Las Vegas, Nevada – This year, SEMA ditched the grand Vegas show floor of years past and took its industry-wide event fully virtual with SEMA360, showing that even in an unpredictable year like 2020, the auto industry will keep on motoring.
This year’s event saw new innovations to the SEMA platform, as well as the continuation of several longstanding show traditions.
The decision to take this year’s show fully virtual led show organizers and manufacturers to adapt and evolve their businesses to match the uncertainty of a year such as this.
Instead of loading up crates onto planes for their usual Vegas booths, manufacturers were logging on in order to stay connected to their customers, proving that SEMA is just too big a show to pass up—in-person or not.
“We want our customers to know that despite all of the challenges that we have faced this year, we are still here, and we will come out of this stronger and better. We want to be here for our customers, no matter what. We thought that being at SEMA was critical to keeping that connection,” said AkzoNobel’s marketing communications manager for North America Jen Poliski.
George Verkamp from ALLDATA echoed a similar sentiment.
“Not attending SEMA, live or virtual, is never a consideration for us. The ALLDATA brand and our commitment to our customers, throughout the entire repair industry, whether that be collision or repair, demands that we support the industry during SEMA week. If we didn’t attend SEMA, whether that be live, or on a digital platform, the industry would miss us,” said Verkamp, ALLDATA’s vice president of sales and business development.
For some companies, like automotive diagnostics developer ALLDATA, SEMA360’s virtual format actually played into their wheelhouse, allowing already partially digitally-based companies to test and refine their remote training and customer service technologies. ALLDATA VP of sales, Robert McBride continued, “We demo most of our products, some in-person, some of it online.
It’s great to be at a show and consolidate—get a group of people there all at one time, but the reality is that George has got about half of his team providing online demonstrations every single day. Even though we’re in a different venue, I think the experience can still be pretty effective.”
“We want our customers to know that despite all of the challenges
that we have faced this year, we are still here, and we will come out of this stronger and better. We want to be here for our customers, no matter what. We thought that being at SEMA was critical to keeping that connection.”
– Jennifer Poliski, marketing communications manager, AkzoNobel
If we didn’t attend SEMA, whether that be live, or on a digital platform, the industry would miss us.”
– George Verkamp,vice president of sales and business development, ALLDATA
True to McBride’s statement, product demonstrations were in full swing at this year’s show, arguably just an impressive in an online format as previous SEMA Show years.
EMM International and Colad took to the SEMA360 screen to demonstrate its new UV Curing System, which it says is capable of curing putties, paints and UV curing primers on spot repairs, as well as small and large areas.
Chief among the other usual SEMA highlights is the annual Battle of the Builders competition, where Brady Ranweiler and his 1963 Chevrolet Full Custom 2 Door Wagon taking home this year’s top prize in the hot rod category.
In the other categories, Mark Giambalvo and his 1965 Chevrolet C10 won in Truck/Off-Road; Chip Foose and his 1974 Jaguar E-Type won out in the Sport Compact category and Cody Medeisis took home the Young Guns trophy with his 1968 Chevrolet Camaro.
SEMA360 also hosted the eighth annual Launch Pad competition where Roland Hence of FrontLane Inc. managed to beat out his five fellow finalists and impress a panel of industry experts with his innovative new product.
The Impulse Emergency Brake Light is a wireless, battery-powered emergency brake light that reduces rear-end collisions by pulsing eight ultra-bright LEDs under extreme braking situations to alert the following driver up to 50 percent quicker. Impulse can be installed on any passenger vehicle with a standard back windshield in seconds and has a four-year battery life.
For Hence and Front Lane’s achievement, the business will receive a prize of $10,000 as well as marketing and networking opportunities. Myles Kovacs, co-founder of automotive magazine DUB, received the association’s most prestigious award for SEMA Person of the Year. Kovacs founded DUB in 2000.
“I am just so thrilled; it’s emotional and overwhelming,” said Kovacs. “I’m being recognized by my peers—this is such a great industry to be a part of. And, they praise you for being different. That’s what I love about SEMA.”
