Distributors representing a principal brand at an exhibition

Distributors bring a brand to a local market, and at an exhibition they stand for it. The booth carries the principal's logo, the products belong to the principal, and the local team is the face that customers meet. The photographs of that stand serve both parties, which is where the planning needs care.

This page belongs to our guide to exhibitor and brand-activation photography.

Whose pictures are these?

That depends on agreements we do not see. In general, the distributor commissions the photographs, the principal's branding appears in them, and both have views on how they are used. Decide who owns what, who may use what and who approves before you brief us.

Our guide to copyright ownership and permission to use event photographs lists the questions to ask. We record the use you tell us in the quotation, and we do not decide it for you.

What does the principal usually care about?

Common concerns include logo placement and colour, the way products are displayed, the appearance of staff and whether competing products are visible. The principal may also have rules about posting images online and about showing executives.

Ask for the written guidelines. If there are none, ask a person at the principal who can answer in writing. Do not rely on memory of a past show.

What does the local team care about?

Relationships. The conversation between a sales manager and a long-standing customer, a visiting buyer examining a product, the team gathered at the stand. These are often the pictures that mean the most locally, and they may not need the principal's approval if they are for internal use.

Separate the two sets in your plan. One is for local relationships and internal sharing; the other is for public or principal-facing use, with the principal's rules applied.

A hypothetical example

For example, a distributor of laboratory equipment exhibits at a regional science fair, with a stand designed by its principal in Europe. The principal's guidelines require approval for images posted online and ban visible competitor products. The local team wants conversations with its customers and a team picture.

The photographer records the stand and products according to the guidelines and sends those to the principal for approval. The team images are kept for internal reports and customer follow-up and are not posted publicly until the distributor checks with the principal.

Where do legal questions come in?

If a distribution agreement or brand licence covers the use of images, its terms matter. Interpreting them is a matter for the person who manages the agreement or a qualified adviser. Keep contract terms, venue rules and optional business policy apart, as the guide to personal, internal, press and advertising uses of photographs explains.

We follow the instruction you give us after you have taken the advice you need. If the instruction changes, tell us.

What about approvals across teams?

Marketing, sales, legal and the principal may each have a say. Image approval across marketing, agencies and leadership describes a workable sequence. A shared image-use and approval register shows at a glance what has been cleared.

Strict brand displays

Some principals have strict requirements for how a stand looks. Exhibitor images with strict brand-display requirements covers that more closely, and exhibition images needed by an overseas brand team looks at delivery to a principal abroad.

Confirming the plan

We confirm date, venue, crew, deliverables and quotation in writing, and we write the approval route into the brief. If the principal changes its requirements before the show, tell us as early as you can.

Questions to settle

Who at the principal approves, and how quickly can they reply? Which pictures may be shared with customers? What should be left out because of competing products or confidential items? Who keeps the records of what was approved?

Answers to these questions turn a stand shared between two interests into a clear brief, and they spare both sides an unpleasant surprise after the show.