All auto shows are not created equal.
Just ask the journalists who attend them, the exhibit-makers who put them together and the strategists who plan them.
At a 1997 show in Sao Paolo, Brazil, which some reporters described as an “OSHA nightmare” because of the decrepit state of the convention hall, one stand collapsed during a press conference, injuring several journalists.
Political correctness has not caught up with some of the Asian auto shows. The major U.S. shows have forsaken female models in revealing evening gowns for well-spoken MBAs of both sexes clad in Armani suits.
But a recent auto show in Shanghai was notable for its strikingly tall Chinese female models clad in mini-skirts and thigh-high leather boots, posing for provocative pictures with the male showgoers.
And in Geneva, the spring auto show is known for its low-key atmosphere and one-vehicle exhibits sponsored by small specialty manufacturers and design houses. Industry types love Geneva because it’s considered “neutral ground,” with no nationalistic leanings. There are no major manufacturers based in Switzerland, making that show perhaps the most genteel and non-competitive in the world.
Compared with some of the foreign auto shows–especially those in Third World countries–U.S. shows are paragons of class. Almost.
When asked to describe the four major domestic auto shows–Detroit, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles–Automobile Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jean Jennings snorted.
“Oh, New York,” Jennings said of the April event. “That’s the show where the showgoers steal the door handles right off the cars. The showgoers there are rabid, and the place is swarmed every year. It may be the only time New Yorkers are allowed to love cars.”
She had much kinder words for the Chicago Auto Show, one of the nation’s largest. Attendance for the ten-day run of the 2000 Chicago show totaled 1,148,869. By comparison, Detroit played host to 802,301 visitors.
“Chicago is one of the oldest shows in one of the all-time best cities,” said Jennings, who is also the automotive correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I like to schedule three days so I can go to the flower show at the Botanic Gardens, go out for live music and great food. It’s just a fun show.”
If there’s one lesson in talking auto shows, it’s that there seems to be no template for showing off the newest and most exciting vehicles.
Each show seems to have its own personality and look. And the days of auto shows as little more than extensions of retail showrooms are fading, as the public demands more and more information.
“Over the last several years, all of the major American shows have stepped up their game,” said John Love, president of Detroit-based Event Management Corp., a strategic communications agency that is a consultant to the Detroit Auto Show and to tiremaker Michelin, a show sponsor. “They are all better organized, better promoted, more sophisticated in rules and presentation. They are managed very professionally. “
Unlike other entertainment destinations, such as Walt Disney World, domestic auto shows tend to face a unique challenge, coping with several disparate audiences–from mature folks to youths to dating couples–in a day.
“You get at least two or three different crowds each day,” Love explained. “The older consumers tend to come during the early morning, then the family crowd in the afternoon and then the date crowd in the evening. You’ve got to be able to capture the attention of those different types of people.”
From an industry perspective, the Detroit show in early January tends to have about 50 to 60 vehicle introductions each year; the 2000 Chicago show had 16 world introductions.
But the Chicago auto show is acknowledged as the premier consumer show in the U.S., catering to a bigger market with a bigger facility and bigger attendance than its rivals.
“The Chicago show is the consumer show,” Love said. “This is the people’s show.”
Because Chicago is considered one of the A-list shows in the U.S., exhibit designers typically use what they call their “global kit.” A global kit contains all of the materials used to capture the brand’s character, from things such as illuminated glass to Green Mountain slate and travertine marble.
This year’s Ford Motor Co. display at Chicago’s McCormick Place will contain virtually all of the elements used in Detroit, the home turf of the U.S. automakers.
However, it will lack one or two parts, such as a large amphitheater from Detroit because of the shorter set-up time in Chicago. In Detroit, construction of the auto show at Cobo Hall begins Nov. 1 for a Jan. 7 kickoff for the media. In Chicago, there is a much shorter set-up time–typically a week or so.
Michael Thoresen, vice president of Livonia, Mich.-based ExhibitWorks, which co-designed the Ford exhibit, said the difference in what gets built in Detroit and Chicago doesn’t lessen the impact for the audience.
“In the pecking order, Chicago is among the leaders,” Thoresen said. “Chicago is a huge market for us.”
Overall, he said, auto shows do tend to have one thing in common.
“It’s not just one giant parking lot anymore,” Thoresen said. “The days of cars on carpet are long since gone.”
