If you build it, they will come
MY ROLE: event management, design strategy, design research, furniture curation/design, traffic flow, budget development/management, art guidance, stakeholder/partner relations, production management, on site management
CLIENT: webtoon
AGENCY: EMC Outdoor & Events
PARTNER AGENCY: palumbo associates exhibits, Inc.
EVENT: Los Angeles Comic Con 2019 – 4 Day event
Attendees: Over 100,000+
Born out of the parent company, Naver (the Google of South Korea), WEBTOON was in its 5th year in the US. As the world’s fastest-growing digital comic book platform, Webtoon approached the EMC Events and Tradeshow team to design an unforgettable US market expansion with focus on booth design and user experience.
Target Audience:
Webtoons presence at the LA Comic Con in the Los Angeles dominated the show on and off the floor with reach throughout the LA market. At Webtoon’s booth, we targeted creators, comic lovers, and curious on lookers to participate in various engaging activities. By arming brand ambassadors with talking points, free giveaways and building memorable social media experiences, we were able to expand the Webtoon footprint with reach beyond the show floor. The overall takeaway offered comic lovers a user friendly way to read a multitude of free content quickly and easily, AND comic creators were given the opportunity to have a their content posted and seen. Truly a win win scenario for all.
from the ground up
A few years prior, Webtoon approached us with an 8-week rush request to construct a 20×40 island booth at the Denver Comic Con and kick off their “test” US market expansion. Myself and the events team were up for this challenge working around the clock with late night phone calls, virtual meetings, emails, budget estimates, rounds of rough sketches, 2D/3D designs reviews with the Webtoon US-Los Angeles Marketing Team, Korean Art Team, US Exhibit Partner and show stakeholders. Powered by coffee, a ton of logistical paperwork and gigantic creativity, we were able to pull together an impressive, well received rental modular solution that allowed for brandability, customizations and cohesive flow from space to space, bubbling with hands on experiences. Fans were able to meet their favorite Webtoon creators and new creators were able to participate in Webtoon’s “Creator’s Wanted” campaign to seek out new and fresh US talent. Curious on lookers discovered Webtoon for the first time, speak to Webtoon staff directly and explore the free digital platform in real time at the booth. 8 weeks prior, no one would have known that this was all a blank canvas and an idea.
imagine, create, build
Pulling in big impressions and a strong foundation, Webtoon committed to a 2 year 3 – 4 market program. The Webtoon team kicked off the program with several boxes to check. The layout would need to allow for a larger shoppable merchandise area with storage, a PR space, a VIC “Very Important Creator” lounge, a real time user platform kiosk, a creator/artist meet and greet signing area, accessible in booth hidden storage space, a “bonus” post-it drawing wall, and 2 unique experiential spaces that captured measurable quantifiable data about their attendees. With so many goals in mind, it was clear to me that Webtoon’s booth had to be sustainable and adaptable to new initiatives, growing fandom and show to show rules and regulations throughout the US markets and convention centers. It was super important to map out the booth flow and fully understand the day to day activities. Comic Con booth traffic flow and aisle safety was huge challenge with so many engagements happening at once in and around the booth, (People herding might be the most strategic chaotic dance ‘live’ event producers tackle). This “smart” layout required stanchions, gaff tape, booth security and crowd controllers with the assistance of a strong show management relationship and forgiveness to ensure aisles would remain clear. The idea of an immersive digital photo booth space along with an immersive balloon insta-grammable room would provide more information on impression data and movement of attendees in the booth space. Both spaces captured social sharing capabilities, SMS and email collection with impression data analytics. Additionally, real time participant head counts of giveaway items, artist signings and merch sold all would help provide some quantifiable data Webtoon needed.
Late nights, emails and gallons of coffee with teams, I oversaw the all the details of design and implementation, from developing the booth traffic flow throughout the spaces, customized rotating hanging sign, curating specialized furniture, managing custom built furniture, printed and digital assets, video and photography down to coordinated on-brand snacks and beverages in the published artist green room. I built out their robust budget and allocations, thus securing a continued partnership and ownership of a modular exhibit structure, panels, flooring, furniture pieces and other booth assets.
solution
The culminated 30’x40′ island footprint fulfilled all of Webtoon’s requests. Brand ambassadors assisted with all booth activities, crowd control/booth flow in, out and around the booth, premium/collateral distribution and hyping up Webtoon. A larger in-booth storage closet behind the merchandise area, and a storage closet attached to the lounge room allowed for quick accessibility of colleterial, A/V equipment and personal belonging. Now we had functional spaces, sales opportunities, shared experiences, long lasting memories and great examples of KPIs.
Lauren Goldovich 