Expoforum in St. Petersburg, Russia, has announced details of new infrastructure and facilities that allow the venue to impact all five senses—sight, smell, touch, sound and taste. The result is a feeling of quality and customer service that the Expoforum team refers to as the sixth sense.
The senses concept is being used throughout the venue’s operations and marketing activity as follows:
- Sight – calming look of the venue, peaceful décor, simple clean architecture and significant amounts of natural daylight
- Smell – pleasant scents and aromas, appropriate to individual events circulated through the venue’s air filtration system
- Touch – tactile materials used throughout the venue’s construction, warm wooden surfaces and comfortable furniture and furnishings
- Sound – subtle acoustics that create a pleasing and positive atmosphere as well as classical music in public areas
- Taste – high quality bespoke, in-house catering options to suit all palettes
As a more in-depth example, Smell has been transformed into the venue’s concept of “aroma marketing.” Internal systems allow Expoforum to infuse the air with scents that are appropriate to events taking place at the venue. This can be center-wide or focused on individual areas. Consequently, on a day when the venue is quiet, guests can experience Expoforum’s signature scent—edelweiss—which has been chosen to match the Expoforum brand.
Alternatively, event specific scents can be used such as wood shavings and fresh cut lumber for a recent Timber Association event. The use of such scents are not overpowering or invasive; instead they ensure Expoforum smells comfortable and pleasant, not stale and bland as is so often the case with large venues.
“As a newly built venue, Expoforum has been constructed using the latest technologies with input and insight from a host of architects, event planners and experts,” says Maria Tsedeviyn, international development director at Expoforum. “The result is an environment conducive to exhibitions and congresses that deliver value through learning, networking and a long-term return on event investment. We recognize that the more comfortable a delegate feels the more positive their experience will be whilst in the venue and therefore the more successful the event will be.”
EXPOFORUM is the most cutting-edge venue of its kind anywhere in Russia or Europe for holding business and entertainment events of any size and format—exhibitions, conventions, forums, sports and cultural events. For more info, visit www.expoforum.ru.
