[T_U_D]

Originally Posted by 02M3ForMe

This kind of thinking is how you slowly cede market leadership to upstart competitors who “come out of nowhere”.

Yes, there’s not going to be much if any ROI in a mediocre booth; might as well stay home if you’re going to stand up a lighted sign, give away some keychains, T-shirts, and 1-sheets, and call it a day. I’ve attended many shows in various industries, and the correlation between companies that do actual meaningful and impactful activations at the shows and companies that see good general business outcomes is undeniable.

It’s like any form of marketing; showing up is great, but you still need to have a strong message delivered skillfully to see and maximize results.

Digital is super noisy because the barrier to entry is low. Everyone has a voice, which isn’t good when I’m a global multi-zillion dollar operation speaking at a similar volume to fly-by-night Instagram brands or whatever. Spaces where you can still talk to consumers without shouting over 1,000 others are extremely few and far between. Anyone not paying up and choosing to rest on their laurels and save a buck and expand margins by some insignificant amount is existentially vulnerable over a long enough time horizon.

If I were, say, Alfa Romeo, I’d seize the opportunity to double down on auto shows and as many real-world, non-digital placements as possible while they’re cheap and incumbents are walking away. Long-term ROI will be huge if done right.

Maybe if they had done that in 2015, I would’ve picked up a Quadrifoglio in lieu of the 8 F8x cars I purchased since then. (And that would’ve been the right choice; the Giulia QV is significantly better than all of the F8x I’ve owned, including the M3 CS.)