Czarnowski & UL Team up on "Chicago Santa's House"

If you’ve ever visited downtown Chicago during winter holiday season, then you’ve probably been swept up in the festive spirit and miles of decorations that blanket the city during this special time of the year.

One very special VIP takes up residence in the heart of the city for nearly a month to operate his Midwest satellite workshop. And this year, this VIP got a new house. Santa’s new house was concepted, designed, fabricated and installed by Czarnowski!

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) entrusted Czar with this very special project. As part of UL's ongoing partnership with the City of Chicago’s Office of Special Events, they sponsored Santa’s House on Daley Plaza. This house is a special place where children and families can experience the wonder of the North Pole and have their picture taken with Santa Claus throughout the holiday season.

Santa's Workshop opened in coordination with the City of Chicago Annual Tree Lighting on November 24 and offers activities and important safety tips to enjoy while children wait to tell Santa their holiday wishes.

“Our goal was to create an environment that embodies a sense of fantasy and wonder to deliver a fun and educational experience,” said Dan Griffin, idea shaper in Czarnowski’s Chicago office.

Visitors to Santa’s House wind through a fairy-tale environment that brings to life the experience of a visit to Santa’s home at the North Pole. As guests serpentine through the House, they encounter Santa’s desk, fireplace, Christmas tree and other belongings. Along the way guests engage in hands-on fun activities—such as the SantaMatic-3000 toy making machine and touch screens with creative games embedded with safety messages. “I’m thrilled that all of the boys and girls of Chicago will have a chance to visit me and the Mrs. in our new home,” said Santa.

Subtle safety messages are also integrated into the experience. For instance, as visitors explore Santa’s house, they learn about Christmas tree and fireplace safety. The computer on Santa’s desk displays the UL Safety at Home website (www.SafetyAtHome.com) and invites visitors to “Commit a Minute to Safety.”

The culmination of the experience is a visit with Santa Claus. UL is offering visitors the chance to get their picture taken with Santa and download a free digital photo at SafetyAtHome.com. “

Congrats to the entire Czar team for a fantastic job - needless to say, Czarnowski is now officially on Santa's permanent 'extra-nice' list!

If you’re planning on being in Chicago over the holidays and have a chance to check out Santa's House in person, go for it. Hours are listed below.

SANTA HOUSE DETAILS
Dates:
Nov 24, 2010 - Dec 24, 2010

Hours:
Santa will be available for photos so don’t forget your personal cameras or Underwriters Laboratories will be offering free photos that can be downloaded.

Regular visiting hours and house tours begin on Friday, November 26 & continue every Friday, Saturday & Sunday through December 19 (Santa has a break from 3 - 4 pm only on these days):
11 am - 8 pm

Special Christmas Week Hours:
· Monday-December 20-Thursday, December 23: 11 am-8 pm
· Friday, December 24: 11 am-4 pm

Location:
Daley Plaza 50 W. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602

Admission: FREE

For More info, please contact Mark Cooper mcooper@czarnowski.com

what’s next…Hybrid OR Suite - Thinking Outside the Booth

Earlier this year Philips, Czarnowski and a major show organizer collaborated to give attendees a completely new kind of experience. In an environment where education is the primary focus, thinking outside the booth proved successful for everyone involved. The details of this great collaboration were featured in a recent issue of Expo Magazine.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) knows that to keep attendees coming to its ACC Annual Scientific Session, it has to create new ways to deliver quality content. After careful assessment of what would be most beneficial to attendees, ACC decided to produce a Hybrid Cath Lab/OR (Operating Room) Suite for its ACC.10 meeting in March.

“Cardiologists are hesitant to spend time on the exhibit floor unless it is for a learning opportunity,” says Susan Krys, Senior Director of Expositions at ACC. “When we survey our exhibitors and attendees, we always find that the primary focus is on education — attendees come to our meeting to learn, and exhibitors who are successful at our meeting are emphasizing education about their products’ benefits, rather than selling, to our attendees. So we decided that the most logical evolution was to create an area in the expo where new technology could be assessed in an educational, enriching environment.”

