CASE STUDY
Every year, the BIO International Convention pulls the entire global biotechnology industry into a single hall: the companies, the investors, the researchers, and the regions competing to attract all three.
For the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the show is more than an exhibit. It is a claim to leadership in the place that already leads. MassBio needed a presence that felt as deep and connected as the industry it represents: a pavilion that would not simply house the state's companies, but make the case for the state itself.
The Idea
The concept began with one observation: in Massachusetts, a biotech company can move through its entire lifecycle without ever leaving the state. The research universities, the capital, the talent, the lab space, the clinical networks, the regulatory expertise; all of it sits within a few miles of itself.
So the pavilion was built around a lifecycle theme. Rather than a cluster of member logos, the 7,800 square feet became a single legible story: follow a company from discovery to market, and find a Massachusetts resource waiting at every stage.
The Work
Glen Hawkins named the theme and built the identity system that carried it, from the pavilion logo through the design of the floor itself. The booth architecture organized the space around the lifecycle narrative, moving visitors through the stages while giving member companies room to host their own conversations.
A signage system tied the entire footprint together, legible from across a crowded hall and consistent down to the smallest wayfinding detail. A set of digital marketing assets carried the theme beyond the show floor, so the story MassBio told at the booth matched the one it told everywhere else.
The Result
MassBio arrived at BIO International with a pavilion that read as leadership. In its layout and its language, the space argued that Massachusetts is not one more participant in the biotech industry, but the environment where the industry works best.