A Better Way to Dispose of Exhibit Displays & Temporary Activation Elements

An experiential marketing trailer allows you to do everything you can do with a pop-up tent or exhibit display, but it also gives you options. Options are good, right? A marketing trailer is an asset that you can either reuse the next year, repurpose for a new client/activation, or sell back to us.

I recently read a story in Exhibitor Magazine titled Booth Burial in which industry experts shared tips, tricks, and money-saving advice on how to dispose of an exhibit. It got me thinking about my own past experiences in the experiential industry and the solutions I can now offer to brands and agencies alike.

I spent more than 10 years in client service at a pair of Chicago-based experiential agencies, Marketing Werks (now Product Connections) and Mosaic, where I managed activations for clients like Verizon, Kettle Brand, Welch’s, Evolution Fresh, Grey Goose, AT&T, and more.

One thing that never made much sense to me was the waste involved in activation elements. So much money was spent upfront procuring pop-up tents and activation elements, or having vendors design specific interactive displays, but when the program ended most of it went into storage never to be seen again.

Agencies spend thousands of dollars a year storing these supplies only to have annual clean-out days in which interns and account coordinators go throw away items to make room for the next year’s batch. Very rarely does much get reused, which means most of that money spent to store it is essentially getting thrown away.

The experts quoted in the Exhibitor piece suggest solutions such as paying an exhibit house to handle disposal, trashing your booth immediately after the show, donating it to charity, or selling it. But there has to be a better way to limit all of this waste, make better use of your (and your client’s) money, and still execute an activation to meet your client’s goals, right?

That’s where Advantage Trailer comes in.

An experiential marketing trailer allows you to do everything you can do with a pop-up tent or exhibit display, but it also gives you options. Options are good, right? A marketing trailer is an asset that you can either reuse the next year, repurpose for a new client/activation, or sell back to us.

Because we believe in giving our clients high-quality trailers that are built to last, they retain their resale value long after your program ends. We aren’t in the business of scraping the bottom of the barrel for a few bucks, which means if you purchase a marketing trailer from Advantage, you’re getting an experiential asset that will have less maintenance, more longevity, and a higher resale value than our competitors.

In addition, a trailer is extremely versatile. Whereas a costly exhibit display takes hours of union manpower to assemble and dismantle at a trade show, a trailer can pull right in and open up or close up and pull right out. While pop-up tents and other activation elements take time to setup and break down and leave you at the mercy of mother nature, a trailer is self-contained which makes for quick and easy setup, and allows your on-site staff to batten down the hatches in the case of inclement weather.

All of this saves you both time and money at trade shows and event activations.

A trailer equals more working dollars

A trailer also gives you more working dollars than exhibit displays or temporary activation elements do because its purpose is to not collect dust in storage.

When branded, the trailer gives your brand impressions when driving from place to place as well as while sitting in between events. Because it’s on wheels, it’s also usable in between large events, unlike an exhibit display that has to sit in storage, allowing your client to get more activation days out of their investment. 

Now, I know you are thinking that there are costs involved with storing your trailer when it’s off the road, and depending on your agency’s location that may be true. If so, it’s still a better proposition to store a reusable asset for a few months than to pay to store event elements you are likely just going to throw away to make room for new ones anyway. 

I haven’t even mentioned leasing yet. If trailer storage is an issue for you, consider leasing one for the weeks or months your program is active. We offer short-term and long-term leases on our marketing trailers, which may make sense financially if your agency doesn’t want the commitment of storing and maintaining a trailer. 

Either way, because of the reasons described above, an experiential marketing trailer is a sound investment for any brand or agency looking to reach consumers in the field. 

Still not convinced? Read more:

• 8 Key Benefits of an Experiential Marketing Trailer
• 10 Unique Experiential Marketing Trailer Uses for Agencies and Brands
• How Can Advantage Trailer Help My Brand or Agency?
• Our Top 10 Custom Trailers of 2019