Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Sex sells rotovaps and pipettes?

IKA has been ramping up the "sex appeal" factor in its advertising, ranging from stupid commercials to booth babes riding motorcycles at ACS National Meetings to this 2013 catalog, noted by @ianatonks. The screenshot at left is taken from it.

Suffice it to say that I personally don't find this to be an effective tactic at selling laboratory equipment. I also can't find a long-term basis to think that this will bring good sales results. Personally, I find it insults my intelligence (not that I have much.)*

I'd love to know what their sales team is thinking -- who the hell thinks this is a good idea?

*I should also note that I have an aesthetic dislike of all image-based marketing attempts, which is why the web design of the blog hasn't changed in 3-and-a-whatever years. 

18 comments:

  1. At least she's wearing her ppe.

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  2. Check out Chemglass, a woman-owned company, for comparison: http://www.chemglass.com

    Their catalog shows women actually working at the bench (in proper PPE). I used a combination hotplate/stirplate from them many years ago and never had a problem. Also, they're based in New Jersey. (a-MUR-icah!!)

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    Replies
    1. While I like the build quality of Ika products, I like the price point of the chemglass rebranded items (stirring hotplate, in particular)

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  3. Clever file name for the picture.

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  4. The rotovap video is the best. My boss and I were deciding which one to buy while moving the lab, I showed him that video and he said, "Let's buy a Heidolph." I guess if we're gonna pay 7K for a rotovap we want our money to go to service and engineering, not necessarily sexy ladies.

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    Replies
    1. You might want to look at Buchi, too. Their service life can last decades.

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    2. we did, between recommendations and "bells and whistles" decided on a Heidolph

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  5. looks like buffy the vampire slayer has found a chemical alternative to the old wooden stake method

    for what it's worth i think the ads are amusing. when it comes time to buy anything, i'm still going with the cheapest option

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    Replies
    1. Damn straight, unless, of course, I'm spending someone else's money. Then I'm going to go with most reliable, best customer service.

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  6. Also, keeping Pipettes on the inside of your labcoat is a great way to contaminate your regular clothing. Improper use of PPE!

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  7. Not to mention borderline sexist, reinforcing old creepy dudes' beliefs that women in the lab are there for decoration and don't know where to put their pipettes (that's what she said).

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  8. If the ad's European you're lucky she's wearing a top at all.

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  9. It's got us talking about IKA though... Does that make it successful?

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    Replies
    1. Not if my conclusion is that their marketing team might be a joke.

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    2. If they're smart, they'll track where all the hits are coming from, and realize that we are all discussing buying products from their competitors.

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  10. Can someone please explain the blue girl on pg 23 (45 in the catalog)? Is this super photo-shopped image attractive and does that make you want to by software? What was this goal here?

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  11. I show these types of ads to my wife whenever I get a new trade magazine. She laughs and laughs. And then she points at me and laughs some more.

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20