The hybrid OR is a concept embraced in Europe that’s just taking hold in the United States. It’s a space that integrates imaging equipment within a fully functional operating room to increase treatment and procedure efficiency and increase positive outcomes. The hybrid OR is the wave of the future, yet ACC estimated that prior to the show the vast majority of its members and meeting attendees had not yet had the opportunity to visit or work in one.

At the same time, exhibitors had approached ACC asking for new ways to partner that would give them different ways to have more meaningful interactions with attendees. “We needed partners to help us create the Hybrid Suite, so it was perfect. With them, we were able to create a multi-vendor, interactive venue that answered the needs of our exhibitors, our attendees and our meeting,” says Krys.

Krys invited major imaging companies that exhibit at ACC to respond to an RFP to be the Exclusive Imaging Partner for the Hybrid Cath Lab/OR Suite. ACC evaluated the responses it received. Based on the financial, creative and resources proposed, it selected Philips Healthcare as its title sponsor. Jeffrey Masters, Senior Manager of the Global Event Marketing Group at Philips Healthcare, had previously approached ACC asking them to create new ways for exhibitors to partner with ACC — and was thrilled with the opportunity to create something new and different for the ACC show floor.

Philips and ACC worked closely with Philips’ exhibit design and management company, Czarnowski, to design the 7,000-square-foot area. Located along the main aisle of the hall (so attendees wouldn’t have to work to seek it out), the space incorporated a theater area that paired cardiologists with surgeons for presentations, an educational area and a full-scale version of a fully-equipped hybrid OR for physicians to explore.

In addition to Philips’s partnership, ACC created two additional tiers of participation — two supporting companies and three participating companies. Via these companies’ participation, the Suite was outfitted with all the state-of-the-art imaging equipment, surgical equipment, lighting and tools one finds in a hybrid OR, as well as a robotic surgical system which, while not standard in hybrid ORs, is a cutting-edge technology gaining ground in the cardiovascular surgical space.

ACC supported its partners with every promotional means available. As title sponsor, Philips received prominent signage on the hybrid OR structure, bi-weekly e-mails promoting the Hybrid Suite, inclusion in all meeting print collateral, an imprint on
the badge wallets, pages on the ACC meeting and expo Web sites, an insert in the meeting bag, a hotel door drop, directory and program inclusion, promotional slides in education rooms and coverage on CVNews, ACC’s television network. Second and third-tier sponsors received packages appropriate for their level of support.

Bringing the space to life as a collaboration of ACC, Philips, five other sponsors with their own install/technician teams, Philips’ designer, fabricator and installation company Czarnowski, general contractor GES and AV supplier Freeman AV required a great deal of coordination. Czarnowski streamlined this task by creating and managing a complex schedule that orchestrated everyone’s drayage shipments and installation schedules.

“We planned and managed the five-day installation so everyone would have what they needed — and room to work — at an appointed time,” says Ed Douglass, VP/General Manager, Czarnowski. Krys says the program was a clear next step following the successful Learning Destinations program ACC introduced in 2009, which featured an Industry-Expert Theater. Located at the front of the hall, these sold-out educational sessions presented by exhibitors were treated as satellite events held during the show — and drew approximately 200 attendees to each session. In 2010, ACC repeated the Industry-Expert Theater, added the hybrid OR, and also added three Hands-On Learning Labs where attendees experienced short presentations paired with hands-on equipment or device tutorials.

The result was a success for both ACC and its sponsors. More than 4,250 ACC attendees (33 percent of total attendance) visited the Hybrid Suite. And the extra exposure helped Philips move several deals further down the sales pipeline.

“From our perspective, we wish more shows would have the vision that ACC does,” says Masters. “These sorts of partnering opportunities that deliver for the attendee, the show and the exhibitor are going to be the future of our industry.”

We Definitely Love What We Do! Email mcooper@czarnowski.com for more details.

David McCandless: For All The Right Brainers "The beauty of data visualization"

All of the hype about right vs left brain dominance and how it affects the way we view the world comes to life in this this great video David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization Video on TED.com

I am learning how the way we view the world and more importantly, how we interact with each other is an important part of our productivity levels. Stay tuned for new measurement technique to study right/left brain impact on the workplace.

