It's CES time. Organizers and attendees have argued about the ladies since 1967, sometimes just about their label. Their marketing services date back much longer.
Mark, have you learned nothing from the marketers you’ve studied? Surely you’d increase the numbers on this post if you included a bunch of pictures of booth babes, or perhaps had a list of the five hottest booth babes from CES. I’m just saying …
Seriously though, I used to spend a lot of time at cybersecurity conferences, with the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco the premier event of the year. Booth babes were common, and after two years of lamenting our low booth traffic (my company had a booth at the trade show) our CEO decided that he would hire some booth babes of our own, who stood there alongside our sales people and did their best to get the predominantly male crowd to stop and chat. I was embarrassed by it, but Steve (our CEO) insisted that it increased the “size of the funnel,” which was all he really cared about. Ah, commerce is so dirty!
I actually thought of the picture selection you mentioned, but decided it was just too craven.
The story of Jaguar's marketing is a weird one back in the 1960s and 1970s, though they did have booth babes for the E-type. (Come to think of it TODAY'S Jaguar marketing seems a little bit WEIRDER!) I think it's partially a case of "No sex, please. We're British." The automobile press was pretty frustrated with Jaguar's marketing department. From my invaluable notes for a chapter of the book:
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“The Jaguar advertising boys have been barking up the wrong tree with their grice, spice, and pice,” Road & Track writer Henry Manning, III, wrote. “All they need to point out is ... ‘If You Want to Get Laid, Buy a Jaguar.’ Then all Sir William would need to do is take over BMC’s [British Motor Corporation] factories and turn out Es like bread rolls.” But the “advertising boys” didn’t heed the message, at least with much enthusiasm.
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Even when Jaguar advertised the E-type (which Bond Girl Bride says is "very sexy") in Playboy, they seem to have lifted prose from the owner's manual and depicted a very tweedy young(ish) man, who stands as if in a police line-up. I'm sure the readers of Playboy in the era quickly paged through for more salacious content.
I should probably do a post on some of that, actually....
For pictures, probably view the low-resolution video with Sara Underwood (Playmate of the Year in, um, 2010?). The the TV special I lifted the blue screenshot from.
Well, I didn't quite make it through 41 minutes. But I did get farther than 30 seconds! (The section devoted to what the ladies did to handle the men who stepped over the line was interesting, and I think revealing.) But it is a strange mix of a TV special, with lines being tested and crossed all the time, it seemed to me. Even in the pre-#metoo era.
Mark, have you learned nothing from the marketers you’ve studied? Surely you’d increase the numbers on this post if you included a bunch of pictures of booth babes, or perhaps had a list of the five hottest booth babes from CES. I’m just saying …
Seriously though, I used to spend a lot of time at cybersecurity conferences, with the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco the premier event of the year. Booth babes were common, and after two years of lamenting our low booth traffic (my company had a booth at the trade show) our CEO decided that he would hire some booth babes of our own, who stood there alongside our sales people and did their best to get the predominantly male crowd to stop and chat. I was embarrassed by it, but Steve (our CEO) insisted that it increased the “size of the funnel,” which was all he really cared about. Ah, commerce is so dirty!
I actually thought of the picture selection you mentioned, but decided it was just too craven.
The story of Jaguar's marketing is a weird one back in the 1960s and 1970s, though they did have booth babes for the E-type. (Come to think of it TODAY'S Jaguar marketing seems a little bit WEIRDER!) I think it's partially a case of "No sex, please. We're British." The automobile press was pretty frustrated with Jaguar's marketing department. From my invaluable notes for a chapter of the book:
====
“The Jaguar advertising boys have been barking up the wrong tree with their grice, spice, and pice,” Road & Track writer Henry Manning, III, wrote. “All they need to point out is ... ‘If You Want to Get Laid, Buy a Jaguar.’ Then all Sir William would need to do is take over BMC’s [British Motor Corporation] factories and turn out Es like bread rolls.” But the “advertising boys” didn’t heed the message, at least with much enthusiasm.
====
Even when Jaguar advertised the E-type (which Bond Girl Bride says is "very sexy") in Playboy, they seem to have lifted prose from the owner's manual and depicted a very tweedy young(ish) man, who stands as if in a police line-up. I'm sure the readers of Playboy in the era quickly paged through for more salacious content.
I should probably do a post on some of that, actually....
For pictures, probably view the low-resolution video with Sara Underwood (Playmate of the Year in, um, 2010?). The the TV special I lifted the blue screenshot from.
BTW, check out this bit: https://open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurney/p/gouache-car-ads-from-the-1960s?r=ofba&utm_medium=ios
Mark, I’m very impressed you’ve sacrificed 41 minutes to the booth babes video cause … but I’m afraid the first 30 seconds was enough for me!
We sure lived in a different world, didn’t we? I’m glad my daughter doesn’t have to deal with that shit.
Well, I didn't quite make it through 41 minutes. But I did get farther than 30 seconds! (The section devoted to what the ladies did to handle the men who stepped over the line was interesting, and I think revealing.) But it is a strange mix of a TV special, with lines being tested and crossed all the time, it seemed to me. Even in the pre-#metoo era.