Roto Rooter Exhibit Claw Trade Show Booth

Needless to say, trade shows are an incredibly cluttered environment for B2B marketers trying to make an impression. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different businesses all vying for the same audience’s attention. And, when that audience is surrounded by much more exciting prospects, the last thing they want to pay attention to is the plumber in the room.

Accordingly, Roto-Rooter – the biggest, oldest and best-known plumbing brand in the country – has struggled to stand out or make a major impact at trade shows. Restaurant operators, property managers and other key B2B targets heavily attend trade shows nationwide, but they’re not there to find a plumbing repair partner. They’re drawn to the more sales-forward and tech-focused booths that boast an overt relationship to revenue or growth (or both).

Meanwhile, as is the case in the residential space, plumbing is a grudge purchase. Even business owners and property managers would rather not worry about it until they have to. Which is why, almost subconsciously, they avoid the Roto-Rooter booth and follow their colleagues to the flashier opportunities with offers that are more fun to think about.

So, to break that cycle, we transformed Roto-Rooter’s trade show booth into the most fun stop on the sales floor – by literally gamifying pluming repair.

The Un-Claw-Git takes a traditional Claw game like you’d find at any arcade and turns it into a plumbing repair challenge. Working with a gaming partner, we stripped down vintage machines and built them back up again from scratch as Roto-Rooter Un-Claw-Gits. The prizes visitors plumb for all resemble real life clog culprits. Better yet, the tokens the machine takes to operate, give Roto-Rooter’s trade show personnel the perfect conversation starter – handing out coins all over the convention center to draw people to the booth.

Avoiding plumbing problems is a mental state that will probably never go away. But now, instead of avoiding the Roto-Rooter trade show booth, attendees are stopping by non-stop.