FOURTEEN TODAY!
Past the newborn and toddler stage, through the primary age and well and truly into the teenage years, Expo Centric has hit 14 years old today and is about to hit another growth spurt! Before jumping ahead of ourselves, however, the last 14 years are incredible accomplishments with some major milestones but not without some outstandingly tough years.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how fourteen years looks now, as one of Australia’s top experiential marketing and exhibition companies.
And so it began in 2009…
when the world celebrated Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President, grieved the “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson, and mourned Australia’s deadliest bushfires in history, Black Saturday.
Beyond the history made in 2009, came what would soon become Australia’s top experiential marketing and exhibition companies, borne from the bedroom of CEO, Stan Kruss.
Within its first year, Stan single-handedly brought on board a number of big clients, but none more impactful than the very first, Simplot.
Expo Centric’s first birthday in 2010…
when Shakira sang the all-time best Opening Ceremony song for the World Cup, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti and Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics.
Company Milestone:
Once Expo Centric was off the ground the team started growing. With the first eight staff employed it was time to move out of the house and into the office, and so the first office was leased. The first office was located in Manly Vale where they stayed for the next 12 months.
Biggest Achievements:
With growth came bigger opportunities and bigger stakeholders. In 2010 Expo Centric signed an Aluvision Exclusivity agreement, bringing their LED offerings to the Australian market. Whilst lots has changed in 14 years, Expo Centric still remains Aluvision’s exclusive distributor to the Australian market.
It is clear that Expo Centric has been ahead of the curve beyond its move into the market. By 2010 they made their move to eco-friendly stands. Stan has always been conscious of the impact that the events industry has on the environment and made a concerted effort to ensure Expo Centric did its bit to mitigate the impact. The company made the move from stands made by MDF to an eco-friendly solution which has since been adopted by competitors in the industry and deemed the gold standard in exhibitions.
Favourite Stand:
Hello terrible twos, in 2011…
When Osama Bin Laden was no longer, Adele graced us with ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and the world fell in love with Prince William and Kate Middelton at their Royal Wedding.
Company Milestone:
In 2011 Expo Centric quickly outgrew its first office and moved to lease its first factory. From Lane Cove they commenced the production of their own materials for onsite.
Biggest Achievement:
Novartis, a Switzerland-based healthcare company came on board as a cornerstone client. From here, Expo Centric worked with the Novartis team to develop an exceptional stand to represent their brand at APAO.
Into the toddler years, in 2012…
When the world loses ‘The Voice’ Whitney Housten, Boomer mums learn of Fifty Shades of Grey, and every 13-year-old girl finally has the answer to who ‘xoxo Gossip Girl’ was.
Company Milestone:
Beyond their efforts for sustainability, Expo Centric was ahead of the curve with technology as well. They were the first company to use Hologram technology in the Australian Exhibition space first with HoloCube and then with Hypervsn.
Biggest Achievement:
It’s one thing to support a company to launch a product into the market, it’s another thing to launch a company into a country. Expo Centric worked with Infinity to launch their company into the Australian Market
We have been involved in thousands of product launches over the last decade but what is really special is when you get to be involved in a launch of a whole company in the Australian market, we have been incredibly lucky to do this with Tesla, Infinity and Victoria’s Secret – “Stan Kruss”
Favourite Stands:
Four years old & forty staff in 2013…
When “The Queen” headlines the Superbowl, (Beyoncé that is, not Lizzy), we learned the word ‘twerking’ and an Instagram upload wasn’t complete without its added border.
Company Milestone:
2013 was a year of extensive growth in both staff and floor space. The Expo Centric team hit over 40 staff throughout the year which confirmed the move to a larger factory in Lane Cove. The move to Lane Cove enabled larger growth opportunities for the Expo Centric production systems commencing a fabrication facility and the use of automatic machinery.
Favourite Stands:
Five in 2014,
When we all rewatched Mrs. Doubtfire to pay tribute to Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres took the best selfie ever and everyone was being nominated for an Ice Bucket Challenge.
Year five was about consolidation for Expo Centric following a strong year of growth. Throughout the year they settled into their new factory, with new processes and new staff, and continued to create high-quality products.
Awards:
Whilst it might not have been a year of large movement, Expo Centric made its impact on the industry walking away with a number of awards.
