Here is my prejudiced view on trade fairs.

Trade fairs are mostly about gunslinging salespeople selling mediocre stuff (which they don’t even know anything about) to people who sadly don’t know better. I just hate the tricks that some of the exhibitors are playing in order to catch people’s attention (or to distract their attention away from their actual products).

Well, I’ve just returned from the OMD (Online Marketing Düsseldorf) in Germany and I must say I enjoyed it. It was great fun and I think that most of the companies we met we’re awesome! Most of the exhibitors had created some pretty spectacular, imaginative, and luxurious stands. We hadn’t. We decided to keep it simple; I’ll elaborate later this week…

But I also experienced a few things fitting my prejudiced view: The used car sales techniques. Clearly the cheapest attempt of grapping the audience’s attention came from a company called BusinessAD. They had decided to showcase TOPLESS woman (example picture found on Flickr) and male body builders while being body painted. After the actual paint job they wondered around in the exhibition halls all day. I think it was stupid, completely irrelevant, and so exceptionally cheap.

I know this might sound a bit rescued … But it just provokes me a little so see companies think that people (potential customers) are so stupid and primitive that they’ll act on BS stunts like this. I know that it didn’t have the slightest impact on me whatsoever. NO WAY! Naked who? Where!!!???