10.19.2006

Wireless EEG guerilla marketing

I had no idea that the wireless EEG systems competition is so intense as to require guerilla marketing-style techniques to get us hooked. I guess the sleep/circadian rhythms sections have never been subject to much marketing outside of the stuff everyone else gets marketed about--free food and drinks for molecular biology products, chemicals or pharmaceuticals. This time around, we had a rep for one company visit the sleep/circadian rhythms social and start random conversations with scientists that ended with her giving out her business card and chatting about the merits of wireless EEG products: greater patient compliance, easier to monitor multiple patients, etc.

But then not only was there this random interloper in "our" social [not really: she was nice and did offer a product that was at least somewhat related to sleep research], but then there was the competing company that sent out their EEG-chicks to walk around the scientific posters. Coincidentally they just happened to be wearing shower caps with flashing red lights EEG monitors and happened to be carrying a stack of information pamphlets on their product. I have a feeling all this marketing will end in scantily clad models--male and female of course--carousing the poster sessions with viagra and modafinil samples...or something like that.