Kodak at PRINT09

The commercial printing tradeshow, named Print, happens every four years and is the largest conference for the graphic communications industry in the US. Kodak approached MSM with a challenge for their Print09 exhibit: they wanted to stand out from their competition like never before, without bringing any of their heavy printing equipment to the show. In response, we produced an industry-changing interactive exhibit by partnering with Kodak’s advertising agency and various technology suppliers to highlight the Kodak commercial print products, without physically showing the large equipment.

The booth featured three interactive experiences along with a live area, called the K-Zone, which provided live streaming of the booth activity. One of the interactive platforms was a 27 foot long multi-touch table called the “Pipeline of Innovation” that showcased Kodak solutions on round digital pucks that travelled down the table and when touched, opened a deck of information.

At intervals during the day, the Pipeline of Innovation featured a live presentation on a relevant print industry topic. Six interactive Microsoft surface tables were used to demo print samples, allowing visitors to touch and feel the applications while also learning more about the Kodak workflow products. Sales reps found these to be invaluable to have this information at their fingertips, allowing them to engage visitors in discussions specific to their needs, instead of the typical information on “speeds and feeds”.

The interactive elements provided more in-depth product-specific information, and functioned as a virtual sales force, allowing visitors to get the information they needed quickly and effectively.  While the K-Zone hosted various experts in the industry that drew customers to the booth in Chicago, but also allowed for the customers around the world to listen in on the conversations through live video feed.

“Everybody told us we could never get away without bringing equipment, but our customers are THANKING us for not bringing equipment because they didn’t know they could have this conversation with us. They were so used to coming in and sticking their head in the printer and asking the ‘speeds and feeds’ story that it didn’t occur to them that they could be asking us for help in how they actually tell the customer communications story to THEIR customers.” – Pat McGrew, Kodak representative 

“I’m impressed with the design of the booth. I found the information I was looking for easily. It’s a great booth!” – Customer reaction

The final result was an exhibit that drew more than 50 journalists and analysts from all major media outlets to meet with Kodak executives at the show for interviews, and earned the company approximately 5 million online media impressions in less than a month.