Challenge: 

 

Swiss Bau is one of Europe’s biggest construction industry trade shows. It’s held in Basel every two years and has over 1,100 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors. Franke, who make stainless steel kitchen and bathroom products needed to have a presence there, but the costs of a large stand were prohibitive. Their space was room-sized in comparison to their nearest competitor who ‘had a football pitch’.

 

Solution: 

 

Rather than invest the budget in filling the space with products like everyone else, we thought about the visitors. They would come to either Zurich or Basel and arrive by car or train via specific routes. We plotted these in detail and bought visible media at the two railway stations and at multiple ‘touchpoints’ along the way. They were all branded Franke and featured the distinctive ‘Make it Wonderful’ illustration style we had previously developed, saying come and see us on Stand F72. Being away from the event the media was less expensive and more impactful. 

 

Then at the event itself, we sponsored the registration bag and displayed digital posters at the entrance– with the same message. By the time the delegates arrived they had a clear destination and were intrigued find out more. The Franke stand was designed as a welcoming place where they could sit down and relax, have a coffee, meet their friends – and of course, meet the friendly Franke sales staff. In addition, we had one of the Franke illustrators Amaia Arrazola creating a 2x7m mural during the event – which became the big hit on social media.

 

The Franke stand became a destination point and over the five days was the busiest place at the event. The real ‘steal the show’ moment was when the organisers wrapped up the show, congregating in the Franke space where the mural was auctioned off for charity. In the closing speeches, Franke was thanked for their contribution alongside the event sponsors who, in contrast to Franke, had spent a comparative fortune

 

Social media and TV news coverage at Swiss Bau was dominated by the live mural painting, valuable data was collected from the free Wifi available at the Franke stand, and the resulting leads from Swiss Bau have so far seen an uplift in sales of 17%

 

 

Creatives: Dan Tidyman, Jake Fasano