Hang them high and wave them proudly — custom-designed flags and banners instantly elevate the look and feel of your company’s trade show booth, making your presence known to all in attendance.
SpeedPro produces a catalog of outdoor trade show banners and flags. From assisting in the initial design and material selection to printing and laminating your graphics for ultimate outdoor weatherability, we’re your one-stop partner for all trade show printing needs.
See for yourself how SpeedPro’s commercial flags and custom banners are the best choice for your next industry event.
What Are Trade Show Banners and Flags?
Trade show banners and flags are a type of branding mechanism typically made from vinyl. This synthetic material provides the base substrate for printed flag and banner designs, being both versatile enough to take on custom graphics yet durable enough to stand up to outdoor elements.
SpeedPro studios can fashion outdoor banners and flags from three types of vinyl:
- Calendared vinyl: Calendared vinyl is made from a fabric material blend similar to canvas. Calendered vinyl sheets are fed through a large-format graphics printer in rolls, then dried before shipment. This substrate type tends to be thicker — between 3 and 6 millimeters thick — and less pliable than other vinyl, making it ideal for long-term outdoor deployments or hung in areas that don’t require bending or stretching the sheet.
- Cast vinyl: Another popular base material for outdoor banners and flags, cast vinyl begins as a liquid and is gradually heated up in shaped molds until solidified. Once dry, you have a thin, fabric-like substrate that’s highly durable and weather resistant.
- Vinyl mesh: Vinyl mesh is made from a specialty perforated film base. This creates semi-translucent flags and banners that work particularly well for double-sided or two-way visibility, indoors and outdoors.
How to Use Banners and Flags at Industry Trade Shows
Custom outdoor banners and flags are versatile pieces of branded collateral that can be set up for many purposes:
- Welcome guests. Wave guests over to your booth — literally and figuratively — with tall, fluttering banners or pole-mounted flags. Amidst the sea of competitor counters and tables at most trade shows, flags and banners draw the eyes of attendees and pull them toward your display.
- Designate booth areas. Have a station for product demos within your outdoor booth? Hands-on activities or tutorials? Maybe even a free phone charging station for event attendees? Label these areas with creative flags or banners, hung overhead or at station entryways. These banners and flags can also double as wayfinding or even directional traffic controls, ensuring trade show participants know where they are and where they’re going.
- Relay company information. Flags and banners present key company information in an eye-catching, creative way. Rather than printing your name and logo on traditional signs, you can install soaring, colorful flags and hang creative banners highlighting your graphics, messages and merchandise. Plus, flags and banners are lightweight, making them far more portable than bulky, rigid signs.
- Showcase new products and services. Many organizations dedicate banners and flags to showcasing their latest products. Brands that do so play show-and-tell at industry conferences and trade shows, discussing new or updated goods as well as representing them visually.
- Display catchy slogans. Flags and banners can offer a creative medium for your verbal messaging tactics. Print company slogans in arresting yet readable fonts, ask questions that make passersby pause or create small calls to action on each standing flag or hung banner. The pithier your text, the better.
- Tell a story. Imagine a series of flags stationed side by side leading up to a booth. Savvy marketers can use each subsequent flag to tell a brand or product origin story, relay interesting company facts or showcase captivating industry statistics. When done well, storyboarded banners and flags help reel in more organic visitors to your trade show booth. Your personnel can then establish connections and nurture relevant business leads.
- Show a little personality. Have fun with your banners and signs. Use them as canvases conveying your company’s culture and personality. Maybe even tell jokes those in the industry would understand. Efforts like these make your trade show exhibit more memorable to all who pass by.
Why Use Custom Outdoor Flags at Industry Events?
When you participate in your field’s trade show circuit, you don’t want to settle for being another featureless table in a nameless row of booths. You want to stand out, stir interest and connect with industry movers and shakers, maximizing every moment of your attendance.
Custom outdoor flags and banners let you do so — plus a whole lot more.
1. Capture Immediate Attention
Fluttering flags and big, overhead banners are primed to capture attention. Humans are naturally wired to react to moving stimuli, such as a flag’s movement in the wind. Combined with bright color schemes, high-quality printed pictures and custom graphics, and you’ve created a trade show display psychologically primed to capture and hold attention — all because you’ve hung up a few pieces of branded or framed canvas.
