Eco-booth wins kudos for Keen

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A trade show exhibit by Hillsboro-based Greenspace won accolades for Keen Inc. at the recent Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2010 show in Salt Lake City.

The booth, which was designed and built by Greenspace, made use of reclaimed and recycled materials including walls built out of used pallets and a stage made from used stadium bleachers.

"The Keen factor, which embodies our brand and values, is stamped on every inch of the booth," said Dave Munk, sponsorships and tradeshows manager for Portland-based Keen, in a press release.

The 5,400-square-foot exhibit recieved the "best of booth" award from industry publication, SNEWS.

The Keen contract proved valuable to Greenspace which also does exhibit work for snowboard companies Burton and Bonfire Snowboarding and technology companies including Tektronix and Sharp.

"I recieved several new clients because of (the Keen booth)," said Rob Roth, president of Greenspace.

Roth, a veteran of the trade show industry, founded Greenspace in July 2008. He's grown to 25 employees and expects to do about $3 million in sales this year, double last year's results.

"I had two kids who are environmental sutdies majors," Roth said. "They said, if you get back into the event industry, you'd better do it in a different way."

Trade show marketing is a notoriously wasteful industry because of the short-term nature of trade show exhibits.

Roth said focusing on sustainability has opened a lot of doors.

Keen used the Outdoor Retailer show and its Greenspace-designed booth to launch its new Santiago line of shoes.

christinawilliams@bizjournals.com | 503.219.3438