While Osram GmbH may be able to rely on its household name in Europe to attract booth traffic, the multinational lighting manufacturer doesn't flick on too many lightbulbs in U.S. consumers' minds. In fact, heading into the 2019 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Osram assumed that, aside from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and engineers, most showgoers weren't aware of what the company is, much less how it is helping drive the future of smart-photonics technology in industries ranging from automotive to athletics. In short, its illumination dial was stuck on dim. And that was a major problem, as Osram was looking to boost brand awareness in the United States and educate attendees about its myriad technologies.

To accomplish that broad objective, Osram needed to alter its exhibiting approach at CES. In the past, the company operated out of smaller booths that focused primarily on how its Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR) tech was improving the way people drive. But in 2019, Osram felt it needed to burst out of that silo and highlight the breadth of its offerings in order to reach diverse groups of attendees. That meant promoting all four of the company's market segments: mobility, connection, health and well-being, and safety and security. To gauge whether the new approach was successful, Osram challenged itself with two lofty goals: 1) interact with more than 2,200 attendees (measured by badge scans), and 2) hold at least 100 meetings with current and prospective customers.

Marketing smart-lighting technology, however, can be like fumbling for a light switch in the dark of an unfamiliar hotel room. "Since the majority of our technologies are hidden and complex, creating name recognition and showcasing how our products work has been very challenging," says Bob Cacciola, Osram's U.S. trade show manager. So to ensure its campaign was a success, the company asked Taylor Manufacturing Industries Inc. (The Taylor Group) to produce an innovative exhibit that would share its story in an engaging, social, and – perhaps most importantly – easy-to-understand manner.

Appealing to the masses meant deviating from the traditional method of setting up product displays and relying on product specialists to explain exactly how each bit of technology worked – neither of which would offer the illuminating experience Osram wanted to provide. Throughout several planning meetings, Osram and The Taylor Group determined they could avoid that dark abyss by using a series of tech interactives to present Osram's story in a way that was educational and engaging. "We often use interactives to help tell our clients' stories in ways that are easily understandable," says Mark Carter, executive account director at The Taylor Group. "In Osram's case, part of their story is in the world of invisible light. We felt creating an interactive experience to render the invisible visible was a sensational, innovative way for Osram to engage with its customers." On top of that, Osram was convinced it could increase throughput with a series of interactives, meaning it could introduce a slew of people to its products. "On the show floor, we strive to educate attendees by telling one story to many people," Cacciola says. "And we've learned that an interactive method of showcasing our technologies is the best way to accomplish that."

To accommodate the broader range of products and the accompanying interactives and demos, Osram doubled its square footage from the previous year and secured a 40-by-50-foot island. With the space to realize its vision, the company just needed to find a way to convince attendees to step inside, which it would accomplish with a front-and-center, couldn't-miss live presentation.

Flipping the Switch
When doors opened at CES, thousands of attendees found themselves riveted by an alluring presentation stage at the front of Osram's exhibit. While most exhibitors bury presentation areas deep inside their booths and dedicate them to complex analyses of their products, Osram departed from the norm by building a 10-by-14-foot raised stage right along the aisle. LED tiles covering the floor and 15-foot-tall back wall flooded the surfaces with vibrant content, such as waterfalls spilling onto the floor, to ensure the theater shined through the exhibit-hall fog. Every half hour, a professional presenter from Live Marketing Inc. took the stage to deliver an animated five-minute presentation. With laser-like focus on introducing a massive audience to the Osram brand, her message was less a deep dive into the company and more of a quick-hitting talk aimed at enticing showgoers to enter the booth and interact with the smart-lighting technologies.
Following her suggestion, throngs of attendees flooded the exhibit. Most headed toward the 5-by-9-foot area just left of the stage where Osram spotlighted its automotive LiDAR tech via a digital interactive. The space consisted of four horizontally positioned 55-inch touch tables with two on each side, creating a rectangular island. Each opening screen displayed the Osram logo animated with particle-motion effects. Text at the bottom of the screen prompted users to pluck a Hot Wheels-sized model car from an eye-level shelf and position it on the monitor. Once the vehicle was in place, a fiery graphic appeared beneath the model showing the four "pillars" of Osram's applications: mobility, connection, health and well-being, and safety and security. Touching one of the icons launched a context window giving the user more details about the selection. For instance, tapping the mobility icon produced a window with a futuristic graphic of a nighttime road populated with vehicles. Below the graphic, text explained how Osram technology is making increasingly crowded roads safer to navigate.

Under the brief paragraph, a "launch" icon allowed users to initiate an interactive scenario set along a rural highway at night. The graphics automatically centered the animated scene on the model car's location on the table with the road flowing beneath it to give the illusion of driving along with bright headlight beams lighting up the highway. In a corner of the panel, a text box appeared providing information about Osram's LiDAR technology as well as a driver's-view graphic of the road. On-screen cues prompted each user to place a second oncoming vehicle (available on the shelf) onto the screen. Animations demonstrated how LiDAR senses and identifies vehicles while automatically adjusting the headlights' brightness in the area of the oncoming car to avoid blinding its driver. As users repositioned the models, the screen updated the headlights' illumination in real time.

When the scenario concluded, the screen returned to the graphic of the car surrounded by Osram's four pillars, allowing attendees to explore the other interactives. To ensure a rush hour's worth of visitors to the area, each of the four touch tables had a large monitor positioned above it that mirrored the panel below, piquing the curiosity of passersby and luring them in for their own interactions.

Lighting the Way
Other attendees were drawn to the health and well-being area directly behind the presentation stage, where they could grab a seat in one of two posh first-class airline seats arranged in front of a 7-by-14-foot curved cutaway of an airplane cabin wall with overhead lighting. Here, attendees got to experience how Osram's "human-centric" lighting can help air passengers cope with the effects of long-distance travel, a burden many CES attendees understood only too well. Using a tablet mounted to the cabin wall, visitors altered the mock aircraft's lighting as staffers explained how amber-colored illumination can help attendees and flyers alike sleep more soundly. Conversely, a quick slide of the tablet's light-temperature control switched the overhead illumination to a cooler blue hue, which is purported to assist travelers in more quickly shaking off the mental cobwebs upon waking and overcome up to a full hour of jet lag.

Also in this area, staffers outfitted attendees with sunglasses whose frames featured embedded lighting with the same energy-altering capabilities as the airplane demo. Via an app on a staffer's smartphone, visitors adjusted the lighting to either help them relax or become more energized. Staffers used this opportunity to share that German skiers wore the glasses prior to their downhill runs at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to ensure their bodies and minds were primed for peak performance.

Deeper in the exhibit, Osram introduced attendees to its horticultural products with three displays of faux lettuce inset in a wall. Various light-growth systems provided adjustable overhead illumination – which attendees could manipulate using a nearby tablet – capable of optimizing plant growth in vertical farming and indoor hydroponic applications. While the displays clearly applied to the health and well-being "pillar," staffers explained how they crossed over to the connection pillar as well. Using a wall-mounted monitor with a digital dashboard, visitors witnessed how the innovative systems allow growers to remotely monitor plant health and adjust lighting.

Finally, in an aisle-side space near the rear of the exhibit, Osram showed how it's helping improve safety and security for different industries. This display featured mannequins of a construction worker in a safety vest, a child carrying a backpack, and a cyclist wearing a jersey and helmet all lined with LEDs. To add a hands-on element, staffers helped attendees don smart bike helmets with turn signals activated by a flick of a wearer's head.

All of these interactive elements were designed to provide attendees with an overview of Osram's many sectors of innovation more effectively and quickly than they would have gotten from hour-long conversations with company engineers. But Osram's exhibit didn't solely cater to laypeople perusing the show floor for cool technologies. The rear of the exhibit featured a double-deck structure dedicated to those looking to explore the company's offerings in more depth. As it was, scores of visitors were intrigued by the engagements and wanted to learn more. Product specialists were happy to escort these attendees to one of three meeting rooms located on the second floor. And on the first floor of the double deck, Osram debuted a "research room" where select customers, CEOs, and other VIPs witnessed the company's developing technologies and provided valuable feedback.

A Shining Beacon
Before attendees moved on to other exhibits, a dedicated staffer from Live Marketing nabbed more than 350 of them for a brief exit survey. The one- to two-minute queries asked four questions about visitors' professional roles in their companies, their familiarity with Osram, which lighting applications were relevant to them, and how satisfied they were with their in-booth experiences.

The results were illuminating. Thirteen percent replied that they had never heard of Osram prior to their visits, and another 32 percent reported they'd heard of the company but were unfamiliar with any of its products. That means Osram essentially introduced nearly half of the booth's visitors to its brand and offerings. And since 94 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their booth experiences, Osram marketers are confident their engaging exhibit shined like a lighthouse in the dark. Coupling that with the fact that staffers scanned more than 2,400 attendee badges (10 percent above its goal) and hosted more than 100 in-booth meetings, it's safe to say Osram's new strategic approach to exhibiting at CES with a focus on brief interactive components helped move the brand-awareness dial from dim to blazing. E