CUSTOMER STORIES
February 5, 2024
x min read
Anyone who has ever walked into a trade show knows the unmistakable adrenaline rush of being at the epicenter where opportunities meet needs. That’s why companies ranging from billion-dollar multinational corporations to the latest emerging tech startups jockey for position to put their brand and products at the forefront to entice a motivated audience of knowledge seekers and dedicated buyers.
BlueHive Exhibits, a pioneer in designing and building award-winning exhibits, understands this. Its team of “Hivers” constantly challenges conventional thinking and empowers the creation of memorable touchpoints and experiences that command attention amid a sea of exhibitors. “We Create Buzz” is more than a slogan; it’s their way of life.
BlueHive brings together trade show design and build, event and experiential marketing, and architectural millwork under one roof for the sole purpose of helping each client’s brand grow. That approach in and of itself is a definite competitive advantage, but now BlueHive offers clients something that can’t be found anywhere else in the industry: real-time visibility into their trade show shipments, thanks to a partnership with Tive.
BlueHive executes its services for more than 1,000 shows annually. It’s a well-orchestrated effort that provides comprehensive strategic planning, expert custom design and craftsmanship, consistency, and fluid communication at every point in the process, including loading each piece into a fabricated crate and onto a truck for transportation to the event venue. Paul Cugini, BlueHive’s Director of Project Management, said this is when a lack of real-time shipment visibility becomes problematic for the following reasons:
The ongoing trucker shortage, exacerbated by aging drivers opting for retirement, often leaves trade show shipments in the hands of novice drivers. Their inexperience—coupled with a lack of technology that would alert them to adverse road conditions, inclement weather, and traffic congestion—makes it difficult to adjust routes to ensure on-time deliveries.
Carriers would say they were 10 minutes away from the event venue, but they were actually 4 hours away, leaving labor crews on the clock and getting paid while waiting for shipments to arrive.
Customers understandably grow increasingly anxious as trade shows draw near and their freight is nowhere in sight. Not finding out that delivery will be late until after the ETA passes because the driver never checked in creates a customer service nightmare.
In early 2022, as the live trade show activities began to increase again after two years of primarily virtual events due to the pandemic, BlueHive set out to solve its shipment visibility challenges to give its clients peace of mind with hyper-accurate location tracking. BlueHive chose Tive, a world-class leader in trackers and real-time visibility solutions.
BlueHive uses the Tive Solo 5G tracker and cloud-based application to track their clients’ trade show shipments, monitoring the progression toward each ETA. Anytime a truck stops or nears its destination, the Solo 5G sensors trigger the Tive platform to send a real-time alert via text and email that gives the approximate time a shipment will arrive.
“It’s a super-easy platform to set up our shipments and invite our customers to track them as well. We turn on the tracker and have a 15-mile radius to know where freight is in real-time,” Cugini said.
“We tell clients we are using a real-time
visibility solution, which puts their minds at
ease, knowing that we can be proactive instead
of reactive when it comes to their shipments.”
Paul Cugini
BlueHive’s Director of Project Management
In addition to providing insight into carrier performance and hyper-accurate shipment location, real-time visibility provides BlueHive and its customers with another significant benefit: the ability to optimize labor costs. Cugini checks on each shipment the night before it’s due to arrive at the venue to ensure everything is on track.
“With Tive, we can see where the carriers are
and more effectively plan labor. Knowing the
install team (hired labor) and sales team know
everything will arrive on time puts everyone’s
mind at ease.”
Paul Cugini
Cugini said he can easily adjust schedules if things are running behind schedule to avoid paying additional labor costs when the freight does not arrive on time.
That approach to customer service is a huge reason why BlueHive continues to solidify its position as an industry leader—and why this partnership with Tive is a perfect fit. “Tive’s customer service has been tremendous; they are very, very responsive,” Cugini said.
