Most businesspeople understand how important it is to attract prospects to your trade show booth. The very competitiveness of the shows necessitates tireless planning. And the arena isn’t a place for the timid; aggressiveness, creativity or a proportionate blending of the two are necessary to garner the desired attention. 

Given this, it’s no surprise that it often takes some experience to know how to attract the right audience, particularly the powers-that-be at major corporations who tend to work with old, trusted, recognizable firms – especially where their companies’ money is concerned. 

This is exactly what the First National Bank of Maryland wanted to do – handle some of that money. It was exhibiting at an area convention, hoping to land some of the larger clients in the region. “First National targeted the CEOs, CFOs and treasurers of major corporations who were attending the convention,” says Charlie Stevens, the counselor who developed the promotion. “The purpose was to try to get them to sign up with First National; to use them as their primary financial resource.” 

But before it could do that, the bank had to get the corporate honchos to stop by at the show so it could explain what it had to offer. Solution: Distribute an imprinted product to drive traffic to its booth – something decidedly out of the ordinary.

The item eventually selected was a sound maze – at the time fairly new as a promotional product. The interesting-looking contraption consists of a maze-shaped wire affixed to a speaker base. Connected to the base by a small wire is a wand with a circular metal end. The object is to follow the maze with the wand’s circular end without touching the wire. Any time this occurs, the speaker emits a highly annoying sirenlike sound. The inventive hook was that the maze was in the shape of First National’s logo – a large “1st” symbol.

“We chose the product because it was sort of a toy, a stress reliever, and something someone would put on their desk or somewhere in their office in constant view,” says Stevens.  The maze, which was used only for that particular convention, was an immediate hit. All told, about 1,000 were distributed to potential customers. 

While exact numbers aren’t available, there’s no doubt it was a hit. “[First National] was delighted at the way the program went,” says Stevens, “It allowed them an entranceway to top clients.”