Czarnowski "WINS" Big with TSEA Award

Czarnowski Wins TSEA Exhibitors’ Choice Award for Best Exhibit House

BOSTON—July 19, 2010—Czarnowski, a leading exhibit and event firm, was named “Best Exhibit House” in the 2010 Exhibitors Choice Awards presented by the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA).

The Award was presented July 14 at the TSEA Foundation Gala held in conjunction with the TS2 show in Boston. Czarnowski was among several companies nominated for Best Exhibit House. TSEA members, corporate exhibit and event managers and supporting suppliers, selected the winner via an online voting system.

“Like everything we do, this award is really about our clients. We thank them for their loyalty and reiterate our commitment to delivering the vision and value they need to move their programs forward,” says Mark Nagle, president, Czarnowski. “This includes continuing to look toward what’s next for our industry in terms of methodologies, best practices,efficiency, and technology integration.”

In 2009, Czarnowski won an Honorable Mention in Favorite Installation and Dismantle
Company category of the Exhibitors’ Choice Awards. At Czarnowski, we love what we do.

Since 1947, companies of all sizes and industries have counted on us to create dynamic trade show exhibits, events and branded environments that exceed expectations and achieve objectives. Through a network of nationwide offices and global partnerships, we provide: strategy, design, fabrication, experience mapping, rental solutions, transportation, I&D, storage, refurbishment, program management, marketing collaboration, brand support, event planning and program measurement. Learn more at www.czarnowski.com.

Since 1966, the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA) has been providing knowledge to marketing and management professionals who use exhibits, events and face-to-face marketing to promote and sell their products, as well as to those who supply them with products and services. Members benefit from access to education, networking, resources, advocacy and member-only discounts on products and services that all exhibit and event professionals use.

TSEA is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and regional chapters exist throughout the United States and Canada. For more information, please visit www.tsea.org.

One of our Own!....Designer Extraordinaire

Czar’s lead idea shaper, Tom Frisby, is on the cover of the latest issue of Event Design magazine. The article is all about vision, strategy and what's next in the world of face-to-face marketing with Czarnowski front and center, leading the conversation and jumping curves. What a great example of our gray matter in motion - and a huge acknowledgement that Czar is a thought leader in this industry.

Following is an excerpt from the article.

Idea Shaper
Monday, May 10, 2010

Tom Frisby likens the exhibit and event industry to a visionary theme park ride. “We have to connect with our customers—inform, engage, excite, and educate—leaving them breathless and alive,” says Frisby. The industry veteran and current vp-strategic services for Czarnowski think(form)—and leader of Czarnowski’s team of 30 creative idea shapers— has been pushing his clients and coworkers in this direction for 25 years. As a result, while many exhibit and event designers have spent the past year waiting for business as usual to return, Frisby has been looking forward.

From Frisby’s perspective, the economic turndown is an opportunity; a call to action. “When the landscape shifts as it has, we have to find new ways to make the ride exhilarating. I honestly think that the economy is driving a positive direction for the industry,” says Frisby.

To that end, Frisby has created an agenda: to expedite change by educating clients and helping them see the likely return if they depart from doing what they’ve always done. Frisby knows it’s going to be a challenge—and that the road is likely to include bumps, twists, and turns. But he’s focused and ready to enjoy the ride.


Starting Over
Frisby believes the industry’s current challenges relate to its reluctance to change—specifically that the industry has routinely identified success with either beautiful architecture or the number of show visitors’ names captured. “Our industry’s firm hold on tradition stifles its evolution,” says Frisby.

The solution? The industry must redefine success as its ability to make connections with people and affect the target audience’s beliefs and behaviors. “We need to think of ourselves as the bridge between our clients and their clients,” he says. Engagement and making connections is what face-to-face is really about.”

