What is the point of beautiful design? Or the best performance?
…if it never makes it to market.
…if it doesn’t actually work.
…if nobody knows your product.
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The most crucial findings from our Design & Innovation Award exhibit at the CMT
Everyone has heard of overengineering. The Design & Innovation Award is not an award based on theories and marketing descriptions, focusing only on design, colour or pseudo-innovation – what matters is tangible added value for the consumer. Therefore, it is important for the awards team to not only test and analyze the products extensively, but also to get feedback from the end user. With the very first Design & Innovation Award exhibit at the world’s largest tourism fair, the CMT 2019 in Stuttgart, we had the opportunity to do just that.
Our booth did not only receive great interest from German television and press representatives, but also from regular trade fair visitors who had many critical and interesting questions for the awards team. The CMT attracts a very different audience compared to classic bike expos that focus solely on the bike scene.
The technical director of the Design & Innovation Award and the founders of the award were in attendance to collect feedback: what are the customers’ actual needs? What matters most to the general public with an interest in bicycles and ebikes? The numerous discussions that were had at our ever-busy exhibition booth will help in further improving the Design & Innovation Award.
A lot of the visitors to the stand wanted to buy the exhibited products on the spot, which goes to show the purchasing power of the trade fair audience. Sales is not part of our task as an independent award, but that did not stop other exhibitors bringing their potential customers to our booth to discuss the award-winning products. Our team was always on-site for independent consultation and information on the awarded products and the newest tech, as well as general trends in the industry. And most importantly, the team was happy to share the stoke about bikes!
Seeing as quite a few of the visitors to our booth had never heard of some the brands that had won an award, we enjoyed broadening their horizon. However, it was talking to passionate outdoor enthusiasts about our shared obsession with cycling that was the most fun! Naturally, we were also chuffed that the Design & Innovation Award booth received the unofficial award for the most beautiful CMT exhibit. All in all, our debut at the CMT was a resounding success! CMT 2020 – we will be back!
If you didn’t go to the CMT but still want to give us feedback about the award, feel free to send us an email: feedback@design-innovation-award.com