In a time when more organizations are hosting trade shows online, it’s crucial to have everything you need to wow potential clients or customers. Virtual trade shows are a tremendous opportunity to tell your brand’s story and get people excited – you just need the right virtual assets to help you create an engaging experience for attendees.
Whether you’re trying to launch a new product, promote certain services, or connect with attendees for any other reason, quality assets can help you create a realistic and immersive experience. Of course, you can’t rely on handouts or other physical items to promote your business. Visual assets will provide your audience with the information they need to know you’re the right company for them. Here are five types of virtual assets that can make your virtual trade show experience a success.
Product Photography
People don’t have to pick up a physical product to get a great sense of what you’re selling. Stunning product photography can put your products on display for the whole world – or in this case, trade show guests – to see. It can also help guests remember you long after the trade show. While people only remember 10 to 20 percent of the information they hear or read, a relevant image can boost that retention rate to 65 percent.
Whether you want classic product shots on a white background or lifestyle images, good product photography can help you showcase your goods and tell your brand’s story. Your product doesn’t even need to exist yet. Even if you don’t have a prototype, a multimedia studio can deliver photographic quality CGI images for products that can't be manufactured in time or present complex product shots that may be impossible to photograph.
You can always composite product photography into specific scenes to help you set the scene for your goods. Compositing allows you to take your existing product photos and merge them into a CGI room set (more on those later) or some other setting. We can also merge CGI images with photos we take of our existing room sets. This can give you a fully formed world to showcase your products in a virtual setting, something that’s especially welcome when you have a tight time frame.
Hybrid Photography/Video
When your competition is also trying to attract people’s attention, you need an edge to earn their time. The human attention span is eight seconds, so your assets need something that can force your audience to notice your message before they move on to a different virtual booth. Fortunately, there’s a tried and true strategy for attracting attention: motion.
Adding a moving element to your posts is a tremendous tool for pulling in prospective clients and customers. Hybrid photography is rooted in still images but combines video elements to add a new dimension to your assets. Like a wolf trained to spot prey, the flashes of movement in a hybrid photo can trigger an instinct to see the source of that motion. Once drawn in, your stunning assets can help you convey precisely why they should know and care about your company, products, and services.
CGI Animation
Just like a hybrid photo, CGI animation gives you that movement factor that not only draws in trade show attendees but also helps them retain your message. Whether you need a quick animation to enchant interested parties or need a fully animated video to present complex products or concepts, CGI can turn the impossible into reality (or at least a photorealistic presentation).
The animated approach can help you appeal to many types of buyers. Flashy animated assets can intrigue viewers and get them to stick around. Meanwhile, full videos can help sate those who would rather watch a presentation than talk to salespeople before they’re ready to make a decision. In both instances, animation can help you present your story however you’d like.
CGI Cutaways and Exploded Views
Speaking of presenting difficult or impossible concepts to film or photograph, sometimes you need a way to demonstrate how a product or system operates. Sure, you can tell trade show attendees how something works, but sometimes actions speak louder than words. With CGI, you have the means to showcase just what makes your offerings so unique, without being there in person.
CGI cutaways and exploded views can help you dissect or blow out your products – even if you don’t have a product handy. Want to cut a product in half to show off the inner workings? Cutaways help you break down a product without the costs of destroying a physical item. CGI can even show the product working while cut in half, something you could never do in reality. Need to highlight a specific element of a product or create a streamline step-by-step video? Exploded views can showcase your product in a new way to educate viewers. There are plenty of possibilities with CGI; all it takes is a little creativity and a story to tell compellingly.
CGI Room Sets
Just because you won’t have a physical booth doesn’t mean you can’t create a whole new space for trade show attendees. CGI room sets allow you to create a customizable space to showcase your products or services in a relatable setting.
From living rooms to restaurant kitchens, a good CGI team can create a lively environment that places your product or service in the spotlight. A stylist can help ensure that the CGI room matches your preferred aesthetic, whether you want a photorealistic setting or a hyper-stylized scene. In return, you get a lifelike set to showcase your goods without anyone having to pick up a hammer.
Augmented Reality (A/R)
Want to create a truly immersive experience for your audience? Augmented reality allows you to provide an interactive experience for people interested in your products and services.
With the right combination or CGI assets and A/R technology, you can create an interactive 3D experience designed to showcase your services or products. In this space, your audience can interact with your assets or see how your product will look in their home. This approach is great for allowing people to engage with items in a relatable setting or visually convey complex concepts, such as showcasing moving parts on large equipment or certain engineering concepts. With A/R, you could hand your product to someone and let them see how it works – even if you are miles apart, and the product doesn’t exist yet!
Enhance Your Virtual Trade Shows with Stunning Visual Assets
When there’s a will – and a talented multimedia studio – there’s a way. At TRG, we can work with you to figure out new, exciting ways to tell your story at virtual trades shows and anywhere else. Ready to make a statement at your next trade show? Contact TRG today, and let’s get started creating stunning assets that help you meet your organization’s marketing goals.