Shaping Ideas
Czarnowski brought Frisby on board in 2003 and Czarnowski think(form) was born. Currently, the Czarnowski idea shaper team includes a wide variety of specialties: people who understand how to create engagement, 3D designers, communications specialists, technology experts, independent partners who can integrate measurement, subject matter experts who understand the target audience inside and out, researchers, and designers who understand how to integrate sensory components. There are also marketers who can connect all of the dots and make sure the entire program meshes together in a cohesive way. Based in Czarnowski offices across the company, the idea shapers interface with Czarnowski account teams across the country, providing whatever specialized skill a project requires.

The New Definition
By Frisby’s own definition, the role of an exhibit and event designer is to be the bridge that connects a brand with its customer. The end product which the designer creates is the process which facilitates that connection—the series of interactions between the brand and its customer. When you look at a face-to-face encounter this way, architecture ceases to drive the exhibit and instead becomes one of the tools in the designer’s toolbox, alongside technology, graphic messaging, premiums, presentations, demonstrations, audio, and even scent. “So many event managers say ‘figure out how many demos we need,’ rather than ‘do people want to see demos?’” says Frisby.

Frisby sees the engagement model ripe with potential. “If we help marketers connect with customers on a much more personal level by creating new ways of engaging, we can turn pessimists into brand believers, and customers into brand advocates,” he says. At the same time, Frisby reiterates that the engagement doesn’t have to be technical or high cost—as much as it has to appeal to the senses.

Frisby sees creating new types of encounters as a somewhat new science. “There’s no question that we still have an awful lot to learn in the trade show industry about how to engage the customer,” he says. The job is to provide the customer’s customer—the target audience—with relevant information in a format they are comfortable with.

The hinge pin to accomplishing this is to really understand the target audience’s point of view. “I think sometimes we get wrapped up in our client’s marketing objectives and forget our audience,” says Frisby. The ideal engagement is what the customer’s customer wants. Delivering that ideal engagement means delving deep into how that customer learns, engages, and wants to receive information.

Moving the Marketer
Transitioning to the engagement approach may be proactive, but it isn’t easy. Frisby acknowledges that even when an agency or design team is ready to think from this perspective, their clients may not be. “What we’ve tried to do is to take this approach with the clients who are ready—the ones who have defined objectives and a definitive communications plan,” says Frisby. Most often, the key to these companies’ success are visionary individuals who understand the potential of face-to-face marketing and want to move in that direction.

From experience, Frisby knows that transitioning a corporate client from a tactical approach to thinking in terms of engagement takes months, or even years. The lone internal evangelist has to rack up small victories in order to slowly sway opinions, and earn the support of his or her internal marketing, pr, and product teams. It has to be done in a way where the client team gets excited, rather than feeling like the agency or designer team is telling them how to do their job. And it helps if the internal evangelist takes the lead.

While Frisby acknowledges that a design agency can’t force the transition, it can help facilitate it. Czarnowski pays close attention to each scenario. “We look at what influenced the lead individuals’ perspectives and how they then changed the perception and behavior of others within their companies,” says Frisby. From this, Czarnowski is distilling best practices methodology it will use to help other clients evolve in the same way.

The ideal scenario is to start the process by sitting down with marketing, public relations, and sales for an open discussion about the opportunities at a particular event—and what it would take to realize those opportunities. When you achieve that, everyone starts to recognize the potential return for their investment. “Their reaction gives you a good sense of whether they are willing to make the investment to really get it right,” says Frisby.

But when it’s right, it sticks.

Frisby predicts a far more interesting and engaging trade show floor in the future—a development which will elevate the industry’s priority status when it comes time to allocate marketing budgets. That show floor will excite, entertain, educate, motivate, and connect. Says Frisby, “If they want more after the ride’s over, we’ve done our job.”

Purdue and Czar Win GOLD Ex Award

Another Game Changer....

The integrated program Czarnowski developed and delivered for Purdue late last year just won a prestigious Gold Ex Award in the category of Best Integrated Trade Show Campaign. The awards were presented at the Ex Awards Dinner in Chicago on

May 3.

The Ex Awards, sponsored by Event Marketer magazine, is a recognition program honoring excellence in event and experiential programs. The Ex Awards are billed as the preeminent awards for event marketing and they are the only awards judged entirely by brand-side marketing professionals.

