Company honored for its groundbreaking work on the King Tut exhibit and the Casa Systems, Inc. trade show exhibit

Image 4, the leader in 3D experiential brand design, is pleased to announce that it was named to Event Marketer’s prestigious FAB 50 2018 list, which recognizes the top 50 design firms serving the event and trade show industry. Image 4 was honored for its work on two innovative projects:

• Custom designing and fabricating the gift shop for the world-traveling “King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh” exhibition, timed to the upcoming 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tut’s tomb. Through modular construction, Image 4 delivered a high-impact visitor experience while also controlling for design and multi-country, international deployment.
• Helping CASA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASA), a leading provider of fixed, mobile, optical and Wi-Fi network solutions, to enhance its brand image and drive sales by custom designing and building a multi-dimensional trade show exhibit.

Image 4 CEO Jeff Baker said, “For over 30 years, Image 4 has helped companies of all sizes tell stories, showcase products, engage customers and create brand advocates. We’re proud to be recognized once again by Event Marketer as a top exhibit design firm and look forward to continuing to help our diverse clients bring their brands to life.”

Image 4 has been selected for FAB 50 every year since the list’s inception. Honorees are chosen through a rigorous application and judging process, with the goal of helping trade show teams, event departments and procurement officers choose the best marketing partner.

Each year as a FAB 50 honoree, Image 4 has competed successfully against large exhibit design conglomerates, illustrating that Image 4’s unique “Design Thinking” approach and high-touch philosophy deliver great value to clients when creating integrated, immersive brand experiences in the physical world, on-time and on-budget. Consequently, this New Hampshire-based company has experienced approximately 200% growth over the last five years, working around the world to deliver customer-relevant, high-impact brand design that rivals larger competitors.

About Event Marketer

Event Marketer is the Event and Exhibit industry’s “go-to” information resource, offering research, education and case studies of the finest in event marketing today. A publication of Access Intelligence, Event Marketer is headquartered in Norwalk, CT. For more information, visit www.eventmarketer.com.

About Image 4

Image 4 is an award-winning 3D Brand Experience Agency, expert at delivering integrated, immersive brand experiences in the physical world, on-time and on-budget. For 32 years, Image 4 has created brand affinity, product awareness and face-to-face connection to drive sales, increase customer retention and own mindshare in clients’ markets. Image 4 specializes in integrating brand design within the physical, real-world spaces of trade shows, banks and credit unions, specialty retail locations, and corporate and institutional environments. Learn more at www.Image4.com.

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First the light bulb, then touch screens, now facial recognition … what’s next?

Sears and J.P. Morgan were household names when the lightbulb was cutting edge technology. Now, Sears is nearly gone while J.P. Morgan, along with others such as Bank of America, Suncoast, Wells Fargo, are thriving. Why? Their success lies, at least in some measure, in their ability to integrate future-looking technologies into their customer experience.

Technology As A Means to An End

Not long ago, retail, healthcare and financial institutions viewed technology as a means to an end: their internal staff could use it to help solve problems for customers. The initial encounter with an institution often involved walking into a building and being met by a customer service representative behind a large monitor. The customer experience was driven by what was on that monitor and by how well the database behind it delivered answers to the human gatekeeper.

Today, we all live with a communication and information portal in our pockets. The iPhone created not only a revolution in how we use information, but also in our personal expectation of how that information is delivered and above all, how it drives our experiences as a customer.

Can “Digital” Cure All Ills?

Now, technology permeates all aspects of the customer service experience from customer greeting, to customer education/engagement to payment. As a result, mastering the category of “digital” is often viewed as a panacea for all modern retail ills.

Many of our retailers, bank, and credit union clients are deploying advanced technology – now referred to as “digital” –  to “welcome” (make up for a lack of comfort with financial institutions), “educate” (address an inability to navigate bank products) and “assist” (help the institution reduce FTEs in branches).

At Image 4, we see our retail clients innovate by designing physical store footprints, product selection and floor staff training to integrate seamlessly with the online presence they’ve spent so much time and money to develop. All to reduce “friction” and to counter “showrooming”, today’s customers’ tendency to shop in-store and buy online.

The team at Image 4 works with clients to integrate the virtual, digital experience with the real, 3D experience through techno-physical integration. We work closely with our clients to identify and collect all points of digital and physical interaction in the customer journey, ignoring traditional concepts of “inside the building technology” and “out of the building technology”.

Today’s customer-experience goal is to remove the tech barrier and make the experience the star – good technology effectively integrated should be seamless, low-friction and high-value.

Using Technology to Enhance the Experience

Executed well, cutting-edge technology woven into real-life customer experience allows a conversation that began online to be continued in a private chat and then extended into a bank branch, agent’s office or examination room. It allows a retail customer to search for the perfect running shoe and come into your signature store for a fitting, ripe for cross selling to ensure a great race. It allows a financial services customer to learn about various options online, narrow down their choices, and set up an in-person meeting to cement the relationship.

Today’s customer is simultaneously online and offline exploring the digital and physical world to find answers that are right for them.

As marketers and designers of our customers’ experience, we always need to be examining how our customer interacts with our brand. Wherever, however, and whenever they do visit us, we need to embrace the interaction and seize the opportunity. As always, to be successful: “It’s About the Experience”