Visual Tradeshow Branding Solutions – NPE

For over seventy years, producers have travelled from all over the world to the NPE, the world’s largest plastics tradeshow. Each year visitors fly to Orlando (US) from over 100 countries to exchange knowledge and find inspiration. What’s more, with representatives from over 20,000 companies, NPE2018 was the most successful edition ever. 

Van Straaten’s US branch, Cees Smit was of course on the spot to give the booths of several crowd-pullers the perfect look.

For the set-up and event branding, this year Cees Smit worked with Essex Design & Display, a well-known partner with a lot of know-how in the field of booth design. Thanks to this successful cooperation, our clients didn’t have to think in limitations: our partner’s designs were simply top-notch. The execution was also world-class, as Cees Smit can deliver everything that’s needed for an impressive tradeshow booth, thanks to the Durst Rhotex 500: this printer delivers top-quality prints up to the magical threshold of five meters. One of the main reasons for choosing to work with Cees Smit as a partner. At the tradeshow, Cees Smit created booths for brands like Wittman, Wellman, Branson and Emabond.

The parts delivered were Backlit Textiles, Blockout Textiles and covers for the structure. Boi Smit, President at Cees Smit explains. ‘As a textiles expert, we know exactly how this material behaves in different situations. For the visual effect, it makes quite a difference whether the textile is lit, whether it’s translucent, and whether Blockout Textiles are used. We always think ahead with our client and analyze the circumstances on the spot to come to the best choice.’

For a number of the booths we used lightboxes. ‘This way we ensure that a message comes across a lot more strongly’, explains Smit. ‘You’ve got to consider that for a visitor at such a tradeshow. For example, we use lightboxes and seamless fabric on the booths. It really brings brands to life.’

For the frame system for the visuals, tension fabrics combined with beMatrix frames, also known in the sector as Silicone Edge Graphics (SEG) were used with great success. The backlit fabrics are combined with an aluminum system by Agam. ‘We want to impress,’ explains Boi Smit. ‘So you don’t want any limitations on the possibilities. This is why we’re not limited by a product or a brand, but we think in solutions. We have our own aluminum building blocks, but also provide fabrics for all existing systems, for example in this case beMatrix and Agam. Thanks to the way that our visuals are applied to the frame system, endless variations are possible. The great thing is that you only need to adjust the frames a bit, and in the blink of an eye you’ve already put up a completely new booth. We also call this ‘keep the body, change the skin.’