Entries Tagged 'Trade Shows' ↓

Here’s another story from Vegas that needn’t stay in Vegas. If nothing else, Interop provided plenty of blog fodder.

Schwag, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the abundant promotional material one picks up for free at trade shows. This can include anything from hats to bouncy balls, pens to stuffed monkeys, all stamped with a company name. Nearly every booth has something to offer, and the stuff is so popular that some booths close to the front give out schwag bags to fill with your collected goodies.

Some of the trade show attendees seem to be there for no other purpose than schwag gathering, walking from booth to booth, wordlessly harvesting their bizarre collectibles. I imagine their homes covered in shelves, filled from floor to cieling with the diseased thinking of a thousand desperate marketing teams. Every night, after every show, they pour their newest bag of treasures out on the floor and sort it by color, size, company. They admire each three-sided highlighter, each USB key in the yellow flourescent light of a dusty lamp before placing it in its spot upon the overloaded shelves. Either that, or they sell it on Ebay.

Now, I myself am not really a fan of schwag. I have collected and disposed of enough crap in my life to recognize the beginning of another such cycle. However, after a long day of manning a booth on hard concrete I do have a weakness for beverage. As it happens, many booths recognize the desire for drink among tired trade show folk, and in lieu of yet another t-shirt, they break out the booze. Knowing this, I chose the end of the day to make my own round of Interop’s exhibitors. All went well until I reached a particular booth which was providing half full plastic cups of champagne. Though I was inclined to decline the offer anyway (champagne doesn’t appeal in this particular context), I didn’t even have a chance before I was denied the glass. Why? Because I was an exhibitor.

I have heard of this policy before, but I still don’t understand it. What would be the benefit of instructing your booth minions to deny drink or schwag to anyone? Are there trade secrets in the champagne? Is the stuffed monkey in some way a competitive advantage? Are you afraid of offering comfort to the enemy?

I am part of the decision making team at a young growing company. I am not in competition with the champagne provider. In fact, I may be a great prospect in the next six months, and yet, because I am an “exhibitor” I am denied the benefit of their largesse. What could possibly be the thinking behind this policy?

If you are giving something away, give it to everyone. If you can’t do that, don’t give something away. The risks of supplying your competitors with valuable pens or performance enhancing champagne is nothing compared with the risks of denying a large group of individuals on the chance that they might not be prospects. If even one future customer is in that group you have probably lost more than the collective value of everything you’ve given away.

Help a Neophyte:
What do you think? Is there a reason for this schwag stinginess? Don’t I deserve a drink?

 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-sexualized 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.