At his year’s Euroshop, company Knoblauch took part without an exhibition stand. Instead they presented the #beatcafé on a vintage bus which was placed outside the exhibition area. A relaxed atmosphere, a cosy open fire, delicious coffee, laid-back people. The complete opposite, really, of the bustle of the exhibition in the trade fair halls.

Knoblauch sums up the event: Chats with customers that appear to have little to do with acquisition – which is perhaps why they are perceived as particularly pleasant and intense. A trade fair presence that is not primarily about the trade fair. The converted bus strikes a nerve with our guests. Suddenly it’s not all about shopfitting, project management or prices. It’s not about business. Instead, it’s about experience, the special and the extraordinary.

And for Knoblauch, that’s a wish come true: For the first time the “exhibition stand” will be reused and made useful again. There have been many times in the past that they carted material from Düsseldorf to Lake Constance, stored in somewhere, and then five years later threw it out anyway.

Jürgen Zahn, the Knoblauch owner, summarises the trade fair as follows: It was different. Different than before, and different to all the other exhibitors. When I walked through the halls in Düsseldorf on the last set-up day I wasn’t sure if we did the right thing with our bold decision.

We decided not to invest several hundred thousand euros this time only to file away perhaps a thousand or so business cards. And to bin the entire exhibition stand. We had fewer meetings with customers, but the ones we did have were great and the atmosphere was super cool; we earned lots of praise for our bus and I am now sure: different is better!

Design: Konrad Knoblauch
Photography: Jens Pfisterer