“We recently decided that we wanted to get into the experiential graphics business, but the challenge was how to do it,” Doug Magid, President of BluEdge.
The strategic move to add a Custom Creations unit to their ever-growing line of offerings at BluEdge is as savvy as it was a plausible challenge. However, Doug explains how he cleverly acquired the perfect team for this venture.
“It’s a highly specialized business, and one with incredibly skilled designers and craftspeople tackling very difficult, and often very large, projects. So, we decided this was not the type of thing we could dabble in or learn as we go. We needed to either hire a team of experienced people or acquire a company in the business. An additional challenge, though, was that there are very few companies who even offer this service. We were very fortunate that through some of our people’s relationships within the industry, we were able to bring over an amazingly talented and enthusiastic team from a competitor. We then needed to make a major investment in equipment and space, which we were more than willing to do. That in fact was part of what motivated that team to make the move over.”
One such talent is that of John Gagliardi, new Director of Experiential Creations. His addition to the team is a brilliant move to underscore the company’s commitment to excellence in custom creations.
Gagliardi provided answers to our questions below:
Does BluEdge have a team of designers?
·BluEdge has a team of technical designers, project managers, operators and installers that review the design intent for every job during our value engineering phase. This review period allows our team to address specific variables as they consider the best approach and strategy for any EGD (Environmental Graphic Design) or experiential project. These variables include location, number of locations, install method and shipping parameters. This information, along with in-field measurements and environmental scans, will dictate how our technical designers begin the process, starting with technical drawings. These drawings are very detailed and account for materials/substrates being used, hardware needed for assembly and installation, specifications of the graphics and/or structures that we are building and order in which all elements need to be installed including wait times for each additional element.
How do you measure the success and impact of experiential graphics and environments on the audience?
·There are a number of ways to measure the impact and success of these projects. Often, this is project specific depending on scope of work. But our mission is to always connect the target audience with the brand. If the project is rich in graphics and custom fabrication, we measure success based on social awareness on various platforms by geolocation and hashtags. The ultimate compliment to any of our projects is when the target audience pulls out their phone to take a picture. If we are building interactive technology into our solutions, we can capture detailed analytics, often leading to additional multi-touch campaigns for our clients. For example, a touch screen experience supporting consumer rich content developed by our media team can capture detailed analytics including behavior, areas of interest and even consumer data with an opt-in. We can also deliver personalized messaging to the consumer on integrated screens using AI and demographic metadata. Age and gender can be observed in real-time to deliver individualized and group experiences within our displays. This data assists our clients as their internal marketing teams strategize social, direct mail, e-mail, and experiential campaigns to further engage their customers.
How do you see the future of experiential graphics and environments evolving in the next 5-10 years?
·BluEdge has always determined our future path to success by staying ahead of trends and research and development. This allows us to consider combining new and old interactive technologies, best practices, materials, and overall aesthetics as we review future client projects. Sustainability is always at the forefront of our strategy meetings and often entails green materials and approaches that can give our solutions a longer lifespan by building in the ability for it to evolve over time or be re-used. This allows us to position ourselves as an extension to our client’s team and a valuable resource for information. We see the future of experiential graphics and EGD projects being centralized around environmental benefits, community, inclusion, and function.