Please don't squeeze the Charmin

OK, I've obviously just dated myself with the title to this blog entry. If you're too young to know who Mr. Whipple was, I recommend Google or Wikipedia. For the rest of you, we'll move on. You young'uns can catch up after completing your research.

All of our demo/show vehicles include a full body graphic wrap with an awesome design created by our Graphics team and then printed and installed by pros who specialize in covering cars with what are essentially huge stickers. The wraps look great, get our message across, and survive bad weather and cross-country drives. What they might not survive are the car-wrapping aficianados who attend shows like SEMA.

Gee, that's pretty. Can we pull it off?

I think the problem is that the wrap and design are almost too good. Every day this week, we've had a small number of people drawn to our booth not for the TracVision or TracNet but for the wrap. You can tell who these people are – they're the ones bent over double, peering closely at the graphics and debating among themselves if it's a paint job, a wrap, vinyl stickers, or the result of hallucinations caused by too much high-caffeine Starbucks (a side note - I don't think we'd survive these shows if not for the Starbucks conveniently located in the convention center). Sadly, what happens next is all too predictable.

"I think it's a wrap."
"No, honey, it's vinyl."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is. See, I can peel part of this letter off."

Sigh...it never fails.

Sure, the wrap had a few scratches here and there when the car arrived, the product of a year's worth of media road shows and sales trips. But no roadside debris can cause the havoc that results from SEMA trade show attendees. Every little edge that can be picked has been picked. Every stretch has been poked. I'm sure they're all nice people but I feel a compelling need to channel my internal Mr. Whipple when they show up in the booth.

"Excuse me, but please don't squeeze the demo vehicle."