Color, Airport Signs and Trade Show Visibility

By Amy Hatfield

Something crazy-weird happened in August. I was in the airport getting ready to board a plane to Minneapolis and, in that very moment, I received a blog that used the Minneapolis airport signage to make a larger point about marketing. See? Craziness! Totally unrelated items in my day collided and shared a common theme.

The lesson was this: color is powerful. Use it systematically and consistently and usher people in the direction you’d like for them to go. Color creates a code, something your audience (or potential customers) can depend on, recognize and process easily. As the writer, Seth Godin, puts it, “Imagine how much easier it would be to find out where you were going if every sign with the word TAXI on it had it in yellow instead of white. Once you knew the color of where you were going, you'd just naturally scan for it.”

The full blog written by Godin is here (scroll down to see the Aug. 30 post), along with a hazy photo of the airport signage in Minneapolis. Godin has written 12 books about the way ideas spread, marketing, leadership and, you could argue, he is the popular, brains-on-fire guru of the day.

Trade Show Sponsorships: Invest in Visibility, Herd Your Audience

You have the opportunity to create your own code through color, consistent messaging and design.

At the 2011 Trade Show, invest in the convention center real estate needed to display and project powerful messages. Your insider audience will be in Indianapolis, it’s a crowd that has its ears up and attention focused. There are many sponsorship opportunities at the Show. Download quick facts and complete details here.  And, remember, Big Buck Tags are back with new and improved features. For 2011, Show attendees will capitalize on restaurant coupons in the book so there’s food savings right at their fingertips. And, the ATA is also rolling out the new Beer and Gear Exhange.  At the heart of this event is, well, BEER! Eight cash bars will be located in the hallways surrounding the Trade Show exhibit hall on Thursday and Friday evenings, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Sponsor Big Buck Tags by clicking here. Sponsor the Beer & Gear Exchange by clicking here. For more information, contact Kurt Weber, the ATA director of marketing, at (717) 858-2451 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .