Your Story Alive: A Live Communications Blog

January 26, 2012 12:34 PM

NAIAS Review: The Good, the Great and the Ugly

Posted byKatie

This year’s North American International Auto Show was a departure from years past – both when it comes to attendance (770,932 attended this year, with the highest opening day attendance since 2005) and automaker’s exhibits.

Our design team took to the aisles to see what’s happening and what’s hot (or not), and here is what we found:

The brands are back. Companies that haven’t been around the past few years have made a comeback, and their re-emergence wasn’t always small. However, on that note, we saw that condensed kits are still around even for the seminal automakers, but didn’t seem to be doing their brands much justice.
Automakers and consumers are talking about fuel efficiency and personalization – and some of this is being reflected right into the booth themselves. EWI Worldwide client Kia turned its brand’s fuel efficiency into a driving interactive, and another interactive in the space highlighted features that could be personalized to the driver. This trend also shows signs of event marketing and the live experience becoming a larger representation of the brand and an overall marketing campaign, instead of a standalone effort.
Exhibitors are building new stands every year instead of using the same kit for 4-5 years – just look at GM and Chrysler as examples. This speaks to the European build style – and is perhaps something we all should keep an eye on for future years (and builds).
Black is the new black. And so is drywall and fabric. One short trip around the show floor revealed these materials reflected in a lot of the exhibit spaces. Not everyone did it well, but awesome forms in drywall were delivered particularly in the Audi stand. Chevy, on the other hand, was almost entirely executed with fabric.
Bring on the LEDs. LEDs are becoming a bigger part of exhibits, and BMW’s LED ceiling was a good example of this. Although not all automakers have embraced the LED trend, we expect to see more of it in future years.

Are there any trends that you saw this year that you haven’t seen in years past? Share below.

Tags: Architecture, Brand Stories, Interactives, Technology, Transportation
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NAIAS Review: The Good, the Great and the Ugly

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