For those of you who have not seen me work a trade show, my schedule is generally wall to wall. When I'm not at an appointment, I'm visiting other exhibitors on my way to my next appointment. Sometimes, I get a little rebellious and experience a demo or attend an educational session.
What I rarely do is sit down and have a real lunch. Instead, lunch is usually some sort of protein bar paired with a warm diet soda I've been nursing all morning. If I do get to the press room for a meal, it's generally shoveled into my piehole with very little elegance. If you want to keep your own lunch down, it's not something you want to watch.
But a few years back, I got to add a bit of gastronomic fun to my routine. I started swapping snacks with Sam, who works for Wildwood Plus, a PR agency. I think she offered me some candy during a booth tour. I thanked her for "lunch" and that's all it took; now, it's our tradition.
For example, at ISE this year, I brought her an American delicacy, Sno-Caps. Sam brought me Polo mints, which were apparently inspired by Life Savers and have been around for more than 70 years. As an American, I was unaware of these, but they are well known in the U.K. They must be—when I would take them out in front of other attendees (yes, I share), someone invariably said, "It's the mint with the hole!" Talk about an effective tagline.
That tagline got me thinking a lot about branding and some big branding changes in our industry recently. On the distribution side, there's Almo Pro AV. Almo Professional A/V was acquired by Exertis in December 2021, which prompted a name change to Exertis Almo in Spring 2022. Three years later, at InfoComm 2025, the company made a splash with its new name, Almo Pro AV.
Dan Smith, EVP of Almo Pro AV, said the new branding was a refresh, not a restructure. No new owners, no new leadership, no real change to company strategy. "The rebrand reinforces our identity as a true AV specialist and dedicated industry partner," he explained.
Integrators are making changes, too. Diversified refreshed its brand about two years ago. The new logo replaced the RGB color scheme of its stylized "D" with a blue gradient to represent the company's "fluid transition towards a digital future." They also added a new tagline, "Create the Unforgettable," to encourage its clients to push technological boundaries.
Earlier this year, AVI-SPL debuted its new "Confidence and Curiosity" brand campaign in time for ISE 2025 in Barcelona. The move included new logo colors and a new website. "When confidence and curiosity meet, true transformation happens," said John Zettel, CEO of AVI-SPL. "When our customers trust their technology to perform seamlessly, they gain the freedom to ask, 'What’s next?' This campaign celebrates these breakthroughs and the role we play in turning curiosity into actionable, measurable results."
And the folks at AVI Systems went even further. As we reported in June, they changed their name to FORTÉ in an effort to reflect their expanding business focus.
So, how's your brand? Does your branding reflect all that you do? If your customers had to invent a tagline for you, what would they say?
Integrators and distributors are more than resources for videobars and line arrays. Sure, you sell products, but you really sell solutions. You sell expertise. You sell services. You sell peace of mind.
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A collection of loyal customers is one thing, and word of mouth can certainly help recruit new customers. But an effective branding strategy opens the door to new business and reinforces your message with existing clients. Maybe it's time to update that logo or revisit that website design. Don't be afraid to make your brand minty fresh.