2. Enhance Brand Messages
Flags and banners are the perfect templates to display concise, impactful messaging. Research indicates an advertisement or branded message needs to be available for a minimum of 14 seconds before the average person will give it even 1 second of attention.
That’s a tiny window of opportunity for your outdoor trade show booth to articulate strategic messages. Trade show flags and banners customized for the outdoor environment boost your booth’s ability to catch and hold attention, and therefore convey key information and messages.
3. Create a Festive Environment
Flags and banners are a simple, cost-effective way to enhance what space you already have. No need to pay for a bigger, upgraded table, flashier exhibition or any other booth staging tricks that glitter but may not be gold. The colors and movement of flags and banners will bring excitement to your booth.
4. Impress Visitors
Passive and active trade show attendees alike will be more captivated by your trade show table. That’s because custom flags and banners provide visitors with visual stimuli as well as elicit more positive impressions. Cohesive, high-quality and strategically positioned banners and flags make your trade show booth appear more professional and more aesthetic. You possess an outdoor exhibit where displays are simultaneously eye-catching and emotionally appealing, forging the right first impression at exactly the right time.
5. Use and Reuse
SpeedPro’s outdoor flags and banners are durable and versatile across commercial settings.
We employ UV and water resistant treatments to all vinyl substrates, ensuring materials withstand exposure to a variety of inevitable climates and temperatures. While the precise lifespan of a commercial flag or banner will vary based on its substrate type, care, handling and your region’s typical weather conditions, flags and banners should be durable enough for multiple applications across several years of use.
For more on proper outdoor flag and banner maintenance for trade shows, contact your local SpeedPro studio.
How to Pick the Right Banners and Flags
Consider the following to create your most on-brand, eye-catching and lead-nurturing trade show marketing materials to date.
1. Know Your Booth Location
Knowing your booth’s location is essential to position your sign for maximum visibility. Based on your assignment, you can determine:
- Appropriate flag sizes
- Appropriate banner heights
- General foot traffic patterns and movements
- Angles or spots where signs are most likely to be easily seen or ignored
- Additional places to display your trade show materials where they’ll receive further notice
While outdoor trade shows have a few unique visibility concerns to bear in mind, the vast majority of layouts are coordinated by linear rows. Attendees move between rows, entering and exiting trade showrooms in set areas
2. Consider Single or Double Sided
SpeedPro can create single and double-sided flags and banners for your trade show material’s best possible vantage.
Many outdoor applications benefit from a double-sided design. Wind will create constant streams of movements for your banners and flags, altering their visuals and affecting what can be seen at any moment. Plus, most outdoor trade show booths do not have the convenience of a traditional wall to hang banners and flags from, furthering the need to account for 360-degree visibility.
3. Prepare for the Weather
Outdoor exhibits must be prepared for whatever weather conditions strike. Rain or shine, wind or humidity, flag and banner materials must be strong enough to withstand inclement conditions without tearing, fading or discoloring.
SpeedPro uses UV-resistant inks on all client print orders, indoor and outdoor, as well as water treatments protecting cast, calendar and mesh vinyl from water damage. We also provide a range of laminates and finishes which further maintain the original quality and integrity of your designs.
4. Match the Medium and the Message
Determine what you intend to print on your flag or banner. Popular uses for banners and flags during outdoor trade shows include:
- Displaying high-impact graphics
- Relaying a company’s mission statement
- Stating an organization’s values
- Highlighting customer testimonials, product or service ratings
- Revealing company announcements
- Directing traffic or designating exhibit functions
The more text or graphics you want displayed, the larger your banner or flag will need to be to maintain legibility. Finalize exact order graphics as early as possible to ensure your banner or flag can accurately display the message type you need.
5. Opt for Continuous Use
From the beginning, design your flags and banners for continual use rather than a one-and-done setting. This means frequent deployment across industry trade shows, conferences, expos or similar community B2B or B2C events, capturing attention and conveying a meaningful business snapshot.
