Cintas: nearly 200 trade shows annually

Cintas Corporation is one of North America’s largest providers of business services, supplying uniforms, safety products, fire protection, and facility essentials to hundreds of thousands of businesses across the U.S. and Canada. With field offices operating across the country and a product portfolio spanning dozens of categories, Cintas needed a trade show program that could scale to match — one that their corporate marketing team could control without managing day-to-day logistics themselves.

Downing Displays manages nearly 200 events a year for Cintas, ranging from custom island exhibits at major industry shows to portable displays for regional and local events. To make that volume manageable, Downing Displays built a dedicated online ordering system that allows Cintas field offices to view available displays, check real-time inventory levels, and reserve what they need for upcoming shows. Corporate marketing approved the display types and branding upfront. After that, the field runs itself.

When an order is placed, Downing Displays pulls the requested display from inventory, schedules shipment to the event, and includes return labels and a bill of lading. When the exhibit comes back, every piece is inspected for damage, refurbished as needed, and returned to inventory so it is available for the next user. The result is consistent execution across nearly 200 events a year with minimal involvement from the client’s marketing team, freeing Cintas to focus on its business rather than running an internal exhibit program.