2023 CES Trends Report Holds Lessons for Communicators
This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which took place in Vegas, returned in full force after two years of COVID-related adjustments. A recent analysis from Cision’s Insights team found that the 2023 CES generated 2.5 times as much media coverage as the fully virtual CES held in 2021, returning to pre-pandemic highs. Unlike other post-show coverage, Cision’s 2023 CES Industry Trends Report goes beyond merely highlighting the brands, products, speakers and topics that generated the most buzz during the show, but also explores what these findings mean for strategic communications teams and brand owners, particularly as they think about how to amplify the impact of their event and campaign messaging. READ THE 2023 CES INDUSTRY TRENDS REPORT Top Trends from CES 2023 The report outlines the biggest topics of conversation and coverage coming out of CES. Among them: Global media attention increased with the return to an on-site format: The on-site CES 2023 event garnered high media interest (+16%) from global markets, with 3,200+ exhibitors from 173 countries and nearly 5,000 registered media in attendance. On-site journalist and user experiences resulted in higher social engagement (+51%). Furthermore, international media was at a three-year high, driving 61% of CES’s 2023 reach, up 9 percentage points over 2022 and 15 percentage points since 2021. Smart home solutions win big in a post-pandemic world: Smart home gadgets and software were a top trend at CES. Heralding gadgets for better security, energy management, and cleaning at home, journalists agreed the event was a huge success for the Matter connectivity alliance, which ensures compatibility with Amazon, Google, Apple or Samsung devices. Mobility in-focus as lines between auto and tech sectors blur: Automotive brands were a mainstay at CES as Sony and Honda unveiled the new car brand Afeela; BMW showed its high-tech I Vision Dee concept; and VW decided to celebrate the name reveal of its new ID.7 electric car. While these product reveals by automotive OEMs were successful, Samsung and Google drew attention for focus on in-car experience technologies. Sustainability was a top priority for major brands, and “humanization” of tech was omnipresent: Companies often led with sustainability messaging during keynote presentations (e.g; Samsung and Patagonia partnership; John Deere’s Robot Planter). Brands (Sony, Bosch, BMW) highlighted reusability and doing more with lower power consumption via the circular ecosystem and sustainability. Additionally, brands assuaged stereotypes of a sterile, machine-based future by leaning into tech as a facilitator of human connection and accessibility. Read the full report for more insight into the event’s biggest trends and the topics that secured the greatest Share of Voice during CES. Following the Data: Using Analytics to Inform Event Strategy The report also outlines three key learnings for communicators across all industries, including the tactics that drove the biggest media attention and consumer interest and the importance of timing for maximizing impact. It's important to note that, were this report created for a specific client, it would not only be customized for them (with more granular data around their specific brand, industry and/or competitors), but it would also come with a personalized analysis and consultation on next steps from our team of Insights experts. With that in mind, we asked them to weigh in on how communicators might use or other types of analytics to inform future campaign or event-planning efforts. Understand the impact of previous campaigns or events. A report that is focused on a particular campaign or event will help you understand what tactics or messaging resonated with which audiences and where you may need to adjust your messaging and/or targeting efforts. It can also help you identify the journalists or influencers who engaged with your brand so you can establish relationships that will build over time. Stay ahead of your competitors. Many brands look to competitive benchmark reports to gain visibility into their competitors’ strategies and understand how their brand stacks up in terms of share of voice and audience perceptions. Insight from these reports can uncover opportunities to differentiate your brand from others. Capitalize on industry trends. If your goal is to understand the trends moving your industry forward and driving audience decisions, an industry trend report can shed light on these elements. Whether you want to focus on specific topics, audiences, or markets beyond specific brands, an industry report will provide visibility into the emerging topics and key themes that can inform your go-to-marketing communications strategy. The bottom line: As more events return to in-person, the expectation to show up and deliver – from the media, from consumers, from all your various stakeholders – is higher than ever. The brands that garnered the most coverage didn't get it by accident or luck; they went in with a strategy informed by an understanding of who their audience was, and the messages that would resonate. Taking a scientific, data-driven approach to understand audience, trends and best-in-class tactics is key to building a strategic plan that makes an impact and delivers real, tangible results. GET THE FULL REPORT Ready to find out how to get your own, customized analysis that will enable you to build an informed, effective event strategy? Schedule a consultation with a Cision Insights expert today.
