH Frankfurt is the world’s largest exhibition for building services that concern energy and water and is the world’s leading trade fair for bathroom experience. Part of the worldwide IBP Group of companies, Conex Banninger specialises in providing the best plumbing fittings for customers in the domestic, commercial, industrial, HVAC, and shipbuilding markets worldwide. The brief for Frankfurt was to create a stand for ISH which would be modular and therefore reusable for other shows in IBP’s annual exhibition program. There is a huge variation in the size and type of products within their range – from giant gate valves that can be buried in a commercial building’s plant room to a prestigious monoblock tap that might form the centrepiece of an expensive bathroom. The exhibition designer’s solution was to create a number of modules – units with sides into which lightboxes could be incorporated, or a back that could be added to take the wall-mounted product. The exhibition stand was kept deliberately clean and white and free of embellishment so that the focus was solely on the products.

Objective

Brand Product Awareness & Increasing Market Share

Engagement

Visual Displays & Hospitality

Location

Frankfurt

Scope

Design, Development & Delivery

The Deliverables

It was important that the customers could see a good range of what IBP sells, so messaging was kept fairly minimal, with the focus on the product instead. In this case, the lower floor of the stand became an exhibit of their components, each unit like a chapter from their extensive parts catalogue. The upstairs was used for hospitality, so there was less focus on product and more focus on comfort and entertainment, so the materials were softer and more graphics used to create more of a brand experience than a showcase of product. Separating these two areas was key to the functionality of the stand and the experience felt by all visitors.

The Experience

An exhibition stand gives customers a chance to see, feel, and experience products in real life. It also gives people the opportunity to meet face-to-face. Having worked with IBP for many years across a range of shows we already had a taste of what our client would want from this show. Always working in collaboration with IBP as our client has helped us build the great relationship we have developed with them. Bringing fresh ideas and approaches each year, we have developed stands that continue to draw in visitors, new and existing to the stands.

Our Response

Having such a large range of products, some quite small it was important to showcase these without creating a stand that felt cluttered and busy. We created a very bright and clean space with designated areas for products, demonstrations, and meeting spaces. We allowed the space to be free-flowing with minimal graphic treatments to allow the products to speak for themselves. The use of the rectangular high-level banner ensured the stand could be seen from all areas around the hall, allowing IBP to be spotted easily in the crowd. The use of the upper level for the hospitality area was brought about to distinguish between business and relaxation in a more informal setting.