ConExpo 2023 - Volvo Construction Equipment
Volvo Construction at ConExpo 2023. This is the Super Bowl of the construction world when it comes to trade shows. This event happens every 2 years and is participated by some of the world's largest construction brands from all across the globe.
As the sole print designer and the overall Creative Director for both my internal team, as well as Volvo's external agency partner, I was involved from start to finish for this 220' x 250' build. With a staggering 19 pieces of machinery, a machine testing arena and a 2-story service building - this space took 2 years of planning, 6 months of design and fabrication and 45 days for installation. The highlight of the 2023 initiatives was the unveiling Volvo's new electric fleet and all the perks of going more green, coupled with the traditional diesel products and separate customer journeys for each.
Above: Final ConExpo '23 render
Project Ownership & Collaboration
Agency: MC2 / Volvo Construction Equipment / Two Rivers
My Role: Creative Director for over-arching strategy and design direction in collaboration with 3D on structural placements and material choices. Delivered design direction and drove review/production timelines.
Internal collaboration 3D concepting, Strategy and 2D design.
Creative Ideation
This design process started with creative inspiration and ideation as we broke down the 9 customer personas that Volvo provided as well as their key internal personas. We honed in on keywords and messaging that aligned with both segments as well as some of the key differences in order to design the best approach for messaging and customer journey through the space.
I explored image inspiration that fit within Volvo CE's sustainability messaging around electromobility and the tagline "The Power of Change". I harnessed Volvo's secondary color pallet which was already visually inline with sustainability messaging with the blue/green dominant pallet.
Above: Mood board and color pallet exploration
Visual Language
During my first client visit to Volvo CE's US headquarters; I had the opportunity to spend some time in the test lot. It happened to be a rainy cloudy day and I had my camera with me, so I started shooting one of their machines (image below on the far left is a camera RAW) - the results we're these moody blue tones which made the yellow of the machinery pop out of the image to highlight the product and not just the environments (or scenes) and job sites these machines are found in. This was my inspiration and applied direction to Volvo's entire look and feel to visually tie in the sustainability color pallet. Volvo's agency took my creative ideation and sample work and applied it to the final produced campaign for ConExpo '23.
Customer Journey
Part of my primary focus was combining two separate customer journeys. One for traditional diesel machine customers and the other for the electric machine customer that had split paths on either side of the testing arena ramps. The language that emerged from internal meetings was "all paths lead to the service building" so that no matter which customer journey, diesel vs electric, a business looking to buy a fleet or the individual looking for finance options - all final sales conversations lead to the service building.
To improve interactions that involved more than one persona, the machines were clustered together in scenes (environments) for easier access and to speak to specific industries (mining, logging, road work, etc.). The staff expert hubs were positioned throughout the display areas, each with a seating area that was framed by messaging and content that appeal to the persona’s user story. The result was a space where experts and guests comfortably had a more individualized conversation about the surrounding machines interwoven with messages on the key benefits that are valued by an individual persona Volvo was looking to engage at ConExpo '23.
Arena Ramp Rail Graphic - Machine Comparison (Electric VS Diesel)
Initial concept design for rail graphics attached to the arena ramp that faced different machine scenes that were viewable from the ramp throughout the space. A slide feature on the bottom of the graphic allowed for customers to slide between specs for diesel vs electric models. This graphic also featured a QR code to request additional information, set a time to speak to someone at the services building as well as Volvo CE KPI tracking (machine visits, interest, time spent, etc.)
Above: Arena ramp / conversation hub graphic. Photo on the left is one of my images from the show of the final produced piece.
"All paths lead to the service building"
At ConExpo '23, Volvo CE also had a 2-story service building. The initial RFP focus was to create a dual purpose building. The first floor was focus on the customer, with seating and knowledge sales people to close out sales opportunities with small conversational areas, answer machine questions and discuss financing options. This area was also shared by a sizable swag shop, with one of the ConExpo initiatives to do over 100K in swag sales. We used gamification to draw people into the space for an extended time by placing 3 of Volvo's machine simulators between the swag shop and conversational service area.
Above: Swag shop and virtual machine simulators.
The second story was devoted to executive suites for larger B2B corporate sales meetings as well as a media studio to support the executive lounge outdoor deck for VIP attendees at the Volvo booth as well as their live stream team for overall coverage as well as the machine reveal, testing arena for participants using Volvo's virtual platform.
Above: Machine testing arena - view from stadium seating