All winners will be profiled in Event Marketer’s annual ‘best of the best’ issue which drops in June. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the awards program go to eventmarketer.com.

Following is an excerpt of our awards entry. Attached are some exhibit images and a list of Ex finalists across 30 categories. Congrats to the entire team for being part of this success story and making Purdue a very happy customer! For more info, contact Nick Simonette (Atlanta) or Tom Firsby (Orlando).

Highlights from our Ex Awards Entry:

Event:
American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly 2009
30’ x 40’ exhibit

Client Overview:
Purdue Pharma L.P., is a privately held pharmaceutical company founded by physicians, dedicated to finding, developing, and bringing to market new medicines and related products that improve health outcomes. It is known for its pioneering research on persistent pain, a principal cause of human suffering.

What were the client's primary objectives for this event or experiential program?
Brand Objective
Create a presence and experience appropriate to the Purdue brand: comfortable, professional, ethical, approachable, trustworthy, dedicated, low pressure and low profile. This required exceeding PhRMA code guidelines, maintaining an education focus, and not employing games, gimmicks, or giveaways.

Functional Objectives
· Get physicians into the booth.
· Educate physicians about new and existing product.
· Provide adequate scientific data and education so that physicians consider trying the new product with appropriate patients.
· Invite physicians to continue the dialog through follow-up rep visits.

What was the solution to the client's marketing objectives? (Word Limit: 400)
A new exhibit was designed based on observation of prior exhibits and target audience research.

Solution: Rather than employ a theme, game, giveaway or other “wow,” Purdue achieved success by fine tuning the touch points of its visitor experience.

Research: Revealed that the physicians would be more likely to enter—and stay in—an environment that felt comfortable, relaxing, and low-key.

Environment Design: Achieved a comfortable, low-key ambiance. No element is dominant or overpowering. Simple columns, fabric elements. Open plan facilitated easy entry from all sides. Light and neutral finishes bathed in softly evolving tinted light. Light levels set high enough for good vision but low enough to eliminate glare.

Sensory appeal: Familiar and soothing stimuli engaged visitors’ senses, increasing comfort and recall.
· Smell—a light, familiar, comforting scent was integrated into the environment.
· Sound—adult contemporary instrumental music played softly in the background.
· Touch—premium carpet pad makes visitors feel like they are walking on a cloud.

Messaging Hierarchy: A simple three-tier hierarchy.

Product education: Ergonomically positioned touch screen interface stations educated visitors about new and existing product. Random-access to static and animated education facilitated customized encounters. Five table-top units facilitated rep-assisted interaction. Four wall mounted units facilitated self-serve interaction. The abundance of units eliminated waiting and enabled each visitor to experience a customized presentation.

Staff objectives: As in prior years, the staff was handpicked—reps who are comfortable working in the trade show environment. New this year: the staff was assigned specific performance goals—including getting physicians to indicate that they would be willing to consider trying the product on appropriate cases.

Staff preparation: Pre-show get-together to practice using the interactive technology and role play.

Staff empowerment: The staff decided what the best experience for each visitor would be based on input and conversation. They could personally stay with the visitor, transition them to another rep, escort them to a self-service kiosk, etc.

Any other important factors that were meaningful to the success of the program?
Success factors:
•Sensory appeal was used to increase visitor comfort.
•Sensory elements were used as an ice breaker to draw in visitors.
•Architecture created ambiance rather than making a statement.
•The approach was education, not sales or product promotion.
•Staff empowerment and ample supply of technology tools enabled customized experience and engagement.
•Electronic data capture facilitated measurement and customized follow-up.

What were the results?
•The number of visitors entering the exhibit and participating in data capture increased 293% versus 2008.
•71% of visitors indicated interest in the new product.
•45% of visitors indicated interest in existing product.
•61% of visitors indicated they would consider trying the new product with appropriate patients. This exceeded goal assigned to booth staff by 256%
•62% of visitors requested a follow-up visit from a representative.
•The exhibit staff rated pre-meeting communications and planning as: 5-outstanding. (In 2008, the staff rated the exhibit as 4-very good.

