Putting a Brand on the Floor at a Product Launch

Can You Put a Logo on the Floor?

Yes, using custom low-adhesive vinyl decals applied directly to the illuminated panels.

The reason that matters is what it looks like. A branded floor mat sits on top of the light and blocks it, so the logo reads as a dark shape. A decal on the panel is backlit by the same units lighting the rest of the floor, so the mark glows and changes with the floor. When the color cycles, the branding cycles with it.

Our panels are 24 inches square, which is a useful unit for layout. A 12ft by 12ft floor is 36 panels, so a design team can think in terms of which of 36 squares carry a wordmark, which carry artwork and which stay clear. At the Sodapop sunglasses launch at The Jane Hotel that is exactly how it was laid out, with wordmarks, character illustrations and clean panels alternating across the floor.

We recommend vinyl over paper every time. Paper stickers do not survive a night of dancing and they do not come off cleanly afterwards, which becomes an argument nobody wants at 1am.

Who Applies It, and When?

Normally the event's own design team, and the honest answer to when is earlier than you think.

We supply the floor, advise on materials and build the time into the schedule. The design team applies the decals, because they own the artwork and the placement. What that means practically is that the floor has to be finished, lit and checked before anyone starts sticking things to it, and then the design team needs a clear run at it before doors.

On the Jane Hotel job the install was brought forward specifically to give the design team time to finish branding the floor before the event opened. That was a scheduling decision made in advance, not a favor on the day. If you want a branded floor, tell your rental company at the quote stage so the install time reflects it.

Budget the branding time into the install, not into the hour before doors.

Can the Furniture Display the Product?

Lit cocktail tables are the usual answer, and they work better than a plinth.

At that same launch, four lit cocktail tables were used to show the new sunglasses line. The product sits at standing height, lit from below, in exactly the part of the room where people are already holding a drink and talking. A dedicated display table in a corner gets visited. A lit cocktail table in the flow gets used.

Worth knowing that the tables run battery lighting, which does effects rather than precise color matching, so if the brand palette has to be exact then the floor is the piece that can hold it. We cover the difference in our guide to color matching.

What Usually Goes Wrong?

The lift. Almost every time.

Launches book interesting spaces, and interesting spaces are old buildings, penthouses and lofts with service elevators that were not designed to carry event equipment. The Jane Hotel penthouse has one of the smallest service elevators in Manhattan, and we confirmed the equipment would physically fit before the date was locked in rather than after.

That is the single most useful thing you can do early. Measure the service car, including the diagonal, and check the narrowest doorway on the route. If it will not fit, that is a solvable problem while there is still time to change the spec, and an unsolvable one on the morning.

The other one is power. A standard floor runs on one or two household outlets, but larger builds want roughly 25 watts per square foot planned in with the venue. Our trade show guide goes through the numbers.

We deliver, install and break down across the tri-state area, from Manhattan and Brooklyn to Long Island, across New Jersey and up through Connecticut, and we can put a lighting technician on site for the night if the room needs running.