How To: Exhibition Stands Which Reflect Your Brand’s Heritage

Your exhibition stand should reflect not only your creative ideas, but also your brand’s most recognisable features.  

That’s a key component of working with Image: we’ll collaborate with you to create exhibition stands that are uniquely you.  

Those fresh creative ideas can work in tandem with your brand palette, history, and storytelling.

Why is Brand Heritage So Important? 

1. Establishes A Narrative To Connect With 

People respond best to companies that they can develop a personal connection with. Human nature is such that we connect well with stories.

Leaning into an identifiable past, or pinpointing a moment that inspired the creation of your brand: it all creates a sense of the people behind the brand, and the care that’s gone into it. 

2. Builds Trust  

The longer your brand's been in action, the more evidence there is that whatever you’re doing works. It makes sense, then, to show off how long you've been in action. 

Including your brand’s heritage in your narrative also shows consistency: it says, “this is what we have always been”. People therefore begin to recognise your work and develop a meaningful connection with it. 

3. Sense of Identity 

Your brand’s heritage is uniquely yours. That means that, leaning on it as a design feature allows you to carve out a place in the market, defining who you are, where you come from, what you do and, crucially, why that matters!  

Your brand’s heritage is often the core of your brand positioning. It’s what makes you stand out in a crowd.  

In the case of event marketing, that standing out is often very literal.

A Sense of Identity - the early days of Image Experiential

Skinner’s at Crufts: A Masterclass in Experiential Storytelling 

Skinner’s Crufts stand is a good example of a stand that amalgamates brand heritage with a fresh stance on the concept of an ‘exhibition stand’.  

Over the years, we’ve worked with the pet food brand to evolve this stand into the ‘country cottage’ it has become.  

Skinner’s at Crufts: A Masterclass in Experiential Storytelling 

Why are we so proud of this collaboration? 

Well...Several reasons! But one of those reasons is that the exhibition stand leans into who Skinner’s are, and what they represent: 

Skinner’s are a brand built on familial heritage. Their mill was built all the way back in 1688, and that building evolved into the pet food brand we know and love today.  

The exhibition stand has a very literal homely feel because of the little cottage shape of its main body.  

Within that, it has a rustic feel, with climbing foliage, white brickwork effects, and sage green windows. The country cottage is the perfect way to welcome visitors into discussion about a long-term, family-run brand. 

It all comes down to visual storytelling: the question of ‘how can we give a sense of narrative, in a single glance?’ 

If that seems like a big question, that’s fair enough. We’ll break it down for you. 

How To: Brand Heritage in Event Marketing 

1. Your Story 

Back to the beginning. Once upon a time... 

Where did your brand start? What was important then? Where were you based – what sort of building? What sort of team? What did you set out to achieve? What need did you respond to?  

Also consider the logistics of how the brand was created. Is it a family business? Any fun facts? Was it run from a family home until it got its feet under the table? All these sorts of things humanise the brand and give it a sense of well-earned growth.  

2. Mind-Mapping Visual Cues 

Now it’s time to get creative.  

Look at the big list of things that represent your story. Which of these features could be rendered into 3D? How would you visualise each element? What images and ideas jump out at you when you think of each of those things?  

That’s what the design is based on. A series of images, or one, clear one, which can form the baseline of your brand exhibition stand. It all comes down to the process of brand storytelling.  

3. Logistical Pondering  

Of course, it’s not all fun and games. Once you have some designs in place, you’ll need to think about the logistics of it all.

Is your concept buildable? How would it be built? What will it be made of? How will it fit in the space? Will it fit in the space?  

Budgeting plays a part, and so does the size of your plot in the event hall.  

That doesn’t mean there are no fun and games at all! Instead, it’s about being flexible and creative at once, knowing that, sometimes those things that might seem like limitations will actually inspire your most creative idea yet, and of course, working with people who have the technical know-how.  

4. Building Your Story  

Designs drawn, logistics pondered: it’s time to get creating.  

Working with Image, you can be certain that the process will be smooth and easy-going. Your design, your ideas, your brand: we don't take the importance of those things lightly.  

From project management, to building and installing the finished product, your heritage is safe in the hands of our expert team. 

A Growing Heritage

Heritage, as a concept, does not stand alone. It is an ever-changing thing; each event you attend, every story you tell as part of your brand adds to your sense of heritage. 

Your exhibition stand needs to be able to grow with you.  

That’s where we come in.  

Tell Us Your Story 

Let’s illustrate it together.