This week, our team had the opportunity to attend Expo West in Anaheim. This week-long expo shows the best of the best in the natural products industry. From food and bevvies, to skin care, to home goods, and more, it’s a place for the most innovative and inspiring brands to show up and show out for thousands of attendees from around the world.

Between the jaw-dropping booth designs, delicious product samples, and the friendliest of faces at the booths (including some of our own clients!), our minds were blown and we walked away feeling inspired by what the best brands in the biz are up to.

Here are a few key takeaways on how to make your brand stand out at any expo – and beyond!

Brand is first.

We’ve said it once and we’ll said it again, brand is always first, and tradeshows are no exception.

Your brand is more than a logo on your booth – it extends to every detail of the way your customers experience your product. There’s the obvious places your brand shows up, like your booth design and product samples. More important than that, though, is the customer’s entire experience with your brand.

And yes, that includes the way your team acts at the booth.

The most memorable booths were the ones that fully committed to the brand, those were the ones that people couldn’t help but gather around. The team was full of energy, and you could just feel that the brand had a firm identity that extended to every part of the company.

Good branding touches every part of the customer experience, and if you aren’t all in on living that out from design to employee training and everywhere in between, it doesn’t matter how great your logo is.

Commit.

To build on that, you need to commit to your brand. Whatever your vibe is, make it consistent. Are you a fun, colorful, youthful brand? Be that! Are you aimed at being more refined? Do that!

Two great examples of this are SOMOS and TÖST. Two completely opposite brands, both fully committed and knocking it out of the park.

SOMOS has a bright, loud, exciting brand identity, and their booth completely reflected that. They had it set up as fun party with delicious food where everyone is welcome. There was music and people inviting you in to join the fun. And probably the best chilaquiles we’ve ever had.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was TÖST. This is a non-alcohlic wine brand that had a high-brow winetasting experience set up. The team was knowledgeable and bit more mature. It felt like a great alternative to a day of tasting in Napa wine country. They had a totally different audience than the SOMOS booth, but were still busy all day.

This just goes to show that whatever you do with your brand, do it well. This is where your brand strategy comes in to play. After looking at hundreds and hundreds of brands, it started to becoming overwhelmingly obvious who has done the strategy work behind the scenes. And even if they aren’t branding experts, your customers can feel that.

Set your brand up for success.

This one is a three-parter:

The number of generic, non-branded sample cups I got was insane. If you’re going to the trouble of sharing your product with that many people, make sure they take your brand away with them somehow. A lot of companies had mini bottles or bags they were giving away, but some just had little flags in their samples and that was just fine. If your customer is walking away with a blank cup full of your product, you have missed an opportunity.
Have your whole team wear branded gear. This goes back to the team training bit up above. But if you’re bringing in your whole team for multiple days of work where they will be seen by thousands of potential customers, retailers, parters, etc., wouldn’t you also want your brand to be seen?
Make sure your product offering is front row center and that it’s super clear what you offer. Especially if you are creating something that has never been done before. If you can’t clearly and concisely explain what you do and why you do it, go back to the drawing board because you need more strategy before you go out into the world. A clear message is a memorable message.

Pay attention to the trends.

You don’t have to follow all the trends, but you should have an eye on what else is out there in the marketplace. Especially if you have a heritage brand, or haven’t done a refresh in a while.

We saw quite a few brands who kept their original identity, but introduced updated product lines to appeal to a younger audience. One great example of this was Dr. Bronner’s, the infamous soap brand. They used this opportunity to show off some of their new product offerings and brand extensions while still staying true to their OG, groovy vibes.

Before we wrap this up, we have a quick note on what’s trending now. We noticed a lot of bright colors (especially pink and purple), and chunky, bold fonts. Many brands were leaning in on the y2k aesthetic that’s all the rage right now, and were clearly aimed at bringing in a younger audience. And we loved it. It was very fresh and inspiring.

Can you tell we had a blast last week? If you have a tradeshow coming up and you need the keen eye of a branding team that leads with strategy, we’re here to help! We can take a look at your brand from top to bottom and come up with a plan to help you stand out in your market.

Reach out here.