A spectacular Accountex exhibition stand designed to promote FreeAgent’s cloud accounting software and encourage visitor engagement, all within the 196 square meter floor space.
The challenge
To create a playful and social event space with clear areas for product demos, informal meetings and social shareable content.
The result
The most eye-catching stand at Accountex, featuring a striking cloud light feature, impressive curved towers with vibrant graphics, and plenty of demo stations.
FreeAgent is a cloud-based accounting software company that helps small businesses to manage their finances. The team were looking for a new modular exhibition stand to showcase their products and services at Accountex 2023, the UK’s leading accounting and finance exhibition.
Graphic Mill worked closely with the FreeAgent team to design a visually stunning stand that carefully managed the visitor flow through layout and the use of space. With an Accountex show theatre neighbouring the stand, it was imperative that the stand was visible and accessible from many angles, and this was a consideration from the very first concept sketch.
The two central towers were the most prominent feature of the exhibition stand. Both towers were wrapped in 4 meter tall seamless graphics and incorporated flush mounted 70” screens with looping video content. A hot air balloon printed on the wall provided a fun photo opportunity with a physical basket to stand inside.
A bridge between the two towers was decorated with custom-made contour cloud lights that created a stunning visual effect. This feature was raised to 4 meters high and provided a centrepiece for the stand, drawing the attention of show visitors.
A coffee bar was built into the first tower with hand-finished plywood countertops and a slatted baffle. Both towers featured lockable doors leading into the large storage rooms inside, perfect for hiding away giveaway stock and staff belongings. These rooms also provided a central hub for the stand AV and power, ensuring any issues could be dealt with quickly.
Large, curved banners were suspended in the ceiling above the exhibition stand and beamed the FreeAgent logo across the hall. This helped stand visitors easily locate the space and added extra height above neighbouring stands.
It was important that the stand could be reused for future events. The tower structures were designed with Aluvision frames which are strong and easily reconfigurable. All the stand elements were created with ease of assembly on-site and were designed for quick and streamlined installation.
The demo stations featured 32” screens, embedded Mac Minis, and lockable doors for storage. The mobile stations showcased the FreeAgent app by wirelessly casting the iPhone screens to the above vertical 32” screens, providing a magnified view.
Lightbox walls with plywood slats were created to provide further branding opportunities without blocking the visibility into the stand. To add a touch of fun, a caricaturist was hired to give stand visitors something to take home. A wide lightbox wall designated the caricaturist area next to the coffee bar.
The raised sub-floor was split into distinct areas. Durable wood-effect vinyl was used in the bar area, perfect for easy cleaning at the end of the day. Vibrant pink carpet covered the central corridor providing more foot comfort during product demos. Stainless steel ramp edged the floor to provide easy access to the stand whilst also finishing off the space.
Brilliant spotlights and downlights helped to push the stand to its potential, highlighting the colourful graphics and making the space stand out in the hall.
Precise artwork templates were provided to FreeAgent for their designers to bring the exhibition stand to life. The final artwork was added to the 3D model before production allowing our design team to fully visualise the space and ensure everything was as expected. All the printed graphics were robustly colour matched to ensure brand consistency.
Once the Accountex exhibition stand design was finalised, our project team completed all the required documentation which included RAMS and drawings for the organisers. This made the process for the client much easier as we utilise our years of exhibitions experience to get the job done. Everything in this project was prebuilt in-house to ensure a smooth running on the build day.
The stand was installed in ExCel with our installation team delivering to their usual high standard. The new FreeAgent exhibition stand at Accountex was a huge success. The team received a lot of positive feedback from visitors and the space was continually busy throughout the show days. We look forward to working with the team again soon.
