Walk down Fourth Street in the quaint town of Huntingburg, IN, and you’ll see an antique store, a coffee shop and… wait… huge letters jetting straight through a glass window? 

That’s exactly the eye-opening reaction Branded By Woods wanted to create soon after it bought a 150-year-old building that originally was a pharmacy, tore everything out of it, renovated the exterior, and created a new space that is part working office for employees, part showroom for clients and prospects.  

Recently, the CEO of a local company passed the storefront and called Branded By Woods the next day. President and COO Brian Craig answered. “‘He told us, ‘Anybody who puts that much effort into doing something like that, we need to meet.’” After stopping by to meet the team and being surrounded by creative products, the CEO awarded Branded By Woods with a multiyear contract to handle his firm’s print and promotional work.

In essence, Branded By Woods’ creative space helped a small group working in a southwestern Indiana town of 6,000 folks to beat out two much larger competitors from major cities, Brian says. “In our industry what you show and how you show it reveals a lot about your business.”

Branded By Woods is among a growing number of print and marketing services firms worldwide that have made sample rooms a key element of their business strategies. Dedicated showroom spaces can serve as idea incubators and conversation starters for current and hopeful clients — important benefits as the print industry tries to steer conversations toward value and away from price.

Says Branded By Woods CEO Devin Craig: “We’re using our building to help customers explore the possibilities of print, and to discuss new ways to help them reach all kinds of different marketing goals.”

Let’s go inside the showroom strategies of Dscoop members Branded By Woods, QLM Label Makers and Aeroprint: 

Branded By Woods

Location: Indiana, USA

Key Benefit of Space: It reinforces company’s brand message of being creative and different

One Unique Detail: It’s not just a sample room; it’s a sample building.

From its start in 1971 until 2016, Branded By Woods didn’t have a conference room let alone a dedicated showroom. “We were one of many traditional print shops that didn’t have a sexy space to take somebody to,” Brian says. “Instead, you just walked in and smelled the ink.” 

Today when people walk in, they see a large bicycle mounted to a shelf, several guitars and posters hanging on a rustic brick wall, beer taps and lounge chairs, tables organized with high-end cookbooks and other well-designed print samples, an assortment of organized shirts and hats in different colors and sizes, employees busy working at their desks, and promotional products that match different themes and budgets. 

Branded By Woods’ motto is “creativity is not accidental; it’s fundamental,” and the layout of the Huntingburg office is no accident either. It’s an intentional blend of promotion and execution. The company offers branding, design, print, promotions, mailings and websites, but Devin, Brian and their team aren’t trying to push those capabilities onto clients. Instead, they’re simply trying to talk to people in a genuine way about their marketing goals.

“We talk a lot about the idea of being creatively different — that we are a creative solutions company,” Devin says. “That’s how we partner with our customers, and we wanted the building here to be a reflection of that mission.” She continues: “Now, when people come into town for an event or stop at the coffee shop next door, they see our different, creative space and realize we’re not just a company that runs presses and produces printing. It starts a different conversation about what we can do.” 

A good example is the owner of nearby Huntingburg Country Club, which until 2018 bought only print from Branded By Woods. He now relies on the company for logo design, website layout, professional photography and more. Another example is the marketing team at SunBlest Lawn Care, which has begun using Branded By Woods for all elements of the company’s brand identity, including promotional pieces, branding on trucks, door hangers and mailers. 

“There’s power in showing, not just describing, what you do,” Brian says. “Marketers and marketing departments love stopping in because they can see, touch and feel items.” Adds Devin: “We now get a lot of, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you could do that!’” 

“At the end of the day, we’re a creative company, plain and simple,” Brian says. “We help companies manage their brands, and as part of that we also handle print production. That makes us different, and it’s good to be different. We want people who meet our company to become fans rather than just customers.”

That’s exactly how their showroom space is working, from the moment customers see those bulging letters and open the front door.

QLM Label Makers

Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (QLM Group is based in Australia)

Key Benefit of Space: Clients feel more comfortable and gain new ideas as they explore options

One Unique Detail: When people enter the space, they’re left alone for a few minutes

QLM Group started in a family garage in 1973 and has grown to become one of Asia-Pacific's most dynamic and innovative label and packaging providers, with facilities in Australia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam.

QLM Label Makers operates from the Vietnam facility and aims to establish long-term, mutually-rewarding relationships with clients, many of which are in the food, pharmaceutical and personal care markets. Its team wants to and to “bring labels alive” and likes to begin client discussions by asking, “What do you want to achieve?”

When clients know that answer, but need some inspiration or different options on how to get there, QLM Label Makers’ “client experience space” is beneficial, says Lindsay Nutley, Marketing Director of QLM Group. The space is a separate room inside the Vietnam facility that houses an array of tactile examples of successful projects that helped clients stand out or overcome obstacles. (To watch a video that shows the space, go to the 3:30 mark of this video.)

Lindsay is a Dscooper who’s quick to share ideas and tactics about marketing, and he has a passion for bringing enjoyable experiences to QLM Group clients. “We work in a tactile industry, and the things we make people can pick up, touch and use,” he says. “So a really slick presentation might be great, but it doesn’t give people that sensory feeling — what does a certain label look like, what does it feel like, what are the dimensions?”

Part of Lindsay’s job is to make sure the client experience space accurately reflects the innovative work produced by the QLM Label Makers team, in a way that encourages playfulness. “Your physical space should reflect your company,” he says, “and creating a play space is very much in line with the way we think.”

