I've yet to come across a better freebie at an exhibition than a caricature drawn on the iPad. Not so much from the visitor point of view but from the exhibitor's perspective. Of course the visitor wants the most expensive gift for the least cost, even if that cost is only a few minutes of their time. The exhibitor on the other hand wants to engage the visitor, design a stand that is inviting and offer the visitor something seemingly unique, bespoke and cost effective. Unique and cost effective aren't as mutually exclusive as they may seem.
Engaging an iPad caricaturist ticks all those boxes. Everybody loves to watch an artist draw and the TV screen that I'm linked to allows all the casual passers by to do that. They will most likely also notice some people walking around wearing their printed out colour caricatures in their lanyards around their necks. After all when you approach somebody at an exhibition their ID wallet is where the eye is attracted to in order to spot their name and company. 'Where did you get that?' It's probably the most frequently asked question at exhibition.
So this all helps with the traffic to your stand. Once they're there they can either sit to have their caricature drawn and printed or if I'm busy watch me draw for a while which gives your sales staff the chance to chat. The story doesn't have to end there. Most trade shows and exhibitions will have publicised the show on Twitter with live feeds being broadcast before and throughout the show. Because the iPad caricatures are already digital they are geared up to be uploaded immediately to the shows hash tag and spread around the network of attendees and visitors.
The iPad caricatures are also emailed directly to the visitor and cc'd to your marketing person so they get a copy of the visitors email and caricature.
