From salmon candy to shrimp lollipops to pickled wakame seaweed: Seafood Expo Global (SEG) is the world’s largest and most diverse seafood trade show. With over 51,000 net square meters of exhibit space, the event welcomed over 2,200 exhibitors from 87 countries for its 30 th edition this year. Taking place in Barcelona, Spain again this year, Team Hoynck has been supporting the national pavilion of Iceland for the third time in a row. Driven by Business Iceland – a public-private organization responsible for the country’s branding and marketing – the pavilion hosted numerous Icelandic seafood companies. Furthermore, it also offered space to international logistics giants, such as Eimskip and DB Schenker to promote their activities in the country. By joining forces, Business Iceland and Team Hoynck were determined to create a unified vision that fits all.
United as one
Taking pride as a nation built on fishing, Business Iceland is responsible for a wide range of marketing and promotional activities for Icelandic seafood. To increase awareness of Iceland as a country of origin and to promote positivity towards Icelandic seafood, their team collaborated with over 20 individual seafood companies and their respective stakeholders.
By facilitating exhibition space, Business Iceland provided each of them with a stage to promote their products and services – ranging from the newest seafood products to fisheries technology. As all companies have different branding, messages, and products, one of the main challenges was the creation of a unified whole. María Björk Gunnarsdóttir, Head of Trade Events, Business Development Operations, mentions how Team Hoynck has helped push creative limits. ‘’A few years ago, we aimed for big LED screens atop the pavilion to unify all exhibitors. That was a huge undertaking and difficult to achieve, but Team Hoynck accepted the challenge and managed. This year, we decided to use a big eye-catcher instead. Once again, Team Hoynck provided conceptual ideas and visions’’.
Björgvin Þór Björgvinsson, Head of Fisheries and Food, adds how the design was based on the colors of the Icelandic flag. ‘’To unify all companies as one national pavilion, finding something everyone is satisfied with can be tricky. Everyone has different wishes and needs. The main goal of the design was to make the individual exhibitors stand out. Team Hoynck provided support, options, and flexibility’’. As the team received positive feedback after the event, the phrase ‘’less is more’’ is a true case for this year’s creative yet simple design. ‘’After all, the fact that the individual companies are happy with the results means we are satisfied too’’, says María.
Driven by sustainability principles
With sustainability being one of the most prominent topics spoken about at the three-day event, it is also at the core of Business Iceland’s mission. However, the challenge is, says María, to ‘’actually show the results. We aim to be sustainable and do so in ways that we can’’. While acknowledging the difficulty in achieving this at any trade show due to the nature of events like these, the team does whatever is possible to contribute. By consciously opting for modular and reusable systems, rented furniture, and the use of natural materials, sustainability is considered from the start when creating the stand design.
Furthermore, María and Björgvin discuss great changes in the logistical part over the last few years. ‘’10 to 15 years back we were transporting at least 3 containers from Iceland full of food and machines. Now we only have half a container’’, says Björgvin. He refers to the sea tech companies that opt for digital tools to show their technologies instead of actual machines. ‘’Cargo transport is still one of our challenges. Besides looking ahead, we are also trying to figure out how to be more sustainable with the goods we have to transport to exhibitions these days’’, states María. By collaborating with a Dutch company that is conveniently located in Europe, the team manages to reduce part of their carbon footprint from transportation.
Establishing a trustworthy relationship
In the past, María and Björgvin collaborated with various stand builders before. Thanks to word-of-mouth, they came into contact with Team Hoynck a couple of years ago. Since joining forces, both teams worked diligently and grew closer after each collaboration. For large-scale events, such as SEG 2024, María and Björgvin agree that keeping an overview of every detail is challenging – especially when managing multiple stakeholders. ‘’The Icelandic pavilion represents many companies, and everyone has different needs and wishes. Team Hoynck manages the entire project management process, coordination, and logistics with the exhibitors. They are the ‘middleman’ and are experienced in handling multiple parties’’, says María.
Björgvin adds that ‘’Team Hoynck contacts the companies a generous amount of time in advance. They set up meetings, follow timelines, and tend to all individual questions and needs. This helps us to focus on contact with the exhibitors and build a better relationship with them. It also helps to take away our worries’’. As both teams grew closer and more comfortable over the years, María mentioned how this helped her feel more at ease before the event began. ‘’I often feel nervous before seeing the final results and the stand in real life. I did not experience this at all with Team Hoynck when the handover at the stand took place. Our contact person was on top of things. When issues arose, Team Hoynck was already thinking of solutions on-site’’, recalls María. ‘’Team Hoynck is very resourceful. They are friendly, and even with last-minute requests, you never see a grim face’’.