Lindsay wants the showroom space to feel personal, and to help make customers and prospects feel comfortable. “It’s a chance for people to relax, to pick things up and feel them, maybe to look at some videos, to see a range of stuff that could work for them, and to just be in a space that doesn’t feel formal.”

In Lindsay’s experience, people who feel relaxed have conversations that are more genuine. “In the client experience space, we’re not really selling,” he says. “We’re just talking and exploring options.” 

Actually, for the first few minutes a person is in the client experience space, people from QLM Label Makers aren’t talking at all. In fact, they aren’t even present. As part of the company’s strategy, they quickly excuse themselves and leave the room for several minutes, mentioning they need to get some water, tea or coffee. “That time is often the most valuable — when the buyer is left alone and can just play around with different applications on the shelf,” Lindsay says.

He and his team derived this idea after testing different layouts and samples for the client experience space, using cameras to record how people experienced (or didn’t experience) the space. Lindsay says the room’s initial design and samples were too formal; people felt like they were in a museum and didn’t touch anything. A second attempt at the layout was too overwhelming; people seemed interested in touching samples but too many pieces were scattered haphazardly around the room. Lindsay says the current version strikes the correct balance — enough samples to feel comprehensive and organized, but with a layout that encourages interaction and playfulness.

“The tactic wasn’t about being sneaky; we wanted to make sure our strategy for the room was smart, and that we created the right experience for our customers,” Lindsay says. “I think that element of play, touch and feel is really important. And now, when a salesperson comes back into the room after a few minutes, he or she immediately can tell if the person is engaged or not. If they are, they’ll be standing up with something in their hands. Our room looks like it’s a space where it’s completely appropriate for them to do that.”

For a showroom to succeed, Lindsay says, it can’t be dormant. “We’ve all been to facilities where they have old, dusty pieces that have been on the shelf for years.” To avoid that issue, QLM Label Makers updates its samples regularly. It recently added some innovative packaging samples that showcase shelf appeal while also conveying important product information.

“If you think of your space as a house with kids, you need to have a safe and well-constructed house, but you also want the kids to be able to play,” Lindsay says. “And you have to update the toys in the room so the kids don’t get bored.”

To borrow his metaphor, how do kids know about the playroom in the first place? How does QLM Label Makers promote the space to clients and prospects? Unlike some printers’ sample rooms that are positioned prominently in the office or (in the case of Branded By Woods) open to the public, its client experience space is accessible by invitation only. Salespeople sometimes use it as a way to help customers feel “unstuck” and more aware of various label designs and constructions. 

Says Lindsay: “The willingness and ability of our teams to develop and continually innovate is one of the things that makes us unique and one of the leading companies in this region. We love having a dedicated space that shows that innovation.”

He encourages other printers to develop spaces that reflect “who and what you are” to clients and prospects.

Aeroprint

Location: North Holland, Netherlands

Key Benefit of Space: It signals to clients that they deserve pieces that are special and memorable

One Unique Detail: The door to the sample room says, “the Oooooh space…”

Erwin Koerts, technical director of Aeroprint in the Netherlands, loves special products, unexpected solutions and making the seemingly impossible possible. His company is renowned for helping customers — including high-end fashion and fragrance firms in Paris and other European cities — visualize different possibilities for using print, paper and fabrics. 

To that end, he loves leading clients and prospects to Aeroprint’s sample room door. It greets visitors with a fun message: “the Oooooh space…”

“People would come into the room and always make that ‘Oooooh!’ sound, so we just went with it,” Erwin says. Aeroprint is even creating a new website section that will house a digital version of the sample room gallery, including stop-motion videos of several past projects.

Aeroprint created the dedicated space about five years ago. Today, the well-lit room is filled with print and paper projects on shelves, books showcasing various designs and paper stocks, boxes and other packaging projects, fabric samples, and more. When Erwin sits in the room on a video call with the stacks of books and samples behind him, it looks like he might be using a fake Zoom background. 

Oooooh is a funny way to depict a serious strategy at Aeroprint, which specializes in unique productions that help clients boost their brands. The company uses the sample room to signal that the team is willing to do everything in its power to produce memorable projects. 

“As printers we are are always talking about the added value of print,” says Erwin. “So how can you as a printer not show whatever you can? The whole concept of samples is core to our communications. Our intent is to inspire customers, to elevate them to levels they didn’t expect.”

When collaborating with clients and prospects in the sample room, Aeroprint team members go beyond simply showing past projects; they initiate new ideas by combining elements of various samples. For instance, if a person is initially interested in different brochure samples, he or she might also be handed pieces that show various finishing techniques and envelope styles. A high-end buyer interested in choosing the right paper for an invitation might also learn about packaging design techniques and be shown an intricate box Aeroprint designed and printed recently for French fashion designer Christian Louboutin. The box, which invited guests to an exclusive grand opening exhibition, opened from the side and included three separate high-end folders with artistically illustrated pages showcasing the exhibition venue. Aeroprint had handled printing of the entire project, as well as printed fabrics, wallpaper and other materials for the venue itself.

“Many of our clients are used to creating things themselves, so in effect the sample room becomes a bit like a workshop, with people experimenting and talking about creative options,” Erwin says. “In here, every piece has a story, and with every piece there’s so much love. Having a room like this indicates to customers that you are passionate about making each project special.”