Perception at festivalsEmotions and perception in the retail world

Trend spotting in Las VegasTeam Brunel in the Volvo Ocean Race

ImpressIonsBusiness Magazine for brand perception through visual communication

edition 05•2014

Contents

Trend spotting in Las Vegas

Van Straaten visited Las Vegas to find out about the latest trends and developments on the live communication and in-store marketing scene in the States. Interview with Nico van Straaten and Boi Smit on two leading trade fairs: Exhibitor and GlobalShop 2014.

08Van Straaten changes over to sustainable energy system

At Van Straaten, sustainability is more than just a trendy word: it’s one of our top pri-orities. We recently installed a sustainable energy system to provide heating in the production buildings and offices.

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A selection of our products and services

Van Straaten gives events and festivals per-sonality and appeal. If you’d like to ensure dazzling branding at your festival, party, concert or event, we’ll be delighted to help you create a customised solution for the very best brand perception at events and festivals. We’ll draw up a plan that’s com-pletely tailored to your wishes when dress-ing your event.

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Emotions and perception in the retail world

Retail Event Nederland is a trade fair where retailers can get information and inspiration on the very latest products, trends and solutions in the retail sector. Van Straaten’s stand was the perfect demonstration of how visual branding contributes to brand perception in shops.

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Perception: the distinctive feature of today’s festivals

There are more festivals in the Nether-lands than ever before. Competition is fierce, so an inspiring programme simply isn’t enough for a festival to be a success. Spectacular dressing at the location helps to make it really exceptional. Perception is the key word. Van Straaten shows you how this works in practice.

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Cases

Van Straaten recently created a unique pro-ject for the FBQ museum in Doha, Qatar. Taiwanese computer and accessories manu-facturer BenQ asked Van Straaten to set up an exhibition stand with a spectacular eye-catcher. And Van Straaten also dressed a big building on the A2 motorway for the Vriendenloterij.

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IMPRESSIONS

Business Magazine for brand perception through visual communication is published every four months, excluding ‘specials’.

Responsible publisher:Van StraatenPO Box 27 - 1170 AA BadhoevedorpThe Netherlands

Tel. +31 (0)23 - 555 18 61Fax +31 (0)23 - 555 19 21info@vanstraaten.comwww.vanstraaten.com

Colleague in the spotlight

Semira Atakilti has been working as assis-tant controller at Van Straaten’s financial department for 6 months. She is the first trainee to move up in the company after fol-lowing our new training programme.

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Van Straaten is doing the visual branding for Team Brunel in the Volvo Ocean Race

Van Straaten is supporting Team Brunel in the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Dutch team can count on professional visual branding by Van Straaten during this pres-tigious round-the-world yacht race.

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This edition of Impressions takes a look at the Dutch festival market. There are more festivals than ever before, and these are now spread out more evenly throughout the year due to market saturation in sum-mer. Competition is fierce, so high-impact visual communication is essential for those wanting to impress festival-goers. Percep-tion is the key word on the festivals market. Van Straaten shows you how this works in practice.

The retail sector is going through a turbulent phase, and this was patently obvious during the Retail Event Nederland trade fair. Van Straaten’s stand demonstrated how visual branding contributes to shoppers’ brand perception. And this is important because innovation, shopper experience and in-store communication are vital conditions for survival in the retail world.

More trade fair news: Van Straaten visited two leading trade fairs in Las Vegas, Exhibitor and GlobalShop 2014. The very latest American trends and developments in live communication and in-store marketing were on display here. Nico van Straaten and Boi Smit report their findings.

We’ve also got good news about sustainability, which is one of Van Straaten’s top priorities. Changing over to a sustainable energy system means that Van Straaten has taken a big step towards further reduction of CO2 emissions - and even greener products.

And we’ll be presenting three fantastic recent cases and giving you the latest news on a special contract that Van Straaten has concluded with Team Brunel for the Volvo Ocean Race this October. The Dutch team can count on professional visual branding by Van Straaten during this presti-gious round-the-world yacht race.

As you would expect from us, this edition is packed with inspiring stories about visual communication. Let’s impress!

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In this edition

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There are more festivals in the Netherlands than ever before. Competition is fierce, so an inspiring programme simply isn’t enough for a festival to be a success. Spectacular dressing at the location helps to make it really exceptional. Perception is the key word. Van Straaten shows you how this works in practice.

Growth on the festivals market

The Respons research agency, which analyses the festivals sector every year, recorded 150 festivals in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1980s. Last year, however, there were more than 774 music and culture festivals with more than 3,000 festival-goers. About 12 million people went to one of the 300 summer festivals in June, July and August alone. Today’s festivals are spread out more evenly throughout the year due to market saturation in summer. According to Respons, this is why the biggest growth can be seen outside the summer season.

Clubs in difficulties

Although music festivals belonged exclusively to the alternative scene in the 1980s, they’re a mainstream event nowadays. Festivals have become so popular among young people that the clubs are now in difficulties. Younger people going out in the evenings want an exciting and unfor-gettable experience, not some slick disco. But discos and clubs are now organising their own festivals so they can take advantage of the new ‘festivalisation’ too.

Making it professional

The festival sector has meanwhile become a well-oiled machine. Special-ised companies supply facilities like tents, platforms, technology, catering

and hospitality facilities. And this means that festivals risk becoming monotonous, as most of them are very similar on the surface. Profes-sionalisation makes it easier to organise a festival, but it isn’t enough to take the public by surprise.

Visual communication

High-impact visual communication is essential for those wanting to impress the public at festivals and events. Perception is the key factor at festivals as well. Digital printing technology provides unlimited options for giving events unique appeal. Decorative banners, backdrops or out-sized prints give an event personality and atmosphere. And large-sized prints are indispensable for signposting, sponsoring and promoting today’s events.

Your festival specialist

Van Straaten has built up an outstanding reputation among organisers of festivals, concerts, beach parties and dance events. We create print decorations, speaker wraps and backdrops for main stages and sign-posting for hundreds of festivals and big outdoor events. We make con-siderable use of lighting and projections on huge visuals that are often decorated with outsized prints. And we also do the on-site assembly, including installing the tubular frames and aluminium structures.

Indoor events

At Van Straaten, we also have a lot of experience in dressing halls and stadiums for concerts and dance events. We take the biggest venues in hand and decorate them inside and out with prints, fabric, objects or eye-catchers. We create the entire visual dressing and take care of absolutely everything, from large-sized wall coverings to providing the necessary structures, profile systems and mounting materials. And Van Straaten can also do all the assembly and finishing for the platforms, and even store them for you if you like.

Van Straaten provides you with all the expertise, creativity and flex-ibility for festival dressing that will give the public an unforgettable experience.

Perception: the distinctive feature of today’s festivals Visual communication boosts festival perception

sustaInabIlIty

Sustainability is a major theme at today’s festivals. One of the most sustainable festivals is the Mystery-land dance festival, which was awarded a 3-star Industry Green certificate by the sustainability organisa-tion Julie’s Bicycle. This certificate is the highest possible sustainability award in the creative arts, music and theatre industries. Mysteryland’s aim is to cooperate with its visitors, suppliers and partners to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible. This is done by reducing CO2 emissions and the amount of non-recyclable refuse, and by keeping the venue and the surrounding area green. The festival also ensu-res low energy consumption, recycling and healthy food and drinks. Tap water is available free of charge, which reduces the amount of plastic refuse. Other festivals that were awarded the 3-star certificate are Welcome to the Future, Shambala, Latitude and Reading.

FestIval perceptIon

One of the crucial success factors for festivals is responding to people’s motivation and perception. The Crossmedialab published the results of an extensive study on festival perception in 2012. According to this study, festivals can use a unique ‘festival DNA’ to stand out from the crowd. This DNA includes the programme, ticket price, accessibility of the venue, facilities and catering. One of its most important com-ponents is the design, layout and dressing of venues, since this focuses on ensuring a unique perception for festival-goers. Themed festivals like Sensation White or Symphonica in Rosso, where dressing is the major success factor, have proved that the public actually are susceptible to their surroundings.

