The Birth of the Interactive Display

It was 1992 and we were at the Miami ABA (American Booksellers Assn.) Trade Fair. We went to see if we could pick up any new lines to add to our small but successful range of music and Self Help audio cassettes.

We were in for a surprise for after just a short while browsing the main hall we came across a long queue to one of the stands (or “booths” as Americans prefer). Having never seen a queue at a gift trade show before we had to see what this was all about. When we got to the end of the line there was an Interactive Merchandiser with some very busy people taking orders.

We introduced ourselves and cutting a long story short negotiated an exclusive partnership with the company, NorthWord Press. The Sales Director Jim Olsen told us the story of how he and his old friend electronic engineer Bill Reese came up with the concept over a beer.