Club Ski-Doo Trade Show Design Project Background

LOOK Marketing’s creative visual merchandising and trade show design specialists conceptualized and executed a showroom display and merchandise design project to highlight industry leading, client BRP Ski-Doo‘s 2019 collection of riding gear, clothes and accessories for its annual global dealer meeting.

This was a business-to-business project aimed at inspiring the dealers to place wholesale orders on vehicles, accessories, clothing, riding gear and parts.

The Space

The trade show space occupied 23,000 SQFT in New Orlean’s famed Mercedes Benz Super Dome. The space was designed in a circular pattern with the intention of creating a very dynamic and unique traffic flow experience for the trade show attendees.

Aerial view of circular trade show space in Super Dome illustrating hub and spoke exhibition floor layout.

The Team

Displays and Visual Merchandising Strategy and Design

LOOK Marketing: Michele Chenard and Paulo Kaladeen

Event Planning and Production

Altitude/ C

Lighting and Set Design

Luz Studio

The Design: Displays & Visual Merchandising

Ski-Doo Riding Gear Floor Display & Interactive Layering Concept Wall

Michele explains that the driving force for the show floor vignette highlighting the three-part layering philosophy for Ski-Doo’s riding gear was the client’s requirement that the show display be educational and effectively communicate the science of layering the riding gear from the base layer to the mid layer and finishing off with the outer layer.

Her design team developed a concept based on BRP Ski-Doo’s “Build Your Own” system which graphically demonstrated in what order the clothing layers should be worn. The LOOK Marketing visual merchandising and store design team took that idea and interpreted it for the trade show floor by creating a display wall showing a chart with layering using numbers (1,2, and 3 – each associated with a layering stage) and integrated with three spinners (see concept renderings below). According to Michele, “Each spinner had technical information about the layer on one side and on the other side all the merchandise’s photos that went under that layer.”

Completing the Ski-Doo riding gear and interactive layering floor section was a set of geometrically inspired podiums opposite each other. On each podium, three mannequins designated for women’s and men’s gear, respectively. The mannequins were dressed in various stages of the layer dressing. This was used to convey the three-part philosophy, and to further tie the visuals to the layering process expressed in the layering chart on the display wall.

Rendering depicting Ski-Doo clothing and recommended layering methods.

Detail of interactive layering panel wall display section at Club Ski-Doo.

Ski-Doo Helmet Display

Michele Chenard, Director of Visual Merchandising at LOOK Marketing shares insight into her team’s approach to the Ski-Doo helmet display:

We used two auto-self white walls with matte finish. One of the displays showcased Ski-Doo’s Cross family helmets and the other highlighted Ski-Doo’s full face helmets.  The design concept (see display rendering below) for the honeycombed niches that housed the Ski-Doo helmets were inspired by Ski-Doo’s use of the honeycomb shape in their marketing campaign.  Each of the honeycombed niches were lighted and had a mirror finish on the back to ensure a better view of the graphics and details of each helmet.

Rendering of of proposed space design for helmet section in trade show space for model year 2019 Club Sea-Doo.

Innovation Wall Display

Elevating engineering feats to an art form with the Innovation wall display which exhibits Ski-Doos seven best innovative accessories.

For the Innovation wall display, Michele explains that the “ultimate goal was to showcase Ski-Doo best innovative accessories.” In order to bring their show design concept (see rendering below) to life, the design team had a 24’ long wall built and covered with with slightly faded imagery of moments exemplifying the lifestyle associated with the tagline “That Ski-Doo Feeling”. Seven display niches were sculpted out of the wall – each niche with varying degrees of depth to best highlight the item contained within. The geometrically defined niches – either a square or rectangle – contained light fixtures to fully illuminate the innovative Ski-Doo accessories. This show design evokes a feeling of an art gallery wall dedicated to important engineering accomplishments that contribute to the Ski-Doo product and enhance the Ski-Doo lifestyle of the ski rider.

Club BRP -Ski-Doo Accessories Innovation design rendering.

Clothing Lifestyle Exhibit | Mountain Section

Ski-Doo has several lifestyle segmentations for which it produces specific clothing and riding gear. Shown here is the mountain segment.

Expanded view of trade show floor space with focus on Ski-Doo’s Mountain clothing and riding gear.

For the clothing and riding gear sections, the objective was to create an unforgettable and impactful 3-dimensional visual look book. The design team called this a “look-alike” window. Its purpose was to bring attention to Ski-Doo’s most important soft goods segmentation line up. The driving factors shaping the aesthetic show design was the need to deliver a clean and minimalistic approach while ensuring that the star of the vignette – the clothes and riding gear wowed the trade show attendees. The team executed their design vision (see design rendering below and see above for delivered design) using a white, glossy material for the display. At the top of the display, faded imagery of Ski-Doo lifestyle shots and below that image section the tagline, “That Ski-Doo Feeling.”  An acrylic window sporting signage identifying the specific Ski-Doo segment offered a feeling of a window display in a retail environment inviting shoppers to come take a closer look at the mannequins  outfitted in Ski-Doo riding attire and accessories.

Mountain lifestyle section design rendering for the Club Ski-Doo trade show.

Ski-Doo XPS Oil & Maintenance Products

Merchandising Ski-Doo XPS products in a dramatic, contemporary fashion that aligns the product with the Ski-Doo brand and lifestyle.

Positioning the Ski-Doo XPS oil and maintenance products to express the premium characteristics and quality of the product range was the show design team’s goal for the display concept (see rendering below).  According to Michele, the team’s creative director, the merchandising team took inspiration from the product packaging graphics, logo and color scheme (which is silver and black). Within the matte black display wall, lighted recess shelving showcased groupings of the XPS oil and maintenance products as shown in the photo above.

Display panel for Ski-Doo XPS products.

The Design:Vehicle Floor Set

Color Harmony: Visual Merchandising and floor set with Ski-Doo snowmobiles to visually tie the riding gear and clothing with the Ski-Doo vehicle.

Powerful Possibilities: Display to highlight various accessories that complement the Ski-Doo snowmobile. This configuration allows dealers to visualize what is possible and to offer inspiration for design within their retail space.

Hero Stand: Highlighting importance of Ski-Doo unit in trade show space.

Ski-Doo vehicles displayed with walk around space and key information readily available for dealers to access.