A killer project in record time | Exo Terra
There are projects that you love, and projects you will probably build a shrine to because of how exciting and challenging (aaand scary) they were. Exo Terra’s participation in Interzoo 2018 was exactly that…times a million.
The Context
Interzoo is the international pet industry’s leading exhibition. Located in Nuremberg, the trade fair takes place every other year and offers a purely professional, B2B environment to exhibitors and important decision-makers in the industry. Our client Exo Terra being a market leader in reptile products for natural terrariums, Interzoo 2018 was a dream opportunity for them to show the world their products and expertise. Generally speaking, it takes up to 6 months to prepare for Interzoo. You have to prepare your stall, make booths, think of a nice leave-behind, etc. But…SPOILER ALERT: that’s not how much time Exo Terra was given…
The Challenge
Due to many internal and last-minute changes that we won’t dwell on here, Exo Terra found out 10 days before the fair that they had (and wanted) to participate. Does that give you the creeps? Yeah…us too. But that wasn’t a challenge that to:communication couldn’t overcome.
The Unexpected
The whole project was, however, peppered with unexpected trials. And as extraordinary, creative, and efficient as we may be, we knew that we only had a finite amount of time and that we weren’t – to our great disappointment – the Duracell bunnies. Below, a list of the dreadful ordeals we were dealt along the way:
- Trial 1: Interzoo sent us production schemes for the booths. So far, so good. Except those schemes changed. Then they changed again. And then once more.
- Trial 2: We wanted to create a nice, simple leave-behind…which suddenly became a 64-page magazine.
- Trial 3: Meanwhile, time was running. Which left us with 4.5 days to create, print, and deliver 2000 copies of the above-mentioned magazine.
- Trial 4: The magazine needed to have its own unique look & feel and a special branding. Only 7 Exo Terra ads (with the look & feel we were familiar with) were sprinkled across the magazine.
- Trial 5: Content was being written and edited as we were working on the layout. Isn’t that some fine real-time co-creation?
The Approach
We knew that unity was strength. So we established right from the onset what Exo Terra could do internally (content) and what they could delegate to us (editing, production, delivery). The point was also to relieve the client from as much workload as possible so that their daily business could run as usual. It was blood, sweat, and tears. But thanks to our trustful relationship with Exo Terra, we managed to achieve great results together, in record time.
The Results
- We delivered booths that, among other things, displayed a wide range of products, from Dragon grub to thermostats, to paludariums…A reptile’s heaven
- We created an amazing-looking magazine that told the captivating story of Exo Terra’s Panama Expedition
- We also took this opportunity to showcase Exo Terra’s new product line: Tiki
- On top of delivering all of this on time and according to the fair specs, the end-result was simply mind-blowing
In Short
Yet another proof that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger…