Booth Babes?

Scruffy bearded dudes with tramp stamps doing over the top stuff to grab attention??

This could end badly.

SVreX wrote: Scruffy bearded dudes with tramp stamps doing over the top stuff to grab attention?? This could end badly.

Sounds like The Challenge...

Lesley wrote: I didn't write the piece. In no way do I object to admiration of sexuality – as I said in my first post. Do I like Mike Rowe and firemen? Hells yeah! Do I want to see models posing with a firetruck? Berk no. Real, dirty, charismatic firemen = hot. Vapid, shirtless models, nope. And it's not just sour grapes. I don't want to see guys in speedos draped on the cars either. I think I'm going to talk to some of the girls at the Detroit auto show and get their side of the story. Might make an interesting read.

You do realize that you can't tell the difference between those two when you're only looking at a picture, right?

SVreX wrote: Scruffy bearded dudes with tramp stamps doing over the top stuff to grab attention?? This could end badly.

What, you mean the "free airbag rides" attention getter is a bad idea?

MadScientistMatt wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: Honestly I could do without the booth babes at SEMA. They are a distraction, and the hordes of men lining up to have the babe sign a poster clutters the isles and makes it harder for those who are .....you know....working. (Right buddy...you'll say something clever and she'll go home with you) I also think it devalues a company to have bimbos wearing next to nothing in their booths. It's almost like they are saying...."our products don't have enough merit to gather your attention...so look.....BOOBS!" One exception is the Pirelli booth. Sure they have attractive women (actually EXTREMELY attractive) working their booths, but they train them. Those girls know the product, and which executives are at the show. They are always helpful, friendly, and intelligent. They really set the bar for how booth girls should be presented. They are professionals, not just a set of empty eyes with no useful information.

We had been talking about the same thing here for the PRI show. Our thinking is that having somebody in our booth who isn't able to field questions about the product is going to be a waste of time. It can take a long time to train a representative who isn't familiar with our products or the industry already, and trying to bring in anyone where we only have a week to bring the rep up to speed? It would be a complete waste of time and money. Not to mention Joe's line about it sending a message that the product itself isn't attention grabbing. We've generally been trying to think of over the top showmanship that says something more about the product - like the time we had the MS3-Pro make its debut in the middle of an aquarium. So you'll need to settle for a group of scruffy, sometimes tattooed, often bearded men at the DIYAutoTune.com booth. It may not be as effective at drawing passers-by in, but at least the people there will know what to say once somebody's drawn in. Although we do have some other over the top things planned to get your attention...

Matt---- you guys always do a good job with your booth. I've always thought you showed inventiveness with your displays, and of course humor. The "Do Not Touch--- Touching this will kill you and it will hurt the entire time you are dying" sign you had was hilarious. ( I know I didn't get the wording correct, but the signage was awesome! )

Besides---- who needs booth babes when you've got Jerry? Ok.....maybe not a good example!

I recall a year at the NAIAS there was a Society of Women Engineers day where the automakers had women engineers with the cars. I went that day as I found out I needed to leave town for work the day after. So took the day off.

All the women seemed to be a wide range of ages and, pertinent to this topic, ranged in babe-ness.

I spent a good while talking to an older woman about the Fords and if they would bring the Puma to the USA, later talked to an attractive young woman engineer about the WRX and how the center diff is controlled. Walked over to the Mitsubishi Evo display and started talking to a young girl that I thought was rather more made up than the other but figured hey she is an engineer that just happens to like looking model-ish. Asked her a few questions then realized maybe she didn't know anything about the car. I guess I had approached her expecting a conversation on the potential damper changes and that made her uncomfortable and soon she made a rather awkward retreat while shoving me a brochure. I guess not all the automakers were in on the SWE plan.

Who ever they put out there with the product should know about it. Otherwise get out of the way.

SVreX wrote: Scruffy bearded dudes with tramp stamps doing over the top stuff to grab attention?? This could end badly.

Think the cover of Brawny paper towels. How about a 6'2" plaid-clad logger descending his dirty Aluminum Bed F150 and strapping his kids into car seats in his family's Ford Flex.

It's the equal and opposite stereotype to the booth babe.

Mitchell wrote:

SVreX wrote: Scruffy bearded dudes with tramp stamps doing over the top stuff to grab attention?? This could end badly.

Think the cover of Brawny paper towels. How about a 6'2" plaid-clad logger descending his dirty Aluminum Bed F150 and strapping his kids into car seats in his family's Ford Flex. It's the equal and opposite stereotype to the booth babe.

"Oh, I'm a Lumberjack and I'm okay..."