Sarge Custom Rods

The Challenge:

Sarge Custom Rods, located in Nederland TX, is a family-owned manufacturer of custom fishing rods with dealers throughout Texas and Louisiana.  Each rod is built one at a time to exact specifications:  See www.sargecustoms.com.

The founder and owner of Sarge Customs worked a booth for another company at the Annual Houston Fishing Show for many years and had seen Lenny Maartens of Exhibit Network at the show each year. As an exhibitor for the first few times, Sarge rented carpet from Exhibit Network and placed their product on stands hoping people would stop by.

For the 45th Annual Houston Fishing Show in March 2020, Sarge realized they needed to make a bigger impact and relied on Exhibit Network for help.  Sarge had a 20 x 30 peninsula booth and wanted to maximize their branding; they needed something that would make them stand out in the crowd.  Sarge provided a few photographs taken with a cell phone to use if needed to help with the branding. Sarge also needed to optimize traffic flow; a defined area to show their product, answer buyers’ questions, sell their merchandise; and an easy exit.  Sarge already owned rod holders and all the fixtures to display their reels and merchandise.

The Solution:

Lenny provided his expertise in laying out the booth.  He started with two counters facing the front entry of the exhibit hall and placed the rod holders and merchandise fixtures in appropriate spots inside the booth.  Once visitors were in the booth, they could see and touch the product, ask questions, and after making their selection, walk a few steps to the cashier stand in the back of the booth, exiting on either side when done.

To produce a big impact, Exhibit Network designed a graphic with a prominent brand presentation, incorporating Sarge’s cell phone photos and merchandise logos. The two 228” long x 96” high well-lit signs spanned the two front counters with notable visibility from the front entry as well as the back entry of the show. (The front graphic is slightly different than the back graphic.)

The results?  Sarge had an overwhelming number of visitors to their booth, compared to prior years and visitors asked if they were the show sponsor because their presence was so large.  Photos of their booth were posted on social media by several fishing guides, congratulating Sarge on their success.  The entire Sarge team was ecstatic with the results.

You will see this booth at the Houston Boat Show and Houston Fishing Show in 2021. The only detail that may change is the addition of a back wall to separate this peninsula booth from the exhibitors behind it.