Reusing your outdoor banners and flags increases their ROI plus keeps your brand presentation consistent. Just avoiding getting too complacent — as your company develops, so too will its branded collateral. Flags and banners that are a few years old will very likely be in great condition, but their graphics, color schemes and messages could need some revamping to match current brand aesthetics and marketing efforts.
Customize Your Outdoor Banners and Flags
SpeedPro studios are proud to offer a diverse range of flag and banner customizations to maximize your vision for these trade show materials.
1. Type
SpeedPro makes and manufactures over a dozen types of banners. Our most popular outdoor banners include:
- Hemmed hanging banners (canvas only)
- Grommet hanging banners
- Pole-pocketed banners
- Standalone banners
SpeedPro studios create three main categories of outdoor event flags:
- Standalone, or base-mounted, flags
- Pole pocket flags
- Parkway/boulevard flags
2. Base/Mount
Bases are made to fit your trade show flags and banners, providing structure and stabilization even amidst inclement weather. Plus, they’re ergonomically designed for maximum assembly and take down speeds — in some cases, even rolling into place.
SpeedPro studios provide any of the following base types for custom outdoor flags:
- Ground stake
- Cross base
- Steel square base
- Stackable base
- Drive-over base
- Auger stake
- Fillable base
- Water ring fillable base
For banners’ bases and mounts, SpeedPro offers:
- Pole pocket hanging
- Grommet hanging
- Retractable
- Telescopic
- Spring back
- Fabric frame
- Illuminated frame
3. Shape
SpeedPro studios offer four main categories of flag shapes, each molded, printed and cut by our in-house experts:
- Straight: Traditional, rectangle flag available in standalone, pole pocket or boulevard styles.
- Teardrop: Standalone or pole pocket flags shaped similar to an upside-down teardrop, with straightened sides leading to a curved flag peak.
- Edge: Standalone or pole pocket flag containing one curved and one flat side meeting at the flag’s rounded peak.
- Feather: Standalone or pole-pocket flag delicately curved on all sides to create a distinct, lean flag with curved sides, bottom and peak.
Outdoor banners traditionally come in rectangular dimensions. Reach out to your local SpeedPro studio with questions on custom shapes for your hanging or standalone banners.
4. Hanging Height Range
Height range will be a leading factor in the final dimensions of your flag or banner. The higher your hanging material, the larger we recommend its dimensions.
Generally, SpeedPro begins formulating flags and banners according to the following height ranges:
- 7 to 11 feet: Our most economically sized flag and banner line, featuring full fiber poles and rotating hinge capabilities for flags to stay upright during gusts of wind.
- 11 to 15 feet: Considered our “medium” and “wind dancer LT” lines, these also contain a full fiber pole plus a reinforced rotating flag or banner hinge system to remain balanced during wind.
- 15 feet or higher: Sized according to “large,” “extra large” or our “wind dancer” line specs, with durable, extension fiber poles and wind-resistant features.
5. One or Two-Sided
Select from one or two-sided graphics on your outdoor advertising banners. Pop-up banners and flags in either variety enhance your trade show booth, drawing visitors while relaying strategic messages and graphics.
- Benefits of one-sided outdoor flags and banners: One cohesive, high-impact message relayed to booth visitors and passersby. Full graphics come printed on one side but contain a reverse image on the other. Text and logo are still visible on that mirror side.
- Benefits of two-sided outdoor flags and banners: 360-degree message visibility. More room for additional text and graphics, plus assurance that regardless of wind or weather, your flags remain functional.
6. Graphics
SpeedPro is one of the nation’s only G7 Master Qualified large-format printing studios. This exclusive qualification tests color and print clarity, accuracy and quality control, assuring clients receive only the highest quality prints identical to proofs.
We produce and reproduce graphics within 95% of the industry’s CMYK Pantone color standards, with printer capabilities between 720×720 dpi to 1440×1440 dpi, depending on client needs. We use only UV and water-resistant inks on all outdoor trade show materials,
Explore Outdoor Trade Show Flags and Banners at a SpeedPro Location Near You
SpeedPro’s nationwide network of large-format printing studios is ready to bring your custom advertising banners and flags to life.
Our range of banner and flag products is matched by our commitment to premium quality and a full-service, one-stop printing partnership. Find your local SpeedPro Studio for a flag or banner quote today. We can’t wait to get started.