Wavemaker @ CES 2018 Trends & Beyond
By Wavemaker — January, 2018
CES 2018: THE GLOBAL STAGE FOR INNOVATION
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the annual iconic international, future-focused consumer electronics and technology conference in Las Vegas. This year, CES hosted more than 170,000 attendees from over 150 countries. Historically, CES is where culture-shifting technology has been unveiled, including the Apple Newton, CD player, VHS & VCR, Sony PlayStation, and the Oculus Rift "Crystal Cove." That said, some aspects of CES have become fairly reliable year-to-year, like TVs that get larger and have higher resolutions, (this year’s winner: Samsung’s The Wall, a 146-inch 8K TV with Bixby AI and 8K), alongside wearable devices, robotics, cars and more.
Though, you are always guaranteed to find something new at CES. Robots, for example, have moved from being novel to becoming core components of technology. What was once a buzzword has become commonplace and almost DNA within other devices.
Much of what is seen on the show floors is not designed with brands and marketers in mind. In fact, much of it isn’t designed with any specific consumer in mind; Like “concept cars” at auto shows, there’s the push for entertainment and spectacle simply for the PR. However, when you step back and look at the technologies being unveiled, the utility they’re designed to provide, the physical and digital spaces they play in, and how consumers engage with them, we must remember our need to find fresh, innovative ways to leverage these innovations to remove frictions between brand and consumer. It is critical to uncover the untapped ways in which we can use these tools as the new powers of persuasion across the Purchase Journey.
Our annual Wavemaker@CES Thought Leadership event serves as a catalyst for sourcing ideas, partnerships and opportunities that deliver on our quest for client innovation and growth.
Our 2018 theme - “Now.Next.Future.” - focused on the new tools of persuasion, gleaning insight into what devices and tools consumers will be engaging with and potentially embracing in the months and years to come. Leaders from companies changing the future of media & marketing via technology, including Amazon, Roku, Celtra, Reddit, NBCUniversal, Jaunt, and more, discussed the implications voice has on intimacy in brand-driven conversations, how AI requires human-driven creativity to deliver true value, and the opportunities around OTT.
In today’s brave new world, media, content, and technology consistently and simultaneously overlap, drive, and often compete in their ability to connect with and drive consumer persuasion. Throughout this event, we discussed and debated what the intersection of these concepts mean for the future of advertising and engagement, and how savvy marketers can best take advantage of them today for business growth and success tomorrow (and beyond).
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Wavemaker @ CES 2018 (pdf, 1.6Mb).