KeepIng It small-scale and IntImate

Since a lot of people find large-scale public events rather wholesale and impersonal, more and more fes-tivals are seeking ways of bringing back a sense of intimacy at the venue. Small tents with live acoustic music or workshops make festival-goers feel more personally involved. And organisers are holding a num-ber of intimate small-scale festivals with a unique formula and a wide range of performers. One example is the Magneetfestival in Amsterdam, which cleverly takes advantage of people’s need for a personal and intimate atmosphere. The Magneetfestival uses crowd sourcing to allow the public to go on stage, and there’s direct interaction between the artistes and the audience. The whole event revolves around perception instead of the music.

products & servIces

Van Straaten gives hundreds of events personality and appeal. If you’d like to ensure dazzling branding at your festival, party, concert or event, just call our project managers right away for more info. They’ll be delighted to help you create a customised solution for the very best brand perception at events and festivals, and they’ll draw up a plan that’s completely tailored to your wishes when dressing your event. Have a look on the back cover for a selection of our products and services.

brandIng a buIldIng on the a2 For the vrIendenloterIj

Van Straaten also dressed a big building on the A2 motorway for the Vriendenloterij’s new campaign. ‘We worked with the JustAsk cultural production agency, and took care of absolutely everything for the Vriendenloterij by branding a large building near Breukelen,’ says project manager Remo. ‘We gave the building a completely new branding in two phases, with stickers, foil, Frontlit, mesh, gloss polyester and aluminium tubular frames. We used 8-metre-wide stickers, and we also included the fencing around the building in the branding project. We attached 10-metre-long visuals to the fencing and we also attached two enormous visuals in frames to the building, which were almost 23 metres wide. The whole thing looks really impressive, and the visuals can be replaced at the start of each new campaign. There were actually 26 cars parked outside the building when they launched their previous campaign, which finished it all off very nicely.’

ImpressIve eye-catcher For benQ

Taiwanese computer and accessories manufacturer BenQ asked Van Straaten to set up an exhibition stand with a spectacular eye-catcher. This hanging structure with its semi-hexagonal shape gave the stand a futuristic look and attracted a lot of visitors like a magnet. ‘It was like a huge light box hanging over the stand,’ says project manager Petra. ‘Only there wasn’t any lighting inside. We used an aluminium structure and printed fabric 5 metres wide to make this eye-catcher. And we had to do quite a bit of calculation to get exactly the right size and shape.’ Eye-catchers are always tested first in Van Straaten’s production building. ‘We only had one night before assembling it on-site,’ says Petra. ‘So obviously we didn’t want to take any risks. Carrying out a test assembly means we’re sure that everything fits and the print’s stretched tight in the frame. And the end result looked incredibly streamlined.’

exhIbItIon project In doha

Van Straaten recently created a unique project for the FBQ museum in Doha (Qatar). ‘The museum asked us to set up the entire Travelling through Arts and Times exhibition,’ says project manager Patrick. ‘We printed the fabric and supplied all the necessary slimframes, and we made all the other components for the expo as well. Raised floors covered with printed lino, glass cases for gold, jewels, books, clothing and other exhibits, double-sided banners and printed panels in Dibond, plexiglass and Falconboard. And we also used cheesecloth at strategic points on the ceiling to create a desert-like atmosphere. One incredible fact is that we designed, produced and assembled the whole project in only two and a half weeks. We were able to create something really amazing in a very short time. The Emir, the press and the public were very enthusiastic at the grand opening.’

Cases06 07

Emotions and perception in the retail worldRetail Event Nederland has thevery latest trends on displayRetail Event Nederland is a trade fair where retailers can get information and inspiration on the very latest products, trends and solutions in the retail sector. Van Straaten’s stand was the perfect demonstration of how visual branding contributes to brand perception in shops.

The retail sector is going through a turbulent phase. Multichannel shop-ping, social media, technological innovations and changes in consumer behaviour are forcing retailers to adjust themselves to a new way of shopping. These are the main outlines of the message transmitted at the Retail Event in Houten. Physical shops will admittedly continue to play a major role, but retailers will have to provide added value and find new ways of holding on to their customers. This means there’s still a lot that needs doing.

The Retail Event makes it quite clear that the shopping environment is changing at a tremendous rate. The seminar programme is packed with sessions emphasising that innovation, shopper experience and in-store communication are not just empty slogans: they’re vital conditions for survival.

A large number of stand holders give their ideas on how shops might look in the future, and even what they might smell like.

Importance of physical shops

Van Straaten came up with a big stand in order to demonstrate how visual communication contributes to shoppers’ brand perception. ‘In-ternet, mobile and social media have radically changed the retail and brand scene,’ says CFO Niels van Straaten. ‘Consumers have usually had quite a long customer journey before they actually go to a shop. This means that physical shops have a new and more active role to play

in the sale process. Consumers expect more from shops, and they’re looking for a unique shopping experience. And that’s why visual bran-ding is more important than ever for retailers. Shops are changing into showrooms and platforms.’

Brand perception

Shops have become an important means of communication for an in-creasing number of brands. ‘Virtualisation means that brands now feel the need to raise their profile in and around shops,’ says Niels. ‘This is why physical shops will still play a key role as far as brands are concerned, and visual branding will play an even bigger role in moti-vating and activating shoppers. A shop is the place for shoppers to be inspired, informed and tempted, and this opens up new opportunities for retailers.’

Millennials

The fact that going to a physical shop is by no means outdated has been confirmed by a survey carried out among young people and present-ed during Retail Event Nederland. Almost 50% of the new consumer generation - the ‘Millennials’ born between 1980 and 2000 - enjoy going to physical shops. One of the survey’s conclusions is that ‘Millennial’ consumers need to be able to experience products and access a widerange 24/7. This new generation enjoys shopping in pleasant and inspir-ing surroundings.

Retail Event Nederland 2014

08Trend spotting

in Las Vegas The latest developments in live communication and in-store marketing

Van Straaten visited Las Vegas to find out about the latest trends and developments on the live communication and in-store marketing scene in the States. Interview with Nico van Straaten and Boi Smit on two leading trade fairs: Exhibitor and GlobalShop 2014.

‘GlobalShop and EuroShop are the world’s two biggest events for retail design and shopper marketing,’ says Nico. ‘It’s the only place in the world where you can find so many businesses gathered together that special-ise in creating store perception and visual branding. Exhibitor 2014 is a trade fair and conference for live communication, stand building and cor-porate events. We noticed all kinds of interesting developments in retail, expo and events at both these trade fairs which will help us improve our customer service even further.’

Boi Smit in Las Vegas to seek inspiration and meet customers of Cees Smit Inc., which is Van Straaten’s business location in the States. ‘The thing we noticed most was that the general standard at both trade fairs has improved a lot during the past years,’ says Boi. ‘The stands look neat and tidy and the quality’s much better, at least by American standards. But the finish and quality of the printed fabrics is still inferior compared to the norm in Europe.’

‘Another thing we noticed was the increasing number of light boxes,’ says Nico. ‘One or two exhibitors are still using strip lighting, but most of them have changed over to LED lighting. The fact is that illuminated aluminium frames with visuals attract a lot more attention. And we also saw that people were being more imaginative with the shapes of the light boxes. A lot of them were curved or round or had sloping sides.’

Aluminium profiles are being used more on the American market as well. ‘The European norm is becoming more popular here in this respect too,’ says Boi. ‘Europe leads the field and sets the trends in the States. So it’s just a matter of time before European trends can be seen in the States as well.’

But European norms are not always adopted in the States. ‘They still use a lot of fabric zipped around tubular frames,’ says Boi. ‘And this is mainly because of the trade unions. If stands are set up at exhibition halls, you’re required by law to hire people to do this. So factors like weight and easy assembly are key. This means that the emphasis is on speed to save costs when putting up a stand, rather than what the stand’s actually going to look like.’

Exhibitor 2014 trade fair

Ultimate brand perception

This joint venture means that beach wings with the Team Brunel logo are now fluttering at the base camp in Lanzarote, and nautical flags flying on the boat. Tent covers, prints and special eye-catchers by Van Straaten have been set up for media events as well. Even the sail covers are absolutely in line with Team Brunel’s corporate branding. The first results of the joint venture could be seen when the yacht was launched at Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam on 2 June.

‘We’ve got a Dutch yacht taking part in this unique race again this year,’ says Niels van Straaten. ‘So of course we want the whole world to know about it. And it’s a great honour for us to be able to support this enthusiastic team in their visual communication.’

The joint venture has also generated more opportunities for Van Straaten. ‘We’re supplying printed products to give extra perception to events at harbours and during launches,’ says Niels. ‘Although the focus is on visual

branding and live communication, we’re also working with stand builders and interior designers. All the segments in which Van Straaten operates are represented here. Team Brunel is giving us a golden opportunity to show everyone what we excel in: creating the ultimate brand perception.’

The Volvo Ocean Race is held every three years. The first race set off in 1973 and was known as the Whitbread Round the World Race. The race takes nine months from start to finish, the skipper and his crew of nine travel about 72,000 kilometres, and the conditions are often appalling. This year’s edition will start on 4 October 2014 in Alicante (Spain). Participants will put in at another 8 ports before the finish in Göteburg (Sweden) on 27 June 2015. Team Brunel members include experienced Dutch yachtsman Gerd-Jan Poortman and team skipper Bouwe Bekking.

Team Brunel will be going on a promotion tour of the Netherlands during the run-up to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race. For further details, go to www.teamsailingholland.com.

Visual brandingVan Straaten is doing the visual branding for Team Brunel in the Volvo Ocean RaceVan Straaten is supporting Team Brunel in the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Dutch team can count on professional visual branding by Van Straaten during this prestigious round-the-world yacht race.

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Semira Atakilti has been working as assistant controller at Van Straaten’s financial depart-ment for 6 months. She is the first trainee to move up in the company after following our new training programme.

How did you end up working at Van Straaten?

‘I’ve been working here for about a year now, including my six months’ traineeship. I ended up at Van Straaten because I asked a students’ agen-cy to find me a trainee post as part of my business economics course. I’ve already done traineeships at a number of companies, and I was specifi-cally looking for a company outside the financial sector.’

What exactly does your work involve?

‘They asked me to do the cost accounting when I was working as a train-ee in the financial department. This means you have to analyse links between business operations, products and customers. The analysis is a reliable basis for management decisions and it also helps improve efficiency and effectiveness. Besides cost accounting, I do all the work relating to the monthly balancing, stock depreciation, accounts payable management and data analyses.’

What’s the really special thing about your work?

‘There’s something new and interesting happening every day, and I really enjoy the challenge and variety. Van Straaten is always on the move, and working here gives me plenty of opportunities to learn all kinds of things about financial matters. I’m very pleased that the company benefits from my knowledge and experience. The work I do can make an important con-tribution to strategic decisions, and I get tremendous satisfaction from this. Another thing I enjoy is contact with my colleagues. My hobby is kick-boxing, and I do this with colleagues after work. It’s really amazing.’

Colleague in the spotlight‘We always want to exceed our customers’ expectations’

Semira: ‘Each day is a gift, so I try to get the most out of life.’

young talent programme

Van Straaten introduced a new training programme for talented youngsters about a year ago. ‘This is completely in line with our outlook for the future,’ says Niels van Straaten. ‘We need state-of-the-art machinery to manufacture our products, and this includes a team with a lot of expertise. We work with Regional Training Centres, universities and colleges of professional education to seek talented and ambitious youngsters interested in live and visual communication. We give them the opportunity to gain practical experience and the prospect of a job. So it’s more than just a traineeship. We supervise and train people and give them a chance to make a career at our organisation. Semira is the first trainee to move up after our new training programme.’

10 11Van Straaten changes over to sustainable energy system Wood-fuelled central heating system provides the whole company with CO2-neutral heating

At Van Straaten, sustainability is more than just a trendy word: it’s one of our top priorities. We recently installed a sustainable energy system to provide heating in the production buildings and offices.

Van Straaten is continually working on environmentally friendly solu-tions. ‘We invest in green technology, we use sustainable printing media, and we’re really creative at recycling materials,’ says Nico van Straaten. ‘The Energie Kenniscentrum (Dutch Energy Knowledge Centre) advises us on sustainable business practice and reducing CO2 emissions.’

