SEOh My F**cking God!

Top Ten Booths at SES San Jose 2008

I decided not ranking the booths in terms of “most awesome” or “best looking.” Instead, I’m pointing out the ones that make the most lasting impression. After all, this is a trade show, so being memorable is the best thing to be.

10: Trade Show Behemoth: Google Analytics

Resistance is futile

As you would probably expect, Google has a massive monolith of a booth for its Analytics service. It towers over everything else, so there isn’t a spot on the trade show floor where you can’t see it. It’s kind of a dick move to cast a gigantic shadow on all the other booths around you, but I guess it’s not technically evil… just kind of asshole-ish.

9: Best Giveaway

More like SmugCar

Omniture is giving away a SmartCar. It follows their whole trade show campaign of “go green” or some crap like that. It’s a cool looking booth though, and I like the color green.

8: Comfiest Booth

Freedom is popping a squat

Yahoo! has a bunch of purple velvet couches and chairs. It’s a pretty sweet place to take a load off after walking around the trade show floor collecting branded pens and hats.

7: Booth That Looks The Most Like A Gigantic Dog Turd

Who farted?

iProspect’s theme is “panning for gold.” You know, like a prospector. Get it? The big bumpy brown thing is supposed to be a mountainside (I think), but it looks like a pile of poop to me. I’m afraid the Google booth is going to step in it and get iProspect smeared all over its shoe.

6: Booth With An Inferiority Complex: Zvents

Does this thing get Facebook?

Everything looks better with an iMac out front, right? But wait, isn’t that the old iMac?

5: The Booth That Makes Me Want To Take Ecstasy And Dance Naked

I KNOW THE GUY WHO OWNS THIS CLUB!

The EfficientFontier booth looks like a trendy dance club. When I walked by, I found myself reaching into my pocket for $28 to buy a beer. Ooom-tsss, ooom-tsss, ooom-tsss, ooom-tsss, ooom-tsss…

4: Best Use Of Bottom-Lit Marbles: Hydra Search Marketing

Cool and refreshing

All joking aside, the flowers are a really nice touch. Not much around here is alive… including most of the people.

3: Second Best Giveaway: Another Car

zoom zoom

ABC Search, Lyris HQ and Omniture are giving away a Mazda 3. So for those people who want a Mazda 3 (and I haven’t met one yet), this booth is totally awesome. How many freaking cars is Omniture going to give away?

2: Best Use Of Soothing Light: SEO, inc.

Reminds me of Enya

The picture kind of sucks, but if you could make it out at all, you would see that SEO, inc.’s booth is bathed in a relaxing blend of whites and purples. They chose a shady corner of the floor (I’m not sure if that was intentional or not), so hanging out at their booth is a nice reprieve from the bustle of the rest of the convention. Think “taking a nap on a Virgin America airplane.”

1: A Middle Finger To Every Other Booth: IZEA

This booth won second place at the science fair.

These dudes have the best both here because it is so lo-tech. It looks like Jack Black and Mos def accidentally erased the real booth and had to remake it out of poster board and Michel Gondry’s dreams the night before it was due. Nice call on giving away beer coozies, too.

-Drew

Tags: SES San Jose 2008, Top Ten Booths