04.22.2008 — Best Buy didn’t enter its Geek Squad mobile in the recent CE Pro Marketing Awards (CMA) contest. So, we’ll never know if it would have won. It might have.

Sure, those black and white Volkswagen Beetles look almost comical. Yeah, it’s probably hard to fit much more than a spool of cable in the back. Maybe most integrators wouldn’t be caught dead driving them.

This may all be true, but the cars seem to work—at least, from a marketing standpoint.

Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens wanted his vehicle to be immediately recognizable, he told CE pros during his keynote address at a recent Fall Electronic House Expo (EHX), the show at which CMA winners are announced. Indeed, the cars are, in fact, quite recognizable.

Stephens patterned the Geek Squad mobile after Adam West’s Batmobile, from the old “Batman” show. In fact, he said, “Batman teaches us everything we need to know about standing out and marketing.”

There’s also the Batcopter, the Batplane, the Batboat, Bat-Sub, the Batcycle and the Batsignal. They’re all immediately recognizable.

Meanwhile, of the dozens of submissions that CE Pro received in the Vehicle Graphics Design category, none appear to be based on comic books.

Most take a classic approach—clearly stating company name and contact information. Some take a flamboyant approach, with images virtually popping off the side of the vans.

Nevertheless, all companies that submitted their vehicles for CMAs appreciate the marketing value of what is essentially a moving billboard.

The question is whether each company’s marketing approach works. Logic Integration Inc.’s approach is best, according to the CMA judges, which honored the Englewood, Colo.-based company.

Marketing strength, however, is subjective, admit all three judges—Ted Green of Stratecon Group, Lucette Nicoll of Nicoll Public Relations and Deborah Smith of The Deborah Smith Group.

We decided to let CE pros decide for themselves whether the judges were correct.

Here are 19 vehicles from custom installation companies, a mere sample of the photos submitted for the CMAs.

You tell us: Do any of these companies have the branding potential of a Geek Squad?

Click here to view the vehicle designs.