Wood-fuelled heating

One of Van Straaten’s priorities was to replace the old heating system - which used a huge amount of gas - with a sustainable one. ‘Han Pot of the Energie Kenniscentrum put me in touch with Heatplus at the be-ginning of 2012,’ says Nico. ‘They supply wood-fuelled central heating systems, and they drew up a plan for a sustainable heating system for our production buildings and offices that uses a wood-burning stove.’

CO2-neutral solution

Wood-fuelled heating systems are more sustainable than traditional ones. Burning fossil fuels increases the amount of CO2 in the atmos-phere, but burning wood is a CO2-neutral solution because trees have absorbed the CO2 in the air. The volume of CO2 released when burning wood equals the volume released on decomposition in the forest, so wood-fuelled heating is CO2-neutral.

The system

The production buildings and offices are heated by a fully-automaticheating system integrated into the existing central heating system. The water for the central heating is heated in an accumulator by the heater, which is fuelled by wood pellets. These compressed pellets are made from waste from the sawmilling and timber industry. The pellets are automatically transported to the combustion chamber. The system also has a self-cleaning heat exchanger and a central ash disposal unit.

The heaters attached to the walls in the production buildings distribute heat, and fans blow the hot air downwards when the air near the roof is hotter than at floor level. This ensures that all the heat is used as efficiently as possible.

‘Our company is even more sustainable since we installed the system, and we’re also cutting down our heating costs,’ says Nico. ‘And we’re no longer dependent on power suppliers either. We’ve got our very own green power station.’

Van Straaten is the leading production company for innovative visual communication. We can supply you with all you need for outsized and special print projects, from design development and execution with fantastic prints and frames to expert workmanship and on-site assembly. Come and see for yourself why professionals choose Van Straaten.

Go to www.vanstraaten.com for all info, or call us now on +31 (0)23 - 555 18 61.

Schipholweg 939 • 2143 CE Boesingheliede • The Netherlands • Tel. +31 (0)23 - 555 18 61 • Fax +31 (0)23 - 555 19 21 • info@vanstraaten.com • www.vanstraaten.com

Outdoor Banner

Outdoor banners are ideal for giving events and festivals extra brand perception. If you want top-quality banners, Van Straaten is the right place for you: we’ve been the number one flag and banner specialist in the Nether-lands for almost 100 years! Our banners are printed on wind and weatherproof fabric and professionally finished with a sturdy suspen-sion system.

Backdrops and atmospheric decorations

Backdrops and theatre visuals with full-co-lour prints transform shows and concerts into a magical fairyland. Our in-house workshop creates backdrops in all shapes and sizes and gives them a professional finish. And Van Straaten doesn’t stop at life-size platform vi-suals and speaker wraps either: we also print theatre curtains for your shows and concerts which will really make an impact.

Tubular frames

Van Straaten installs scaffolding wraps and decorates main stages with stunning visu-als at well-known festivals. To ensure that these gigantic prints are stretched tight and securely fastened, we first assemble a ma-de-to-measure tubular frame and attach the prints to this. Van Straaten is happy to take up any challenge when installing tubular frames. Our experienced assembly crew can set up tubular frames quickly and safely at any location.

Eye-catchers

Our spectacular eye-catchers give tents and indoor events extra appeal. At Van Straaten, we use lightweight aluminium profiles to construct eye-catchers in every imaginable shape. Affixing eye-catchers to a roof is quite a different story! Van Straaten is happy to do the assembly and dismantling for you as well.

Logistics and assembly

As you would expect from a full-service com-pany, Van Straaten is happy to help you with the logistics and assembly. You can always call in our experienced assembly crew to set up your prints and frames in a professional manner. We can put up advertising wraps on buildings, construct stands at trade fairs and install eye-catchers at any location you care to name, in no time at all. And you can outsource the logistics of e.g. a retail cam-paign to us as well.

Tent covers

You can use customised tent covers to brand platform tents, party tents and refreshment tents in any way you like. Tent covers are af-fixed to the canvas, and are absolutely ideal for dressing entertainment and service tents in the same style as the event. They guarantee stunning brand exposure, create extra per-ception and contribute to clear signposting for catering and merchandise. You can use tent covers for purely decorative purposes as well to create extra atmosphere and appeal.

A selection of our products