Healthcare congress booth design

Across those events, the stand design has consistently needed to accommodate both Medical Affairs and Commercial activity, with different regulations governing promotional and non-promotional healthcare communications.

Helsinki introduced an important new dimension: although Sephience™ had been promoted at other congresses, this was the first time we had worked with the brand on one of our SSIEM stands. For the Commercial side, we translated PTC’s patient-focused campaign into an immersive experience, placing delegates inside the story and helping communicate the everyday benefits of treatment in a compelling, emotive way.

For Helsinki, PTC had its largest congress plot in the series so far, giving us more scope to develop both areas and introduce additional meeting space, content and visibility. With the exhibition supporting a busy symposium, we designed around how delegates would move through the hall.

Positioned close to the entrance, catering and a main route towards the symposium halls, we oriented the Commercial area towards the strongest passing traffic. For the first time, we also introduced an illuminated rigged banner to make full use of the maximum permitted height.

The distinction between Medical Affairs and Commercial activity shaped the layout of the Helsinki stand.

We allocated approximately two thirds of the stand to Commercial and one third to Medical Affairs, creating the required physical separation between them. Delegates step off one area before entering the other, while a shared storage space is accessible to the team from both sides.

The larger plot also allowed us to expand the Medical Affairs area. Alongside the familiar lounge setting for conversations with healthcare professionals, we added a second meeting space with a table and stools.

Natural timber panelling sits alongside rich purple and graduated orange from PTC’s updated brand, while illuminated up-and-over structures build on elements developed for the Kyoto stand. Spanning both sides of the booth, these structures also help visually connect the different brand environments and reinforce PTC Therapeutics as the overarching brand.

Two bright cellular lightboxes add depth and colour, supported by a screen showing rolling scientific data, a Surface Pro with bespoke content, printed literature and a QR code for digital material.

The main stand structure rises to around 3.5 metres, with the illuminated hanging banner taking the branding to the the maximum height permitted by the venue. Lighting attached to the banner rig also provided ambient illumination across the entire booth. Visible from across the hall, it gave both PTC Therapeutics and Sephience™ a much stronger presence above surrounding stands.

Integrated LED lighting within the structural frames created another distinctive visual detail, helping the booth stand out and remain visible from across the exhibition hall.

On the Commercial side, we transformed PTC’s Sephience™ campaign into an immersive space that made the isolation experienced by people with PKU feel immediate and real.

The campaign focuses on how the dietary restrictions associated with PKU can separate patients from everyday moments their friends and family take for granted. That sense of separation drives the visual language: deep purple surrounds the scene, while the patient is picked out in yellow, visually apart from the group and the shared experience taking place around them.

We recreated that world as a full-scale room set, using colour-matched furniture, dimensional graphics, mouldings and props, alongside life-size Foamex figures layered in relief to give the scene depth. At its centre, a bespoke motorised table extended and retracted to physically change the composition of the scene. As it moved, the yellow chair was drawn away from the rest of the table, turning the campaign’s message of separation into something delegates could actually watch happen.

The result gave the creative an emotional immediacy that a static graphic alone could not achieve, while creating curiosity, drawing people into the space and encouraging a deeper connection with the patient story.

Creating the room-set effect depended on achieving precise colour consistency across very different materials.

We established the floor colour first, then carried the campaign palette through the walls, door and architrave, furniture and structural elements, with the furniture spray-finished to achieve an exact match. That consistency helped the space feel like a complete room rather than an exhibition set.

Dimensional Sephience™ logos, life-size figures, table settings, food props and details such as the wall clock completed the scene, helping communicate the benefits of Sephience™ while reinforcing PTC Therapeutics’ focus on improving everyday life for people with PKU.

A flush-mounted landscape screen was integrated into the purple wall, with a second portrait screen set within the contrasting yellow area.

The returning barista service added another layer of interaction to the stand, with delegates stopping to chat while their coffee was prepared and often recognising the same barista from previous events. That familiarity helped create a more relaxed, personal atmosphere and gave the PTC team another natural opportunity to connect with returning delegates.

That same attention to the visitor experience extended to access around the stand. Built on a 40mm raised platform, it featured a ramped edge around the entire perimeter, ensuring the booth was accessible from all directions.

Our role in Helsinki expanded beyond the healthcare congress booth design
project.

When PTC asked us to support with filming of the live Zoom stream of their accompanying symposium, rather than them having to fly their in-house production team over from the US, we brought in our own camera crew and kit. Making full use of their time onsite, we were also able to support PTC further with the filming of KOL interviews.