Props and where to find them

Look around you. All it takes is imagination, a sense of humour and the effort to find the ‘source’ and the ‘stuff’ for an attention-catching prop or decorative element to tell your product’s story and bring shoppers into your store, says Martin M Pegler, who has worked as an expert juror for the gia (IHA Global Innovation Award) programme from its beginning in 2000.

The purpose of a window display or one featured in a focal spot on the interior is to bring attention to a particular product or group of products. Sometimes the product is just not big enough or colourful or attractive enough to catch or get and keep the viewer’s eye.

It needs help to tell its story. It needs the use of an attention-getting prop or decorative element that serves as the red cape to dazzle and snare the shopper’s eye and bring the desired attention to the featured product. Also, the prop can help greatly in telling the product’s story in an interesting and, maybe, intriguing manner.