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Standing Out at a Trade Show
To attract an audience for Napster among the tech companies exhibiting their latest products at the Digital Life Expo, Grand Central Marketing opted to stray from the high-gloss booth deign typical at trade shows. Instead, the firm designed the Napster Garage, adorned with music posters, guitars, amps, and even a ping-pong table, to create an authentic, garage-band feel that related to the online music brand. "Our solution was based largely on time and money constraints," said Matthew Glass, president of Grand Central Marketing, who worked with Dana Harris from Napster. "We used the problem to our advantage and said we can't do a typical trade show booth, but Napster is not a typical brand." Apart from the laptops provided for consumers to surf Napster's music library, the garage did little to flaunt Napster's technology, and instead provided guests with a place to kick back and take a break from the bustle of the trade show floor. The Napster Garage also took home the award for Best Booth at the show." Christine Maddalena