- BWR Fast 100, BRW Magazine
- Display of Excellence, Sydney International Boat Show
- 2014’s Hot 30 under 30, www.smartcompany.com.au
- 2014 Anthill Smart 100, anthillonline.com
Favourite Stands:
2015…
When Bruce became Caitlyn Jenner, society couldn’t decide if a dress was blue & black or white & gold and Netflix arrived in Australia.
Expo Centric’s sixth year saw large leaps in the development of client stands, with a number of blue-chip clients coming on board.
Favourite Stands:
2016…
When Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar, Trump became president and Pokemon Go took over everyones social life.
Company Milestone:
2016 saw another peak of growth for Expo Centric as they moved to their next factory in Rydalmere. This move allowed the office and factory to be onsite together to develop state-of-the-art manufacturing within a 30,000+ cubic meter industrial facility.
Biggest Achievement:
Beyond the move, Expo Centric developed its first government partnership with the NSW Government. For up to seven years Expo Centric worked closely alongside the NSW Government in supporting small companies in the food, defense, and technology industries, taking part in major trade shows.
“These stands have always been close to my heart as they provide the opportunity to show off their latest inventions and ideas with the support of their respective state governments.” – Stan Kruss
Favourite Stand:
2017…
When the world supports each other with #metoo, Trump learns how to use Twitter and Serena Williams wins the Aus Open whilst pregnant.
After settling into its new company home, Expo Centric used the following year to focus its efforts on maintaining the quality of the brand they were known for. This was successfully achieved through a number of exquisite stands.
Favourite Stands:
2018…
When Beyonce headlines Coachella, we watch a yodeling kid in a supermarket on YouTube one too many times and another royal wedding.
2018 opened Expo Centric’s opportunities beyond the exhibition hall. Throughout their ninth year, they developed the impact of brand activations, kicking it off with a pop-up store.
Favourite Stands:
Double digits in 2019…
when the food of the year was oat milk, Jennifer Anniston finally gets Instagram and the world meets Lizzo. Expo Centric turns 10! And along with the double digits came an investment in technology.
Company Milestone:
2019 leaned into technology more than ever before for Expo Centric. They paved the way within the exhibition industry by pushing the envelope on integrated technology including the integration of LED screens in stand structures.
Favourite Stands:
2020…
When we no longer recognised the name Corona as a type of beer, and rather a virus, Australia mourned their social lives and there were no friends in the toilet paper game.
2020 started large and ended larger for Expo Centric, with a number of achievements.
Achievements:
2020 started off with Expo Centric delivering an incredible 13 stands at ADX, perhaps an indication of how incredible the year was meant to be.
Quickly following ADX however, COVID-19 hit Australia, devastating the events industry.
Biggest Challenge:
COVID saw 96% of events canceled and staffing reduced from 60 to 10. Read our Blog: to see how we survived COVID.
Biggest Opportunity:
With the event’s industry falling, Expo Centric focussed on system improvements and developing ongoing opportunities in an effort to survive. The reduction in staff allowed the company to revise the company structure increasing efficiencies among labor. Physically Expo Centric pivoted to create COVID-required items including hand sanitisers and desks to help support demand.
Beyond COVID, Expo Centric worked to source premium event industry solutions for Australia such as Airclad and virtual experiences that clients could lean into throughout COVID.
2021…
When COVID was still going, but that didn’t matter because we watched our favourite Friends reunite – Rachael, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Ross and Chandler.
Company Milestone:
Whilst COVID still lingered for the start of 2021, Expo Centric still drove success through their re-adapted business, launching sister brand Exhibit Central. Expo Centric is a premium exhibition, event, and retail designer and builder. Our clients often also needed standalone display solutions or wanted smaller modular segments of their stand they could re-use again and again. They struggled to find high-quality portable displays that would work with and reflect the quality of their existing stand elements…. Exhibit Central was the solution.
Biggest Achievement:
Among navigating a new company and COVID, Expo Centric also landed a client, Petbarn to execute a brand activation across 157 different stores. The brand activation worked against the delays and difficulties of transporting mid-covid yet successfully executed an incredible, nationwide activation. Read more on Petbarn’s The Nosh Project here.
Favourite Stands:
2022…
When life returned to normal, Twitter almost collapsed and corn kid reminded us how much we love corn!
Favourite Stands:
2023…
When Expo Centric turned 14!
Stay tuned to where this year takes us!