The Crazy, Sexy, Weird World of Car Shows

Years ago, I worked for a marketing company that designed the dog-and-pony shows used to unveil new models at car shows. They literally had a line item in their budgets for dogs and another one for ponies. They also set aside costs for smoke and costs for mirrors. Their stock in trade was to make the process of pulling the covers off a new model as newsworthy as possible, which often seemed to hinge on the use of dancers and dry ice smoke.

To be clear, those days are over.

Yes, a given manufacturer will still blow the budget sky-high in an effort to steal ink out from under the collective noses of competitors. On these occasions, the lion’s share of the funds will be diverted not toward dry ice providers or back-up dancers, but to celebrities on all of the lists from A to D or to special events organized outside the car shows themselves.

The car show strategy, in effect, has become far more strategic.

This is a critical development because manufacturers and their representatives are divided on how important the modern-day car show is to the bottom line. The age of the Internet has triggered changes; people don’t need to attend a car show to know all about a new vehicle within minutes of it being unveiled. Also, if a new car release is significant enough, these details will often migrate over from enthusiast outlets to mainstream media outlets.

But here’s the kicker: Having a presence at a big car show is an expensive proposition – so expensive, in fact, that it’s no longer a given that every manufacturer shows up every time. This development came to light in 2008, when the global recession hit like a thunderclap and sent sales tumbling. Later that year, Porsche and Nissan opted out of the North American International Auto Show – a move that would’ve previously been unthinkable.

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