By Alan Landry
A major brand update can prove an invaluable opportunity to reposition your organization in the marketplace and reeducate your target audience on the evolution and expansion of your offerings. But it can also come with unforeseen charges, from the upfront creative investment to the costs associated with restocking promotional products and reskinning corporate assets. When done correctly and efficiently, however, the value far outpaces the expense.
Such was the case for Advantage Solutions, which enlisted Storylink Creative to completely redesign its exhibit and debut its new brand identity to the world at National Products Expo West (NPEW) 2025 in Anaheim. The resulting exhibit needed to convey the company’s new branding and represent the full breadth of Advantage Solutions’ services, all with a little multimedia magic and a pinch of personality to help it stand out on the frenetic NPEW show floor.
To keep costs contained (and free up funds to reinvest in up-leveling the redesign), Storylink looked to the company’s most recent NPEW booth. Reusing the existing Moss framing system would render the new booth more affordable and inherently sustainable. The associated savings, then, were redistributed into the exhibit in the form of 44 low-profile screens comprising nine arrays—as well as an LED header to convey messaging and capture NPEW attendees’ attention.
“I had the pleasure of working with the Storylink team, who helped bring our creative vision to life,” said Kurt Perenchio, enterprise creative director at Advantage Solutions. “They delivered a series of well-branded videos which helped tell our story and drive lead generation for our company.”
The 30 x 30-foot floor plan was divided into three primary zones, spotlighting Advantage Solutions’ portfolio in the categories of branded services, retail services, and experiential services. Meanwhile, an interactive touchscreen at the center of the space looped branded content and enabled guests to deep dive into Advantage Solutions’ comprehensive capabilities.
Echoing the undulating lines of Advantage Solutions’ new brand identity, colorful graphics were woven into the exhibit’s tensioned-fabric walls and flooring, as well as custom-produced video content synched across the omnipresent digital signage, kinetically reinforcing the tagline “We Keep Commerce and Life Moving.” In fact, the multimedia installations and related video content created by Storylink were recently honored with a Hermes Creative Award in the category of Best Multiscreen Video Production.
“Our evolved booth design and inclusion of digital storytelling cohesively shared our evolved brand narrative,” said Nicole Simonds, vice president marketing communications at Advantage Solutions. “From our overhead signage to the display graphics—and even the floor—it communicated our purpose of connecting people with products and experiences that enrich their lives, while showing brands and retailers how we can do that for them in store and on the shelf.” Simonds added that this year’s exhibit drove a 100-percent increase in booth traffic and lead generation, garnering positive feedback from clients, customers, and internal stakeholders on the Advantage Solutions team.
Get More Bang from your New-Build Budget
- Take Inventory: Do a deep dive into existing assets to see what can be reskinned and reused. If framing systems or other elements are not reusable, build that reusability into your new booth by thinking about the long-term lifecycle of your investment.
- Invest in Digital Signage: Yes, it’s a bigger upfront investment than printed fabric graphics, but it will allow you to more easily and inexpensively swap out messaging when needed. Plus, dynamic video will outperform static graphics every day of the week.
- Design for Reuse: Consider how the elements you’re creating for the exhibit can be repurposed. For example, content on the interactive touchscreens was designed to enable reuse at tradeshows and events beyond NPEW 2025.
- Spend Wisely: Ask your exhibit agency about value-engineered options. The goal here is not to get the cheapest booth that can do the job, but rather to pick and choose where to save, allowing you to spend strategically on the items most likely to provide the desired impact.
- Seek Lightweight Solutions: Lightweight materials and structural simplicity will decrease costs associated with material handling and I&D labor, allowing you to invest in retainable assets versus intangible show services.
This story originally appeared in the Q3 2025 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 44. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/exhibit_city_news_-_jul_aug_sept_2025/44.
