I just got back from Interop in Las Vegas, and I picked up a couple of trade show lessons I would like to share over the next couple days. I picked up some other unrelated lessons as well, but Sin City adventure is not really appropriate neophyte content. You came here to read about marketing, branding and business. I wouldn’t dare sully your experience with the extraneous oddities inevitable in the neon atrocity of the desert. So . . . let’s talk about babes.
The booth babe, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a woman hired specifically for a trade show. It does not refer to those attractive and knowledgeable sales people (men or women) that also happen to add a little visual appeal to a company’s display. Booth babes are typically scantily or provocatively clad. They smile more than normal human beings and are prone to leaning forward and bending over. They have little knowledge of the products they represent or the customers who might be interested in purchasing them. They are props set in place to work on the instinctual mind of the men that wander trade shows in such drastically disproportionate numbers. No insult intended to the women who, for reasons of their own, fill this role, but this is what they become for the two or three days that a trade show runs.
An example of booth babes (not necessarily Interop but representative of what you might find there)
Of course, the female form has been shamelessly linked to sales for as long as we have exchanged goods and services. In the inky past, at neolithic trade shows, woman clad in scanty mammoth fur outfits probably hawked better spears and more well appointed caves. I fully expect that a fossilized human ancestor found near a prototype of the first wheel will prove to have been buxom and beautiful. Sadly, it appears that many have not progressed past the marketing and sales ideas of our frontal lobe deficient ancestors. While Interop was not as rife with examples as I expected, there were definitely a number of perpetrators of this overused tactic.
Setting aside for a minute the insult this tactic must present to female visitors, co-workers and, even in some way, the “babes” themselves, what does this it do for one’s brand? Even if dressed in company colors (however small the outfit) and spouting company rhetoric (however parrot-like), is the use of booth babes advancing the brand? Is it adding value? Is it qualifying prospects? In short, does it work?
Certain brands seem to be able to get away with the use of hyper-se
xualized women because their brand is built on it. The best modern example of this is probably Godaddy.com, though I am sure you can probably think of a few more. Companies such as that can and do use booth babes without seeming inconsistent. The brand is the babe and thus the babe is the brand. However insensitive or misogynistic . . . it seems to work.
However, what about the company that provides networking equipment and has built their brand on efficiency and reliability? Is there a reason for the bikini bottomednymphets cavorting in front of their shoddy 10×10 booth? Not only is the sale of sex laughingly obvious, but the whimsical, devil-may-care connotation seems to undermine the brand itself. Sure, there are a lot of people around the booth. Anyone who has plumbed the depths of men has found many a shallow moment in all of us. But, what is the takeaway? For all the traffic, what are the visitors of the booth thinking about the company who’s shy sign appears behind those come hither looks and exposed cleavage?
I will tell you what I took away (yes I “checked out” the booth . . . but only for research purposes). To me, the sharp contrast between the brand and the babes seemed like a lapse in creativity. I pictured a marketing guy, sitting with his team trying to design a booth concept, and instead of looking for ways to enhance the brand or provide a remarkable experience he said . . . “let’s get babes.” I see a man, maybe, who simply wants to spend his three trade show days in the company of “models” rather than customers or business partners. I see desperation from a company whose offering is not compelling enough to draw crowds for its own sake. I see boring. I see predictable. And, most of all, I see a company I would be hesitant to work with.
I admit, the ramifications among my female co-workers and partners is enough to steer me clear of booth babery (not to mention the feelings of my fiancee), but even without the weight of my conscience I can’t find the value. If your brand is built on sex, go ahead and sell with it. I may not like it, but far be it from me to say it isn’t effective. But, if your brand has other attributes, I would think twice before watering it down for the next trade show. Booth babes may bring traffic, but will they close deals? Will they help to build your brand?
Help a Neophyte:
What are your thoughts on booth babes? Have you used this tactic? Is it effective? Short term? Long term? Let me know in the comments.