NAPA EXPO 2022
INDUSTRY: Trade Show / Technology / Marketing & Digital Media / Retail / Corporate Events
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NAPA is America’s leading brand in auto parts. Every five years, NAPA AUTO PARTS EXPO draws 20,000+ vendors, store owners, and NAPA AutoCare professionals from all over the globe. It generates NAPA brand buzz, solidifies relationships, and boosts the bottom line. Working collaboratively with NAPA, we created 27 wow-factor exhibits for the 2020 EXPO. Then came COVID-19, forcing the show’s cancellation. Soon enough, NAPA sales stalled. 2020 Exhibits didn’t even pause. We decided to pivot.
Our digital experts geared up to design and deliver a strong virtual presence for the NAPA brand as part of a new hybrid approach. But first, we needed to demonstrate the potential of the digital landscape—for brand-building, sales, and support. Not to mention virtually limitless, dynamic multi-media features to engage, excite, and motivate customers and associates alike.
SOLUTION
The clock ticking, 2020 Exhibits became its own pedal-to-the-metal case study in elevating a brand through digital innovation. We turned our 13,000-square-foot Houston showroom into a polished, broadcast-quality Virtual Event Studio (VES).
With an interactive array of high-tech video screens and a custom studio set as the backdrop, the VES set the stage for a 2020 Exhibits in-studio live recording. With Covid protocol in place, the live event featured training and engagement. Ultimately, 2020 Exhibits proved digital possibilities to NAPA through its delivery. Equally vital, we presented our client with a robust strategy and game plan.
Relieved, pumped, and 100% on board, NAPA envisioned new ways to present its latest products, services, and promotions in front of distributors operating in cyberspace. NAPA Brakes recognized they’d no longer be limited by finite, in-person events. Instead, they’d expand their reach and the NAPA experience courtesy of a perpetual and perpetually refreshed virtual conference. The kicker? The entire experience came backed with metrics, dynamic content, and collaboration.
We’re pleased to report that with the checkered flag raised, the race is still on. Our collaborative campaign/project continues to be a resounding success, producing tangible opportunities and returns.
The password-protected NAPAbrakestraining.com site includes 1,700 (and growing) registrants to date and delivers real-time metrics and data to NAPA. The latter is critical to the brand’s decision-making, ongoing marketing and promotions, and, ultimately, their bottom line. Beyond the website, NAPA now uses training, and educational videos shot and produced at the 2020 Exhibits VES for internal use. Additionally, the NAPA sales team now uses virtual training and engagement to influence deals, driving sales into the pipeline.
Thanks to our client’s collaboration and confidence in our expertise, we designed a powerfully branded digital content ecosystem consisting of 15 promotional videos and 14 training videos housed on the branded site. Collectively, the site gives the NAPA sales team a strategic yet straightforward way to start brand conversations, assisting them in building relationships. Talk about acceleration: metrics show engagement rate up to 86% in some content, with the highest video play rate at 59%.
At 2020 Exhibits, we don’t believe in dead ends. Detours happen, yes. However, like NAPA, our clients always count on us for world-class solutions. Perhaps that’s why our client roster is filled with world-class companies.
Onward!
At the 2022 Expo, NAPA and Valvoline celebrated their 50+ year partnership. 2020 Exhibits helped them make the most of it.
Every step in the creation and customization of this 30’ x 70’ Island exhibit followed our credo of form equals function. The open, spacious central section encouraged visitors to mix. Small, round-top tables offered comfortable seating, while bold, vibrant laminates provided eye candy on either side wall. Suspended above the crowd, a 3-D, tastefully branded hanging sign identified the Valvoline + NAPA partnership event.
This environment was flanked by two visually dynamic, decked-out spaces. Functional, clean design elements included towering display walls incorporating Valvoline or NAPA logos and a built-in widescreen, handsome product display cases, and custom portable counters for Valvoline or NAPA brand representatives. Of course, the big action came courtesy of an adrenaline-inducing virtual racing station complete with individual racers’ interactive screens, plus a real-time digital leaderboard.
Notable, too is that beautiful, flawlessly positioned backlit graphics really made this exhibit shine.
At 2020 Exhibits, we didn’t go big for the show’s NAPA FLEET exhibit. We went huge. Our award-winning designers provided meticulous renderings of modern floorplans down to the last detail. Upon client approval, teams across the company designed, fabricated and installed a massive 120’ x 87’ five-sided Island Booth.
At a successful tradeshow, the atmosphere is everything. We designed and outfitted the exhibit accordingly. Logos of heavy-duty brands graced clean, visually harmonious wall-mounted lightboxes. Fleet vehicle auto parts tend to be heavy-duty too. So, we used sturdy, handsome counters for failsafe displays.
The NAPA FLEET exhibit welcomed visitors with a relaxed, visually harmonious vibe. 2020 Exhibits created a roomy, open lounge area furnished with leather sectionals, well-spaced bar tables with matching chairs, and a good balance of portable counters. Like the EXPO, our exhibit was a huge hit.
Carlyle Tools by NAPA is the Professional Tool line of NAPA AUTO PARTS. It offers more than 7,000 items across seven categories (and counting) of tools for the pro. A big deal? You bet.
NAPA wanted an exhibit that’d stop EXPO (foot) traffic in its tracks. Imaginations firing on all pistons, we designed an expansive, aggressively branded 100’ x 100’ custom Island Booth. Teams across 2020 Exhibits collaborated to creatively configure a robust mix of design elements to keep things interesting. These included a large, hanging fabric sign that functioned like a branded 3-D, square-shaped halo above the exhibit’s center section.
Visually speaking, we kept things simple, but fierce. Information graphics predominantly featured the Carlyle Tools by NAPA logo. Branding occurred on different levels, too, in the form of pop-up banners, shelving, counters, and modular walls—all varying heights. Importantly, each of the brand’s seven categories of tools commanded its own distinctive display.
NAPA Rayloc is all about providing reliable, quality brake parts. NAPA’s trusted advisor, 2020 Exhibits is all about driving dynamic brand experiences to engage customers and ramp up results—like mucho mas sales—in a measurable way.
In gearing up for the 2022 EXPO, it was NAPA who tapped us for our signature stopping power. Working collaboratively with our client, 2020 Exhibits created a 20’ x 30’ booth that provided ample branding opportunities.
Structurally comprised of materials designed to imitate the steel composition of many brake parts, the exhibit featured a dramatic, 20-foot- high center panel. Branded with the NAPA logo, the modern centerpiece contained an interactive video screen. Behind the panel and interlocking with two support “walls” on either side of it, a blue- hued fabric banner stretched across the exhibit’s central façade. Additional elements here include a pair of four-sided light boxes, built- in shelving, and product display counters.
The big kahuna of the NAPA brand, NAPA BRAKES means big business. When it came time to design the NAPA BRAKES section of the EXPO, 2020 Exhibits left no stone—make that pebble—unturned. This formidable 100’ x 100’ Island Booth seamlessly blended impressive technology and inspired graphics to great effect.
Geometry met technology across its vast expanse. Interesting angles, brilliantly branded 3-D lightboxes, and tons of the latest interactive technology evinced a sophisticated atmosphere, one befitting the NAPA BRAKES section of the show.
Displays of all sizes were readily available for use by attendees. Rows of tall two-sided booths came equipped with interactive screens, comfortable seating, and attractive lighting on one side, while the other featured extra- large touchscreens and hands-on product displays. Visually compelling, expertly designed curved walls showcased the NAPA BRAKES logo and clean, close-up product shots—by way of tasteful backlit graphics.