The Lufthansa Group at ITB Berlin. Strategy as an intriguing experience in three dimensions.

From the spirit of traveling, from a reflection on humanity and a view of the world, come experiences that soar above the ordinary and give modern wings to reality.

Exhibiting at the ITB in Berlin is more than just making an appearance at a trade fair. At the world’s leading trade fair for the travel industry, brands position the core statements of their corporate strategy. For the Lufthansa Group, this translates into messages with international importance and appeal.

It would therefore of course do the brand a great injustice to merely consider booth construction for its appearance at this event. Like many companies, the Lufthansa Group understands that 3D productions are becoming increasingly important, which is why the group works in close cooperation with their consulting and implementation partners at ET Global Exhibit Group for all their needs concerning modern three-dimensional experiences – such as exhibitions, events and environments. Dierk Prüssing, Senior Executive Consultant at ET Global, confirms this: “We have been working for the Lufthansa Group for more than 20 years. Today we are at a point where brand staging in a three-dimensional environment is also gaining more and more strategic impact. In an era when programmatic control of communication is increasingly prevalent, there is tremendous potential for Lufthansa in particular to make the brand come alive and stand out among the tough competition among airlines.”

In order to take advantage of these opportunities, the Frankfurt-based specialists link consulting and design very consistently. It is important to translate strategic marketing approaches such as customer centricity into exciting and brand-appropriate three-dimensional implementations and conceptions for experiencing the brand. This is because the Lufthansa Group’s focus is on what motivates people to travel, as well as a consistent understanding of the customer’s point of view – and this is carried over into the briefing.

The result is an exhibition booth that offers a unique multi-sensory experience over 557 m2 and three floors: “Why do we travel, how do we get there and where are we going? The perspectives of the customers and a world view are the conceptual core of our multi-faceted productions. We implement this basic idea with a high degree of interactive experiences for visitors,” says senior designer Jill Taylor. And this can be seen everywhere throughout the exhibit – for example in numerous ceiling-mounted rotating cabin windows with which you can watch 360-degree videos. A profoundly human fascination is presented in a modern way as an experience that elicits a high degree of involvement. Take for example the swings on the ground floor, where guests with VR glasses “fly” over simulated airports and destinations, with information on the frequency of flights. However, the concept designers also strike the right tone when it comes to briefing topics such as the arrangement of different seating classes for the airlines of the Lufthansa Group. These are explained and made tangible with iPads. Eight daily lectures on travel, held by industry experts in a large, centrally placed forum, provide topical substance. The forum is an area of encounter and exchange, flanked by double-sided mobile LED screens inside and out – a highly visible, impressive display of the booth architecture.

Lufthansa is now hitting the road itself with this global concept of its 3D appearance. ET Global will adapt the booth to very different sizes to serve at a variety of other international trade fairs. “That is of course also part of our consulting expertise – spatial concepts have to be flexible and scalable but at its core, the strategy is a fixed factor. It is our responsibility to guarantee just this,” says senior consultant Dierk Prüssing. An increasingly important view of the world – the world of brands in three dimensions.