Shoptalk Europe is Hyve's flagship European retail gathering: 4,500+ leaders, 200+ speakers, hundreds of surfaces across print, digital, stage design, onsite experiential, and sponsor activations. My job was to build the design system that would carry across every medium, then manage the creative operations to execute it across every channel.
Discover
I'd run Shoptalk's U.S. shows for several years before I was tapped in to lead the brand's first international market expansion. Shoptalk Europe had no inheritance of its own, no returning audience, no local track record, only a launch date and the reputation of a proven U.S. model riding on it. My job was to take a format that worked in the U.S. and make it work somewhere it had never existed: who needed to be in the room, where the brand needed to show up before anyone trusted it, and what the room needed to believe by the time they left.
4,500+ decision-makers from the retail industry’s biggest names, in one room for three days.
Print, digital, stage, wayfinding, signage, sponsor activations, hundreds of surfaces, one brand.
Establish Shoptalk Europe as a must-return event for retail and brand leadership.
A few of the names in the room
Define
I built the design system to leverage the brand identity across every surface as well as function as the show’s wayfinding. Teal moved people forward and gold communicated the highlights. The brand identity covered thousands of surfaces from mainstage to tote bags. The wayfinding navigation leveraged the brand’s colors to move 4,500+ people to where they needed to be.
Color
The retro world, on the highest-visibility surfaces: mainstage, entry, bags.
Teal, chosen so it can’t be mistaken for the brand palette. A directional cue and a branded surface read as two different things at a glance.
Typography
Develop
Marketing & launch campaigns
Starting 6 months before the show I built out full campaigns for the full nurture engine behind the launch: email sequences, social content, original animation and video, all carrying the same brand system across digital channels. One brand, showing up consistently before anyone walked through the door.
One system, every surface Brand strategy across all touchpoints
Every touchpoint carried the brand strategy, from the stage to the tote bags.
Wayfinding & signage Wayfinding & signage design
The system extended into how people moved through the venue: directional signage and environmental graphics that kept the same warmth and never broke character.
The retro mainstage Stage design
The retro mainstage: arch, set and the full build. The most-shared image of the show, and the anchor the rest of the world was built around.
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Deliver
I built a curated experience where retail's biggest names could reach their audiences. Hundreds of speakers, thousands of attendees, every session and surface built to make those connections happen faster.
What attendees are saying
The atmosphere and the vibe of Shoptalk Europe is amazing. I found the stands very entertaining and the sessions very enlightening.
The creativeness we can see at Shoptalk is outstanding. We’ve chosen Shoptalk because we can showcase our creativity.
I just love the atmosphere here at Shoptalk Europe. It’s such a friendly, cool environment to be in and sets the scene for our business.