Facebook Gaming (a Facebook Inc. brand), a platform that allows viewers to watch their favorite gamers compete online, is on a crusade to wrestle market share from Amazon.com Inc.'s industry-leading Twitch. To that end, the company increased its footprint at the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo by 30 percent compared to 2018. Facebook wanted the extra space to create live in-booth content, allow attendees to try its latest Oculus virtual-reality headsets, and meet with potential partners. "By utilizing every side of the island, we attracted attention from all angles and allowed attendees to easily navigate each activity," said Neeshu Hajra, vice president of business development for The Trade Group Inc., which turned Facebook's vision into a reality. An elevated 10-by-20-foot black stage dominated one front corner of the exhibit. Presenters emerged from the back of the stage onto a white runway that jutted into the audience area. "It's difficult to integrate a stage into an exhibit and not have it take over or feel like an add-on component," remarked one Exhibit Design Awards judge. "This one succeeded." A second-floor lounge in the opposite front corner overlooked the stage, providing prospects a view of events.

The exhibit's artistic gem was a collage of white-painted recycled radios, speakers, and monitors hearkening to yesteryear. "The design spoke of the digital connectivity that lifted the brand to where it is today," Hajra said. And around the exterior, designers stopped traffic with a pair of whimsical 10-by-10-foot Instagrammable photo ops and aisle-facing glass-walled rooms where content creators and attendees could stream games and test VR headsets. With the stand serving up a smorgasbord of activations and on-brand spaces, there's no doubt designers brought their "A" games to this high-tech turf war. E