Your KBIS + IBS Booth Was Just the Beginning
The Real Show Starts When the Lights Go Out
The lights of Orange County Convention Center have dimmed. The carpet’s rolled up. The booth that took months of design, planning, and numerous coffeeruns has been boxed, crated, and shipped home.
Most brands call it a wrap right here. They take their victory lap, post a few photos, and move on to the next show. For them, KBIS + IBS was a moment, big, flashy, and fleeting.
But here’s the thing: at Highway 85 Creative, we don’t believe in “moments.” We build momentum.
Your booth isn’t a temporary space; it’s a launchpad. A four-day explosion of creativity that should echo for months after the expo hall lights shut off. The smartest brands don’t stop when the show ends, they use it to fuel their entire year of marketing, storytelling, and digital domination.
Your booth was an experience, something people could touch, feel, and remember. But now, it’s time to transform that physical power into a digital engine that keeps pulling eyes, leads, and attention long after Vegas fades from memory.
Let’s break down how to do it.
Turn Live Chaos Into Evergreen Gold
Your Booth Was Content Heaven, Now Milk It
If your KBIS + IBS booth didn’t make someone stop in their tracks, feel something, or pull out their phone to record, did it even exist?
Every booth worth remembering is packed with content gold. The interactions, the live demos, the jaw-drops, that’s all emotional currency. And if you’re not capturing it with intention, you’re wasting your biggest ROI opportunity.
The Highway 85 Recommendation
Shooting b-roll? Boring. We map out the story as it’s unfolding, because every second on that show floor has a pulse, a rhythm, and a point of view. We’re not there to “capture footage”; we’re there to capture emotion, the kind that turns casual scrolls into stopped thumbs, and booth visitors into believers.
- The close-up of a product reveals that make someone say “damn.”
- The designer explaining their concept in raw, human language.
- The crowd reaction when your tech or design lights up.
We plan, direct, and capture content designed for repurposing, not just for memory.
The Digital Extension
Once the show’s over, we turn that raw energy into a year-long content pipeline:
- Sizzle Reel: 60–90 seconds of pure adrenaline, your brand, your energy, your best moments. Use it on your website homepage, socials, or to open sales meetings. It’s your brand highlight reel on steroids.
- Deep-Dive Demos: Your in-booth demos edited into short, bingeable clips. Great for YouTube, sales enablement, or even as lead magnets.
- Photo Galleries: Professional images that show off your booth design, team, and crowd energy. Perfect for blog posts, PR pushes, and campaigns.
Your booth might be packed up, but the story it told? That lives forever, if you’re smart enough to use it.
Launch a Digital Ad Campaign That Hits Like a Freight Train
The Real Audience Isn’t Just in the Convention Center
Let’s be honest, not everyone made it to your booth. But that doesn’t mean they can’t feel like they did.
The people who missed KBIS + IBS? They’re still your target audience. They’re scrolling LinkedIn, Googling “kitchen design trends,” or trying to figure out who the hell made that booth everyone was talking about. That’s your window.
The Highway 85 Recommendation
We turn physical presence into a digital weapon. Those videos, photos, and soundbites? They become ads that tell the world, “Yeah, we dominated KBIS + IBS and here’s why you should care.”
We build multi-platform ad campaigns that don’t just target attendees; they target everyone who should’ve been there.
The Digital Extension
- Retargeting Campaigns: Serve up booth visuals. Crowds, LED walls, that one moment everyone stopped to watch, to everyone who visited your site or scanned your QR code during the show.
- Prospecting Campaigns: Use LinkedIn and Google ads to target the right industries with bold messaging like, “Missed us at KBIS? Here’s what everyone was talking about.”
- Lookalike Audiences: Upload your lead list and let the algorithm do its thing. Finding thousands of people who look, act, and buy like your best customers.
Your booth got attention. Your ads turn that attention into action.
Don’t Let Hot Leads Go Ice Cold
Nurture Like You Mean It
Here’s the brutal truth: most trade show leads go cold within two weeks.
You spent months prepping your space, training your team, and perfecting your experience, but if your post-show communication is a cookie-cutter email, you just wasted that momentum.
The Highway 85 Recommendation
We build post-show sequences that feel like extensions of the booth. Personalized, cinematic, and irresistible.
Each email reminds the prospect what they saw, what they felt, and why they should keep caring.
The Digital Extension
- Email 1 (Right After the Show): A personalized thank-you. Include your sizzle reel and a link to your specific requested information (a datasheet, a pricing PDF). Make it personal and visual.
- Email 2 (Mid-Week): Drop a short, edited version of your booth demo. Subject line idea: “Remember that design you loved at our IBSbooth?” Instant recognition.
- Email 3 (One Week Later): Invite them to a webinar or follow-up meeting framed as a post-KBIS download. Keep it helpful, not salesy.
Show up in their inbox with the same energy you had on the floor, confident, visual, and human.
Keep the Hype Alive on Social + PR
The Hashtag Fades,The Story Doesn’t
Just because #KBIS or #IBS stopped trending doesn’t mean your story should.
You’ve got a mountain of killer content, and don’t let it sit on your hard drive collecting digital dust.
The Highway 85 Recommendation
We create a drip-feed strategy that keeps the booth alive online for months. Eachpost, reel, and article keeps the brand top of mind and keeps people saying, “Wow, they crushed it this year.”
The Digital Extension
- Social Media: Drop “throwback” clips, behind-the-scenes build videos, or reaction reels. Run polls. Ask people what their favorite design moment was. Make your content feel alive.
- Public Relations: Write a bold recap press release. Highlight your awards, partnerships, or big reveals. Then pitch your execs as thought leaders in trade pubs with angles like “The 5 Booth Trends That Owned KBIS 2026.”
- Website: Create a permanent “KBIS + IBS 2026” landing page. Include your videos, photos, press clippings, and new product launches. It’s your digital trophy case, and your best sales tool.
Your booth was your proof of concept. Social and PR make it immortal.
Measure the Hell Out of It
If You Can’t Track It, You Can’t Grow It
The beauty of post-show digital marketing? You can measure everything. Traffic, watch time, conversions, engagement, every click tells a story.
The Highway 85 Recommendation
Turn the digital aftermath into data-driven insight. It’s not about vanity metrics. It’s about clarity: what worked, what bombed, and what should define the next move.
The Digital Extension
- Measure What Matters: Which repurposed demo video got the longest watch time? Which ad creative had the highest CTR? Which email sequence brought the most meetings?
- Turn Data Into Design: If one product demo outperformed everything else, that’s your next booth’s hero feature. If your video testimonials crushed it online, build more moments like that into your physical space next year.
Your booth may have been built from wood and LEDs, but your future strategy should be built from data.
The Real Show Starts After the Show
The Afterparty Is Where Brands Are Made
Don’t clock out when the teardown starts. That’s the time to get loud.
Because your booth wasn’t just something to look at. It was something to feel. It sparked emotion, built momentum, and created stories.
This isn’t “extra credit.” It’s how you win the long game. The brands that keep the fire burning post-show are the ones people remember when it’s time to buy, specify, or collaborate.
By pushing your presence beyond the show floor, you turn what was once a four-day event into a year-round growth machine.
KBIS + IBS shouldn’t end when the hallights go out. It’s the launchpad for months of digital momentum. The right post-show strategy turns your activation into ongoing brand storytelling that drives engagement, leads, and visibility long after the show floor clears. Ready to transform your trade show presence into a full-blown marketing engine? Let’s build something that lasts, schedule a Discovery call with Highway 85 crew today!
