Jamie Sampson Founded Distinctive Displays in 1969

Jamie Sampson founded Distinctive Displays in 1969 in Portland, Oregon.

Sampson was at the end of his ice hockey career and the thought of working for someone else did not appeal to him. Previously he had worked part time as an industrial designer, he had enjoyed that field of work, so in turn he had created Distinctive Displays.

Distinctive Displays specialized in custom-made exhibits for national trade shows. The majority of the company's clients were firms that needed exhibits for trade shows sponsored by various associations. They provided exhibit designs, fabrications, graphics, set ups and dismounting of displays, and storage for these shows as well as offices, meeting rooms and in store displays.

Clients who attended the shows were purchasing products for their inventory for the following year or were looking for various advertising and marketing support for their companies. Distinctive Displays made exhibits appealing for those attending the shows so clients would be drawn to and remember their exhibits.

Distinctive Displays was an action-oriented company whose motivation was to achieve results. It prided itself on analyzing needs, solving problems, and selecting forms and materials expressive of the dynamics of visual and structural communication. (Page

4 of Case Study) The firm had developed impressive resources in order to have powerful selling tools for their clients as well and staying within a budget and being on time with project completion. These resources included 1.specialized skill and equipment and people 2.an attitude of meeting challenges 3. creative talent. The company's objective was to sell its products and services with creativity and imagination.

The potential clients primary contact with Distinctive Displays was with the account executives. To ensure quality service, the account executive would meet with the potential client to determine the size of the exhibits, products they would like to promote, marketing objectives and which trade shows the client would like to attend.

Once these needs were addresses, the account executive would pas the information to the designer, who would create a model for the clients' approval. It was important to the company to ensure absolute satisfaction of the client so the client would in turn be a continuing client. Once the client would approve the model, the model would then go to the production department. From there, the professional builders would construct the exhibit in three-dimensional format.

In comparison to the company's competition, Distinctive Displays fared very well. They had the highest sales per employee, the second highest sales per square foot space, highest net worth, highest current ratio, and the highest credit rating. Their accounts ranged in size from $10,000 to $200,000 annually and once a clients needs were met the client would stay with Distinctive Displays for approximately two years, from first contact to final disposal of the exhibit. (Page 4 of Case Study).

However, in the 1990s the firms situation had changed due to the market becoming more competitive and the company failed to perform financially as well as they had done previously. In 1992 Sampson believed if something didn't change, Distinctive

Displays would no longer be able to continue. The numbers had fallen to low, example in 1992 return on sales declined from 8.6% to 4.4% and the national average was 8.8%. Sampson had been putting in extra hours, working around the clock and was getting nothing in return. Sampson started considering new options.

Sampson was considering three options. One, which would be the easiest, was to sell Distinctive Displays to one of his larger competitors, Giltspur, the offer was intriguing, it included becoming the president of the company within three to five years.

However, Sampson again did not like the idea of working for someone else. The second option was to open satellite offices in other cities, the market appeared to be good in growth. However, opening new offices appeared to be inefficient, Distinctive Displays

had been underutilizing both human resources and facilities (Page 4 of Case Study). His final option was to acquire one of the competitors companies and move up in a higher level of sales. Sampson like this option because Portland was building a new convention center which could possibly open a new market for Distinctive Displays; companies outside the Portland region would hold trade shows at the new convention center.