The Marathon Companies decided to make a splash at this year’s International Roofing Expo (IRE) by upgrading to an island booth.  Our team at FB Displays & Designs previously designed a 30x10 inline display for them, so they once again turned to us for help in exhibiting better, and now bigger.

Design Brief

• Client: The Marathon Companies (Marathon Roofing Products & MRP Supports)

• Description: A leading distributor of commercial roof drains, vents, equipment and accessories / A supplier of adjustable paver supports, deck pedestals and fixed supports

• What? New 20x20 Display

• Where? IRE 2024

• Why? Moving into a larger booth space - previously 10x30 inline

Design Goals

Our biggest directive, and challenge, was to use as much of the hardware from their 10x30 display as possible in the new booth. Beyond that, the Marathon team wanted:

• Separate areas for each company

• A monitor and product pedestals in each area

• To take advantage of the height allowed in an island booth

• To install the booth themselves, with a 3-4 person team

Design Process

Our design team started by creating about a dozen rough 3D models which explored a range of styles and layouts. Internally, we narrowed it down to four options:

• A small tower, on a base made from MRP Supports products

• A central wall with stylized overhead arches

• A central wall with large tower

• A central tower with corner alcoves

The Marathon team quickly narrowed down the layout of the display (a mash-up of options 3 and 4), but the tricky part proved to be properly designing the product pedestals. Depending on the number of pedestals, ranging from 4-12, and their construction, from corrugated cardboard to laminated wood, these could easily blow Marathon’s budget. After a few months of back-and forth, we arrived at the final design.

• 14’ w Dividing Wall, designed on one side for Marathon Roofing, and the other for MRP Support.

• The central tower is capped by a rotating sign, which sits 14’ above the show floor.

• (2) 3’w corner walls for highlighting new or special products

• A tube-frame pedestal in front of each wall, which offered the best blend of price point and durability.

• (2) Greeting counters in the remaining corners

In the end, we were able to achieve our design goals, as we reused 2/3rds of Marathon’s existing display materials in the dividing walls, corner walls and corner counters. While the tower and rotating sign dominate the booth space, they are constructed from lightweight parts so the Marathon team was able to assemble the structure on the ground while avoiding the costly rigging fees for a traditional hanging sign.

We know this display will serve them well for years to come!