One of the great things about working at Zooka is the variety of projects we get to work on. For better or for worse, we’ve developed a bit of a reputation for being able to solve just about any problem.  I’m not talking about the “will a gate fold or accordion fold work best for this brochure” type of problem. I mean the “They said they want what? No seriously. Really? Wow! So who’s going to tackle that one? Me? Oh crap” type of problem.

For example, a few weeks back a company approached us with an interesting challenge of how to display and demonstrate their product for potential customers at a marketing event.  Sounds like a fairly normal project right?  Keep reading…

The challenge was that their product mounts to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and is powered by the car’s electrical system.

They were not interested in a video, animation, simulation, or another creation our web and video team proposed. They wanted a life size working unit.

Zooka’s team of industrial designers and POP display fabricators explored several different options.  After exploring several different options, we determined the best approach was to purchase a salvaged pick-up truck bed and chop it up!  This would produce a near life-like experience at a fraction of the cost required to design and build a custom display.

Jeff Mansur, lead industrial designer for the project,  removed the rear section of the truck bed including the tail gate, bumper and trailer hitch and attached them to a custom welded a custom steel frame.  He then wired the tail-lights and trailer hitch outlet into a series of power converters that would enable our client’s sales team to plug their device into the back of the truck, and control the power with the flip of a switch!

Our first “truck display” will ship out later this month.   Go Jeff!

UPDATE! 1/11/11 – Check out our the sample display!