Vision Expo West returned to The Venetian Convention Center & Expo in Las Vegas Sept. 19-21, bringing its unique blend of style, tech, and bold looks. Organized by the Vision Council and RX, it featured about 350 exhibiting companies, brands, and designers from around the globe showcasing the latest innovations in frame design, lens advancements, diagnostic instruments, and practice management solutions.
This year, VEW overlapped with an optical fair Silmo Paris, which might explain a somewhat subdued presence of overseas brands that normally turn up the experiential and design volume here but international attendance was still up, year over year, according to show officials. EM was on hand to check out the latest in smart glasses and focus on what was grabbing the audience’s attention, too.
Furniture Speaks Volumes
Exhibitors at VEW haven’t heard about the “two chairs and a table” rental package. Fashion eyewear brand OGI highlighted its commitment to independent thinking with a splashy space complete with thoughtful furniture pieces in eye-catching colors, a purple chessboard and cool details like a stack of LIFE magazines under a gramophone.
One Interior, a brand that believes that every optometrist office should let its personality shine, leaned into industrial chic with custom reclaimed wood furniture and sleek displays for a space that felt like your coolest friend’s living room. The seating arrangements at Article One’s booth were seamless with neutral-toned pedestal displays juxtaposed against a vivid background. And it only seems fitting that at Elton John’s space every table would be a keyboard…
Turn Up the Lights
The show floor is not exactly a showroom when it comes to lighting, so exhibitors took matters into their own hands to put their products in the best light. For eyewear brands, that translated to LED lights installed on or above the counters and dispensing tables used for client meetings. For equipment manufacturer Schneider, it was additional LED lights towering over their space and making it easier to explore their machinery. Of course, all-around lighting was paramount for a Ray-Ban x Meta activation where attendees could try on the smart glasses and strike a pose saying, “Hey Meta…”.
Museum Grade
Museum-like activations are gaining ground in different settings, boosting dwell time and highlighting brands’ history and cultural contributions. At VEW, the eyewear powerhouse Safilo celebrated its 90 years in business with an installation showcasing its trend-setting products through the decades. Each display featured curated objects and a short explanation resulting in an insightful retrospective. Who knew that celluloid frames were starting to make inroads into the eyewear market back in the 1930s?
Personable with Photos
Polaroid-style photos add an element of person-ability and playfulness to brand experiences, and brands continue to find interesting ways to use them. Cramilo Eyewear showcased its global reach with photos from its locations around the world pinned to a huge cork board. Europa Eyewear added black-and-white mementos to its bar backdrop and called out a few special characters on the Do Not Serve board. Weave, a small business communications platform, took a different approach to making it personal with photos and invited attendees to get their portraits done by a SketchBot, artfully weaving style and technology.
Game On!
This year, the show introduced the Sun and Sport area focusing on the sport-related products and research around them, so it made sense to anchor it with a pickle ball court and get some team action going. No one wants to look at a bunch of posters without context but when you’re cheering on your teammates, the messaging sinks in, boosting the chances of potential orders. Instructors were on hand to teach the newbies, providing an unmatched opportunity to try something new in your practice, and in real life.