For more info, please visit www.Czarnowski.com

American Express - Gets and Gives Credit

Another successful collaboration ends in accolades for our team's performance at CES 2010.

Since 2005, American Express’ OPEN Tradeshow channel has been a terrific source of profitable, high wallet, net new Charge Accounts. In 2009, we began broadening our approach, seeking to drive deeper awareness, consideration and customer engagement in the channel to compliment our success with acquisitions.

As part of that larger effort, I'm thrilled to share some highlights and initial results from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which took place in Las Vegas January 7-10, 2010. As many of you know, this show was the first time the OPEN Forum and Tradeshow teams collaborated to bring OPEN Forum to life in the tradeshow environment. The teams created a unique experience for CES attendees and OPEN Forum readers through an interactive booth experience, robust speaker series, and live blogging and tweeting from the show. This was an exciting event which brought relevant business tips and tools to prospects and Cardmembers at CES, and to those following the show online.

Highlights of the show include:

• 
  Our largest Tradeshow footprint ever, including acquisition stations, terminals with live access to OPEN Forum, and touchscreens with interactive sales collateral
  
• 
  The full launch of OPEN's new handheld devices in Tradeshows, which enable electronic Card applications and instant decisioning capabilities


• 
  The first OPEN Forum Tradeshow speaker series, with Tony Hsieh, Guy Kawasaki, Anita Campbell, John Jantsch, Ben Parr, and Barbara Dybwab speaking directly to prospects and customers in our booth


• 
  Our first live blogging and tweeting on OPEN Forum from the tradeshow floor about the OPEN booth activities and CES product highlights
  

A test of exciting new booth premiums, including a Kindle sweepstakes and excerpts from Seth Godin's new bookEarly results exceeded expectations:

• 
  430 new Charge Card applications, the most applications ever received at CES



• 
  Over 425 attendees at the speaker series over 4 days
  
  
• 
  30,486 page views for all CES-related pages and articles to the OPEN Forum CES experience page



• 
  413 unique Twitter users used the #opences hash tag on tweets during CES. Their tweets reached a combined following of 1,046,478 users
  

CES articles posted to Open Forum during CES continue to drive traffic post show. For example, Anita Campbell's article "10 Tips I Got from Kawasaki at CES" (posted 1/9) has generated over 7,750 page views and 622 tweets to dateWe have strong survey results from customers and prospects who visited the booth:

• 
  80% of all respondents scored their overall experience a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10



• 
  45% of respondents said they are very/extremely likely to seek out additional information about other OPEN offerings
  
  
• 
  43% of respondents said they are very/extremely likely to visit OPENForum.com after the event
  

42% of Cardmember respondents said their experience will change how they use their CardsQuotes overheard during CES at the OPEN booth include:

• "You have something special for me? Really? That's amazing."

• "I want to get a Card because of OPEN Forum..." - Prospect (who later applied for a Platinum Card)

• "Signing up for OPEN Forum is a 'no brainer' " - Platinum Cardmember

Please join me in thanking the OPEN Forum and Tradeshow teams for their terrific collaboration in making this unique experience come to life for our prospects and Cardmembers. I'd also like to thank Momentum, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Federated Media, Czarnowski and Ogilvy Action for all of their help making this event a success.

Nancy Hood, VP of Marketing - American Express

Czarnowski IT presents at Lotusphere

Every year, nearly 6000 IBM Lotus Notes professionals gather for Lotusphere, the annual Lotus technology conference. It's a week long conference of Lotus Notes training, vendor showcases, and networking from the best minds in the Lotus Notes and Domino community.

For the third time in six years, Czarnowski's Declan Lynch was a presenter. He gave a training class on utilizing a new technology within Domino called XPages. Declan is widely known as an expert in this technology, having given numerous talks at user groups around the country, as well as authoring a 53 part series on getting started with XPages in your own environment.

In addition, Declan was recognized as a finalist for best Open Source application at OpenNTF.org, the open source community for Lotus Notes and Domino applications.

This entry certainly falls into the What....is Next category.