Customizing Shipping Containers Starts With Asking the Right Questions

When clients turn to shipping containers for their experiential marketing campaigns, they’re invariably trying to create an iconic brand experience for their audience. At Boxman Studios, we build more than shipping container structures – we build brand experiences.

Boxman Studios’ Brand Experiences

The most important aspect of any experiential marketing design is capturing a brand’s essence. The best way to do this is by asking our clients questions. Lots of questions. Here are a few of the questions we ask before designing brand experiences:

How much space is available

This depends on the client and on the venues they’ll be showcasing their experiential marketing campaign. Hyundai’s Field House project, for instance, had to be flexible. Because the experience traveled to 25 different college campuses, Hyundai wasn’t guaranteed a uniformed footprint for every venue. As a result, we created multiple configurations for their design – one for unlimited space, one for long and narrow, and one to spread out and feature different nodes of activity. Whatever your space limitations, we can work around them – even if they’re prone to changing with each new stop on your tour.

How much power is needed?

Boxman Studios recently completed work on a fully-functional mobile showroom for Electrolux. We needed power to operate the stoves, ovens, microwaves, and other appliances at both demo and full power. Knowing your power requirements helps us design the best, safest, most efficient shipping container experience possible.

What kinds of technology will be used?

Do we need Wi-Fi? Flat screens and interactive iPad displays? Satellite television? When we know what type of functionality you need, we make sure the experience is wired and ready to go right out of the box.

How long should people want to stay in the brand experience?

Do we need to provide places for people to sit and rest? Or is this going to be a flow-through experience? Structures like the IMG PlayMaker’s Club are designed to entice people to stay. Who’d want to leave a space with a bar, food, and cell charging stations? To say nothing of a Jumbotron and a stage for a live band.

Other experiences call for a more fluid feel that reaches greater volumes of people faster. With Red Bull for instance, we created a container that felt like a convenience store – complete with functioning coolers. Fully stocked with drinks and snacks, the container was inviting but wasn’t designed for lengthy stays. The end product all depends on what the client wants to accomplish.

What branding elements need to be incorporated?

Brands work hard to create a distinct identity, and we work equally hard to ensure that this identity is effectively translated into their shipping container experience. We request branding packages, PDFs, or JPEGs with customers’ branding materials, so that we can pull accurate color schemes, logos, and other design points that they want to integrate into their experience.

What experience do you want to create? When we know that, we can get to work on making it a memorable one for your guests.