Top creative agencies and brands have again had their work for the global exhibition industry acknowledged at the World Exhibition Stand Awards (WESA). The 2021 awards have recognised the finest achievements in exhibition design and build and celebrated the cream of the year’s digital event projects.
The winners list spans the globe and includes: 2Heads Global Solutions, ASTOUND Group, Creaplan nv, Evolve Creative Solutions, Philips, M-integrated Solutions, Pico EMEA, RTH plc and brands such as Disney, Airbus, Roll-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, Huawei, Campari Group, Xerox, BAE Systems and Adobe.
The 2021 awards recognise that, since the pandemic, agencies and brands have made big changes and are working harder than ever to deliver great solutions for clients.
Lisa Farnfield, the awards’ campaign manager, told EW: “The level of creativity this year has been phenomenal. Every winning agency and brand deserves huge congratulations because, despite these challenging times, they have continued to deliver outstanding creativity, inspirational and immersive solutions for their clients, whether at a live show or digital event.
“The 2021 categories and entry requirements were extended which allowed our agencies to show off all their achievements and celebrate their successes. Judges have been impressed with the high standards delivered.”
Among the winners were the 2Heads agency which picked up two Diamond awards for its work with Playtech at ICE London 2020. The awards were: Best stand at a gaming event (Casino Industry) 2021 (Diamond) and Best stand 500-1,000sqm 2021 (Diamond).
Playtech’s presence at ICE needed to be moved away from the corporate format towards an attraction-based, interactive experience that engaged audiences through sense immersion and play in a manner more aligned with a large-scale attraction. The campaign also had to deliver on stringent sales and marketing terms. Playtech’s unique customer benefits needed to be communicated in a concise way that encouraged deeper conversations and the design and content needed to lead guests into quantifiable engagements with the brand and staff.
The Playtech brand takeover began at the entrance to ICE, enabling visitors to engage with the brand on entering. There was also a series of immersive engagements including 20x20ft content canyons, branded photo opportunities, multiple LED surfaces, interactive audio and bespoke content that placed the audience inside Playtech’s games.
Expovorm International and OCTANORM also won Diamond for Best Stand 500-1,000sqm for their stand at EuroShop 2020. The central idea was to show the worldwide audience in a spectacular way the possibilities of a big stand without any rigging. New products were displayed using the newest materials and interactive technology. The ceiling construction was made of ‘Octarig’, a product with few limits in application with regards to the length and, therefore, suspension is unnecessary. The bar area was the heart of the booth where visitors would meet. Various audiovisual techniques were applied around the stand and, for all the print work, a special process called ‘Day and Night printing’ was used to achieve a better contrast with the images and texts.
Lisa Farnfield added that the World Exhibition Stand Awards would be opening for 2022 entries at the end of the year and recommended agencies document their great creativity, take lots of images and videos in preparation for taking part and joining the celebration in 2022.
See the full list of winners here
