Hire and higher

Smart Display’s six clients have closed on a record two days of trading at the Executive Hire Show. The event – which took place at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Wednesday and Thursday of this week – saw record attendance figures on the first day, and a buoyant atmosphere across the aisles as buyers turned out in force to discover new product and place serious orders.

“At the end of the first day we were already 20 per cent up on last year, and that was already a record a year for us,” says John McGhee, group marketing manager at the Hire Supply Company. “We took our stand even higher this year and it’s definitely the first thing that visitors see when they walk into the hall. We’ve been able to tell customers that 97 per cent of our stand is re-usable from last year to this year to next year, and that’s had a really good reaction. It’s been the perfect platform to showcase our new range and our new approach to assessing products before we put them into production, which is something we can only really do efficiently at a trade show when customers are out and focused and in the zone. Overall, we are happy with everything and have already committed to come back to Executive Hire Show with Smart Display next year.”

John’s thoughts were echoed by Frank Andrews, sales director at Golz UK. “We create speciality product and make it accessible to the trade,” says Frank. “We came here to show the UK what we are all about, and the platform created by Smart Display has one the job of bringing customers onto the stand. Our star product is our all-weather battery pack, which works in conditions of minus 20 degrees to 60 degrees, and is also very quiet, so it’s popular on film sets. This is niche product, and we’ve achieved what we wanted to in demonstrating that to the industry.”

Fellow new customer Seddon Plant & Engineering also reported that its Smart Display stand had been a massive contributory factor in connecting its product with the right customers.

“We’ve been at the Executive Hire Show since the beginning but this is the first time that Smart Display has built our stand,” says marketing executive Liam Seddon. “We’ve got nothing but praise for the stand; the entire process was so easy for us, and it’s done the job. We’ve launched three new products here and had a great reaction, which is what we wanted.”

Fellow Smart Display client Tsurumi Pumps took a different approach to attracting customers onto its stand, with an eco-friendly scheme that drew plenty of attention over the two-day show. In line with its commitment to a greener future, the brand not only re-used its stand from last year, but went one step further with a pledge to plant a tree for every Tsurumi pump sold in 2024.

“Our ultimate aim is to plant 10,000 trees,” says Pete McMutrie. “It’s been a good show so far and we’ve had plenty of interest from the right sorts of clients.”

Trime UK also went on step further to demonstrate its commitment to a greener approach to exhibiting. Returning as a Smart Display client for the second year running, the brand once again pledged to donate the living plant elements of its stand to a local school with an interest in eco-activity and gardening.

“The Executive Hire Show is our main shop window, and I think that the rest of the European operation looks to what we do here for inspiration,” says sales director Andrew Owen. “We’ve had a great reaction to the product, but I also believe that people buy more than product; they buy into a brand and they buy from people, and there is a story to Trime UK that we like to showcase here.”

With six very distinctive brands, Smart Display excelled in creating a unique point of different for each, designing six stands that each stood out on their own merit and for their own reasons.

“Our stand was one of the best of the whole show,” says Kenny Brock, sales director at Forst Global. “We had a bit of a refresh this year and the result is a bold, crisp and clear message of our branding. We’ve been here since 2016 and grown with the show, and we’ve attracted the right sort of customer here, and the right sort of interest in our product.”

If you are showing at the Executive Hire Show next year, or have any other exhibitions booked, see what Smart Display can do for you.