From Tradeshows to Shower Doors
When I was working in the Exhibit & Display Group within the Communications Department of Kohler, one of my bigger assignments was to take good care of our internal client - the Sterling brand team. The Kohler Company acquired Sterling headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Even after their move up to the Kohler Campus, Sterling relied on other vendors and wasn't using  the Communications Department to it's full potential.

I worked hard to earn the trust of the Senior Market Analyst and the Director of Merchandising at Sterling. Under my management of their section of the trade shows we had effective new properties built under budget, and tried some new lead generating programs too. When the Sterling Analyst quit his job and left Kohler I was offered and took his job for a number of reasons.
  • More $ and a quick couple of steps up the corporate ladder.
  • In tradeshow work your efforts have an impact for 2 or 3 days, then the displays collect dust in a warehouse. 
  • In retail work your efforts are having a positive impact on sales every day in thousands of locations.
  • There were rumors that tradeshows would be de-emphasized in the future.
  • Kohler with the Sterling Brand was growing their presence in Retail at Lowe's, The Home Depot, Menard's, and others.
  • My display development skills were needed in retail. Sterling is the largest manufacturer of Shower Doors in the US, however some parts of the programs were in jeopardy if the displays, POP, and product mix were not improved in a timely manner which in retail means by yesterday.
The work was challenging and rewarding. A meeting at Lowe's or Home Depot's headquarters with product, new packaging and displays was in a sense - a Tradeshow for a party of one - the Category Manager of "Fashion Plumbing". Multimillion dollar decisions could be influenced by my efforts in improving the displays and POP and the quality of the presentation itself.

Between us and a tough competitor - I am proud that our* custom one-off display designs were chosen for The Home Depot's flagship first and second stores in New York City.

In a critical make or break test of new displays, POP, and product mix in the Chicago market for HD we passed the test with flying colors with a sales increase of 21%.

At a Lowe's presentation of a prototype I was developing, the Buyer said, three minutes into the meeting, "I Love it! When can I get them?".
That was a good day.

*The first store Brandow Creative were lead designers, the second store was Array.