NYCC Custom Trade Show Exhibit | Universal Studios’ Jurassic World

To promote the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release Universal Studios commissioned Marketing Genome to design, fabricate and manage their over the top Custom Experiential Display at New York Comic Con. Trade show attendees were given the opportunity to take a step inside Jurassic World by walking through full scale gate replicas surrounding the trade show entrance doors. The display was fortified with all the trimmings. Live fauna, rocks, fog and the show stopping 14ft. Velociraptor were all staged in what may have been a more authentic experience than watching the Jurassic World movie itself. 

The Project

Modeled identically after the gates used in the movie, individual 30-foot set pieces were designed to be disassembled for shipping and reassembled on the show floors. Tight restrictions in allowable dimensions meant that proportions had to be carefully calculated, rendered and then Custom fabricated in way that would still match up to the original movie pieces.

Fabrication

The two separate towers’ skeletons were framed in steel and then skinned in the lightest (but most durable) plywood available. Each module including the gates themselves, were then painted and airbrushed individually to ensure a dead-on cinematic match.

The Jurassic world logo was custom made out of steel using a CNC Router and the structure it was suspended from was welded from aluminum beams. We were shooting for actual flame spitting torches but had a feeling the Javits Convention Center’s Fire Marshall may object…

On-Site Install

Exhibiting at trade shows in NYC can be a frustrating process. Constant traffic often holds up shipping deliveries and show labor presents it’s own set of I&D challenges. So when the numerous crates arrived at the Javits Center, the team began the puzzle of finding, sorting and fitting each section piece together.

We then hand landscaped on-site live vegetation. Smoke machines were added to replicate the mist and fog of a real jungle. In-case all that wasn’t enough, the life sized walking, talking raptor escaped extinction making multiple appearances throughout the day to pose for pictures and terrorize the crowd.

Our Thoughts

From when the first crate hit the show floor until the last day of the show, we were completely astonished at how this project turned out and we weren’t the only ones. There is no doubt that all 180,000 attendees interacted in some manner. Whether it was posing for cosplay in front of the gates, hiding in the fog for a quick bite or executing compelling interviews with the Raptor, everyone young and old enjoyed the exhibit display. 

But it wasn’t all fun and games. This build was a much more lengthy and involved build process than were used to. Just the vendor coordination between Reedpop, Freeman and our own employees was enough to send the average exhibit house running. Not to mention, it all had to be executed within two days. Nothing was left to chance. Proper sizing of the area was first and foremost. From there it was lighting set-up, sound tests and music queuing. Then came the arrangement of two truckloads of live plants and fake rocks. In the end, spite a few cups of coffee and some aspirin, it turned out perfect.

In the end, the Jurassic World exhibit display was much more than the standard comic con booths attendees are used to seeing. It was a meeting place for lost families, a backdrop your best selfie ever, a chill down the spine of first time attendees, an example of where the industry is heading, one epic product promotion and most of all, another evolution of where Marketing Genome can take your brand. 

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