Storylink's Next-Generation Solutions

How Storylink Creative developed an award-winning design concept that "perfectly balances storytelling with next-generation engagement techniques."

In the words of one Portable/Modular Awards judge, the proposed design was “a brilliant blueprint that perfectly balances brand storytelling with next-generation engagement techniques.”

ITG Brands

Exhibit: 50x70 feet

Event: National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS)

The Challenge

ITG Brands wanted to create a state-of-the-art, 50-by-70-foot interactive exhibit for NACS 2024 that supports ITG and spotlights its featured brands, including Winston, Kool, Backwoods, Blu, Zone, Dutch, and Dutch Masters. They wanted the booth to attract attendees from the aisles, “edutain” them, increase dwell time/retain their attention, and include a bar, DJ area, two entry/exit points, overhead messaging, and intimate seating spaces. Through engaging, digital displays and experiences, the exhibit was designed to enable targeted attendees to understand ITG’s brands, momentum, value, and customer loyalty, while positioning ITG as their Premier Partner for Growth.

ITG wanted to create a state-of-the-art, 50-by-70-foot interactive exhibit for NACS 2024 that supports ITG and spotlights its featured brands, including Winston, Kool, Backwoods, Blu, Zone, Dutch, and Dutch Masters.

The Solution

Designed with innovation and brand immersion in mind, the resulting design featured a black, overhead sign with backlit brand logos, signifying ITG’s premium position while spotlighting its respective brands. Upon entering, attendees would be greeted by an immense tree symbolizing growth and reinforcing ITG’s commitment to helping clients’ businesses flourish. That focal point would draw guests’ attention to a 20-foot-diameter digital display promoting ITG and its brands, while a circular bar offered space for conversations, custom cocktails, and tech-enabled education.

Branded towers with halo lighting lined the perimeter and housed activations designed to engage clients and prospects while also collecting customer data. Collectively, the concept was to position ITG as an innovative partner committed to growth and customer success.

Six interactive screens embedded into the tabletop would provide a “phygital” experience fusing both physical, tactile components and digital, dynamic ones. By placing a packaged product on top of the screen, participants could activate videos, imagery, and textual insights into ITG’s brands

Interactive Bar: Beneath the “branches” of an edge-lit tree and a 20-foot-diameter circular screen, guests would be invited to order custom, brand-themed cocktails while they conversed with staffers and explored alongside brand ambassadors. Six interactive screens embedded into the tabletop would provide a “phygital” experience fusing both physical, tactile components and digital, dynamic ones. By placing a packaged product on top of the screen, participants could activate videos, imagery, and textual insights into ITG’s brands via an engaging interactive that would allow them to dive as deep as they’d like into each featured offering.

ITG Interactive Store: The virtual C-store was designed to put clients and prospects in their natural habitat. Three touchscreen monitors positioned in front of a 28-foot-long LED screen would allow guests to answer questions and input data about their operations, ultimately triggering an immersive flythrough of a C-store with educational data and recommendations built in regarding sales, product placement, and merchandising. Through “edutainment,” the activity was designed to keep visitors engaged while also sharing insights that could help them achieve even greater success.

Three touchscreen monitors positioned in front of a 28-foot-long LED screen would allow guests to answer questions and input data about their operations, ultimately triggering an immersive flythrough of a C-store with educational data and recommendations built in regarding sales, product placement, and merchandising.

Backwoods Engagement: Seven-foot-tall cigars served as tobacco-textured, tree-like pillars with Backwoods offerings featured via inset display cases. Meanwhile, brand ambassadors would assist visitors as they navigated the Backwoods forest of flavor in search of their perfect blend. The LED wall would facilitate an interactive quiz that determined guests’ perfect flavor, while serving as an opportunity to gather data and analytics on clients and prospects.

Dutch/Dutch Masters Engagement: Guests would experience Dutch Masters’ signature slow burn via a slow-motion video experience. In exchange for engaging with this interactive element, guests would be rewarded with a smokin’ hot souvenir: a video file (similar to a Boomerang clip) of their antics, backed by an LED-enabled inferno. Nearby, a seating area served as a makeshift meeting space while also hosting intermittent cigar rolling demos or cigar-smoking tutorials for those who don’t know a cutter from a nubber.

Seven-foot-tall cigars served as tobacco-textured, tree-like pillars with Backwoods offerings featured via inset display cases.

Kool Engagement: In the Kool vignette, guests could relax on a green-velvet sofa and enjoy the beats being spun by an in-booth DJ. But that’s not all. Visitors would also be invited to test out their own DJ skills in a photo/ video activation that put them at the heart of the Kool universe. Backed by a pulsing LED screen, participants could take the helm of the DJ station and later share their mix, photo, and/or video on social media with appropriate hashtags and branding automatically applied.

Winston Engagement: A tailgate and two camping chairs serve as a makeshift open air meeting space in the Winston vignette, where clients and prospects could take aim at some virtual wildlife in hopes of topping the leaderboard, winning a premium prize, and earning NACS bragging rights. Using Kinect technology, participants could go Big Buck$ Hunting and compete against their friends and fellow attendees.

A tailgate and two camping chairs serve as a makeshift open air meeting space in the Winston vignette, where clients and prospects could take aim at some virtual wildlife

Blu Engagement: Blu’s segment of the ITG exhibit would serve as an evocative backdrop for photo opps, as well as a stage for intermittent live presentations with professional vape-ring performers. A mixed-reality (AR/VR) experience through Hololens would let guests explore the features and inner workings of the supersized Blu devices that encircled the space like futuristic sentries.

Zone Engagement: A gesture-based activation in the Zone space would facilitate a virtual axe-throwing engagement, where clients and prospects could compete individually or head-to-head. Their target: Flavor Rings representing the Zone logo and different flavor profiles. Interstitial content between rounds would showcase Zone branding, fun facts, and product offerings.

A gesture-based activation in the Zone space would facilitate a virtual axe-throwing engagement, where clients and prospects could compete individually or head-to-head.

The Results

While this future-forward exhibit was never realized, Portable/Modular Award judges realized the innovative approach and strategic activations throughout. One judge described the proposed design as “a brilliant blueprint that perfectly balances brand storytelling with next-generation engagement techniques,” while Exhibitor magazine called the solution “sophisticated,” “innovative,” and “next-generation.”

Interested in taking your own exhibit into the next generation of face-to-face marketing? Let us know, and see how Storylink’s innovative ideas can take your program to infinity and beyond!