Case Study
Stand and deliver : at Eurofinance
The Shiraz Creative agency ’ s UK director Alex Jones describes some of his team ’ s work on the stand display for the recent Eurofinance show
T he first documented event Shiraz Creative agency worked on with Visa was Visa Wired , a B2B event in London in 2016 , although the agency ’ s work with Visa from an exhibition standpoint is a more recent thing , as the agency ’ s UK director Alex Jones explains .
“ Historically , we ’ ve worked more on the larger scale experiential B2B and B2C programmes such as Visa Payments Forum and Visa Investor Days , which , as well as largely focussing on production and build , also feature more technology to tell the Visa story , such as mixed reality and other forward-thinking technologies .
For instance , for Visa Payments Forum 2022 , we amplified Visa ’ s annual conference with innovative digital and IRL activations . Among those , we created a fully immersive
360-projection-mapping environment and several vignettes dedicated to each of their products and payment solutions . We also transported guests via VR to the Metaverse as part of Visa ’ s Creator Program , where they could explore a virtual NFT gallery and experience the future of e-commerce by purchasing a pair of sneakers in a virtual store .
Jones says he was keen to see what boundaries could be pushed with exhibition stand design alongside stand-builders Taylex , and how the repeat experiential technologydriven experiences that Visa see as a key part of communicating their brand in an attention-grabbing way could be pulled in .
Eurofinance is organised by The Economist and is a major corporate treasury event in Europe , being located in a different city each year . At the end of September 2023 it was hosted at the Barcelona International Convention Centre ( CCIB ).
Describing Visa ’ s aim at the show , Jones says Shiraz was asked to focus on the on-stand meeting experience , as they wanted a ‘ safe space ’ on and off the stand for clients to meet . “ Previously we ’ ve worked with Taylex to create stand designs for Visa , and we ’ ve always had an element of an on-stand meeting room as part of the build , as well as an off-stand room near the stand . This time it was about having these more open meeting spaces that weren ’ t necessarily closed in , but felt private .”
The challenge was : how do we
“ Some countries have different business operating hours that may not match the fast-paced nature of our job . It ’ s easier to solve lastminute issues in US , Vienna and UK due to the business culture that ’ s more conducive to finding solutions late in the day .” make it feel inviting but not closed off .
“ Ensuring brand continuity at exhibitions is key ,” says Jones , “ so although we ’ d changed the meeting area design , we wanted to include the archway and LED totem , recognisable elements of the Visa stands .”
Jones adds that the feedback from Visa about the creative was “ great ”. “ Compared with other stands as part of Eurofinance , you could clearly see that build quality , finish and functionality really stand out as a high-quality stand .”
Jones stresses the importance to his agency of having a vendor used to working with Eurofinance : “ It ’ s crucial that our vendors have had plenty of experience with the exhibitions they ’ re building at . It ’ s been especially good to work with Peter Barrett at Taylex , as he ’ s had experience of Eurofinance and that insider knowledge helped to give us an edge .”
Jones notes there are many elements the team weren ’ t aware of going into the exhibition build – from the placement of the stand to the visibility and any quirks of the hall layout itself . “ Peter and his team did a great job preparing us ,” he says .
Jones adds that the team had also to be aware of the sometimes different approach to doing business in Spain .
“ Some countries have different business operating hours that may not match the fast-paced nature of our job ,” he notes . “ It ’ s easier to solve last-minute issues in US , Vienna and UK due to the business culture that ’ s more conducive to finding solutions late in the day ,” he says .
Expanding on the working relationship between Shiraz Creative and the contractor , Jones says : “ I can ’ t stress how important it is to have trustworthy relationships in this sector , especially with vendors and fabricators ; trust is how we get more
20 Issue 6 2023 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk