Digiday will be on-site covering CES from January 8th to January 15th. Sign up here to get a daily briefing of Digiday highlights delivered to your inbox.
At next week’s Consumer Electronics Expo (CES), Kevin Guentzel, Newsweek’s global chief commercial and growth officer, is a prime example of how the event has changed for marketers. He has a marathon day scheduled and is booked solid from 8 a.m. to midnight. But please understand this. None of that involves the traditional show itself.
“CES is central to our schedule for a variety of reasons,” Guentzel said. “While this is still a great place to learn more about new innovations and new technologies that are disintermediating business units, the conversations taking place there tend to focus on deeper strategic partnership agendas. there is.”
This is the new reality of CES. Strolling through the once-essential MediaLink floor? They’re taking a backseat. Now, the real action is taking place amidst an intense hustle and bustle of strategy meetings and behind-the-scenes networking orchestrated by the consulting firms at the center of it all.
“In the past, the focus has been on floor tours and more standard top-to-top meetings from a client perspective,” said David Muldoon, vice president of strategic advisory at MediaLink. “This year, clients are asking more strategic questions like, ‘How can I get ahead of my competitors?’, ‘How can we really innovate to stand out?’ and how can we build deeper relationships? I attend the meeting while doing the following.
CES marketers are no longer just participants. They are playing a completely different game and every move is carefully planned. With economic change and industry disruption looming large, they’re attending this event to find ways to stay ahead of the curve. They make their way through the Strip, casinos, and hotel suites for both opportunity and stability.
“CES used to be about what companies showed, but now it’s about what companies say,” said Gillian McPherson, vice president of products at Epsilon. “This show is an efficient spot to connect with key contacts and partners in the advanced TV and digital field. That’s why my main focus this year is high-level conferences.”
And it’s not just a story; the numbers tell the same story.
“The number of companies attending CES this year is about 10% higher than last time, but the number of people attending is down,” said Muldoon, who is attending the event with one of his clients. Unilever. “Companies are hiring fewer people, but the companies that are hiring want to make sure that it actually brings value in the long term.”
And just like last year, AI is once again at the forefront. But this time it’s different. Marketers can no longer just dip their toe into AI. They come head first. They plan to use their time at CES not just to catch up, but to steal the march of their rivals on how best to implement them across businesses rather than individually.
Executives from MediaMonks, Publicis Media, Duolingo, Pfizer, Comcast, and Pinterest did just that during the event, highlighting how brands can use AI to accelerate their creative personalization efforts, as well as how companies can use generated AI to accelerate creative personalization efforts. Topics include how to use it to enhance your creativity. Their social media efforts.
“AI has been a big part of CES for 20 years, and it’s starting to become very real,” said Sarah Ivey, chief strategy officer at Havas Media Group. “At the top of my list right now is how AI and curation can expand the world of creators. We’ve seen it change, and being able to curate all of it at high speeds will make things even more interesting. These Creator Tools are one of the things we’re looking forward to next week. It’s one.”
DIGIDAY Senior Reporter marty swantthe author of Weekly AI Briefing, will be on the ground in Las Vegas all week long reporting on all things AI.
AI may lead the way, but it’s just the beginning. Topics such as retail media, the creator economy, and streaming will dominate the conversations shaping the event’s discussion. While these topics may sound like a repeat of last year, there’s a new edge to the conversation now, creating a sense of urgency that wasn’t there before. Especially for the world’s largest streaming service. The pressure on them is increasing.
Streaming is no longer new and has yet to generate significant free cash flow that consumes billions of dollars. Advertising has been seen as a potential turnaround strategy, but its effectiveness has not yet been proven. As a result, the company’s 2024 This year’s efforts will essentially start at CES. They will be joined by rivals such as Amazon, Roku, and NBCUniversal Paramount Global.
The urgency is clear. These are not just future trends. They face pressing challenges and need immediate solutions. It’s a race against time. And the move is bold. Netflix debuts its first-ever CES booth and Disney brings technology and data marketing event to Las Vegas.
As for the media sales team, we work with a clear agenda. It’s not just about glitz and glamour. They’re there for a serious vibe check. They’re analyzing how marketers feel about spending this year. Sure there will be a lot of pitching, but what is the real goal? Especially since he hasn’t had much clarity beyond the end of 2023, it’s important to know your budget and figure out what really resonates with marketers. Some companies focus on his B2B events and show off that they are data and insight wizards.
They aim to flaunt first-party data and audience reports, especially with an eye toward the next election cycle. Other companies are touting their capabilities in AI, connected TV (CTV), and audience insights, all appealing to marketers. Digiday Media Editor-in-Chief Kayleigh Barber will have more information soon. In the meantime, here’s a glimpse of what weekly news magazine Newsweek has planned for next week.
“We are building some very interesting potential partnerships with agency holding companies on production,” Guentzel said. The film is a documentary series that focuses on urban students honing their debate skills at school. The conversation at CES delved deeper into the business, with the agency aiming to drive demand from advertisers.
This growing technology and media debate is so important that Aria Resort’s C Space exhibition, a hotbed of advertising industry insight during CES, has expanded for the first time to the adjacent Cosmopolitan Hotel. This is a significant move that highlights how essential these conversations have become for marketers, and how the conversation around technology’s impact on media and lifestyle has moved beyond its initial boundaries. .
“Like Cannes, CES is an event where you can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time,” said Steve Bagdasarian, chief commercial officer at Comscore. “I don’t know if the themes have changed much compared to a year ago. The reality of signal loss and privacy regulations and all of that is just starting to set in. Frankly, now is the time for action.”