CES 2021: 5 Tips on Getting Media Coverage at Virtual Tech Events
The Consumer Electronics Show, or more popularly known as CES, will go all-digital for the first time this year, given the COVID-19-related movement restrictions. This transition changes the ballgame on how PR pros can reach out and pitch to tech journalists, who cover one of the most influential tech events in the world. CES 2021, which takes place from 11 to 14 Jan, will feature product unveilings, demos and keynote presentations by more than 1,000 expected exhibitors. Gary Shapiro, CEO of CES's organizer, Consumer Technology Association shared that many international media and visitors will participate in the event for the first time. The event is expected to attract 150,000 online visitors. Instead of checking out the booths and attending physical events, journalists will be attending virtual events and showcases and reporting remotely. We get media pitching tips from Jason Hiner, Editorial Director of tech news website CNET, who spoke at an on-demand PR Newswire webinar, Planning, Pitching and Placements: Paving the Way to Virtual Success. 1. Prepare for virtual media interviews Journalists, especially those from the broadcast media, would be keen to do virtual one-on-one interview opportunities with media-trained company leaders. They prefer to speak to brand spokespersons that can share insights on product development – engineers or product leaders. Some key interview questions include: What went into making the product, what problems does it solve, and what’s an interesting story about the product? Exclusive angles and insights are always preferred so that the media can present deeper storytelling and add value to their audience's knowledge of the event. The scheduled interview time with the media will be tight - prepare the optimum video framing and lighting conditions so that more time can be spent on talking about the company and products. 2. Ship products ahead of time Without a physical event this year, journalists do not have the opportunity to “walk the ground” at CES and have less hands-on time with the products. As a result, receiving the products well ahead of the show becomes more important this year. This gives the journalists more time to decide whether they want to include products in their video shows or live streams during CES. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400"] LG has a customised site to share media materials on CES 2021. (Photo: LG)[/caption] 3. Having high-quality media assets ready As journalists will be covering CES remotely this year, it is vital to do the groundwork and make available media assets such as broadcast-quality b-roll videos, product images and presentation decks on the products that your brand will be promoting. For example, LG has created a customised CES site that hosts virtual showrooms and press conference centres. 4. Prepare pre-event media briefs as early as possible The earlier the media receives information about the products, the more time they can plan how to allocate their resources on their media coverage. It can either be planning a video or a more substantial editorial package. Also, provide information and exclusive angles on embargo and set up interviews beforehand. An important date to take note of is CES' Media Day, which is set aside for press conferences on the latest breaking news, product launches and technology trends from the world’s leading tech brands. 5. Have at least one new product aspect to share Always have something new or newsworthy to share. Don't rehash something that was announced a few months ago. Always have at least one new product feature to talk about – be it a software update or new capabilities. In the lead-up to CES 2021, brands and organizations have been issuing press releases on new product offerings or improved features. Korean technology giant LG will launch its transparent OLED display products, cordless stick vacuum and InstaView refrigerators with voice recognition technology, while Hong Kong-listed TCL Electronics will unveil mini-LED and future display technologies. PR Newswire is the official newswire service and exhibitor media center host for CES 2021. To learn more about PR Newswire's partnership with CES and see CES exhibitor news and media kits, visit the Official CES 2021 Exhibitor Media Center. For more press releases on CES 2021, visit here. This article is written by Kenneth Goh, Senior Marketing Executive at PR Newswire. A former journalist, he relishes keeping track of breaking news as much as telling stories with trends and data. Connect with him via Linkedin.
Three Tips for CES Success
Kandao Obsidian Camera, CES Innovation Award Winner 2017 Introduction The Consumer Electronics Show or CES is the world’s largest annual gathering in the consumer electronics industry. There are two CES events in 2019 - CES, 8 to 11 Jan (Las Vegas) and CES Asia, 11 to 13 Jun (Shanghai). For the upcoming CES event in Jan 2019, an estimated 190,000 people will arrive in Las Vegas, USA, to seek, shop for and promote the hottest new consumer electronics products at CES. There are going to be around 4,500 exhibiting companies who seek to use this event as a launchpad for their latest products. As for CES Asia, attendance has grown 63 percent since its inception in 2015. There are certainly a lot of eyeballs - potential partners, distributors, press members, influencers, customers - at both CES events. But for brands new to this international stage, it is a battle to find a niche and build brand buzz when competing against global powerhouse brands who have enormous booths costing over a million dollars and provide fantastic giveaways. This article focuses on three tips for international brands to stand out at CES even with a relatively modest budget. In particular, I recommend targeting the CES Innovation Awards, organizing a successful crowdfunding campaign and preparing a targeted media outreach plan. Apart from CES exhibitors, these tips are also helpful for brands planning to exhibit at a large-scale international exhibition, such as the IFA (Berlin), and Mobile World Conference(Barcelona). CES Innovation Awards The Innovations Awards are a unique calling card to differentiate brands and demonstrate that your products are among the world's best. To provide a first-hand insight on how to give your brand a chance of winning these awards, I interviewed Christophe Branchu (France) and Julien Gueuning (Belgium), co-founders of JU&KE Design Studio based in Shenzhen as their client (Kandao) has won a total of four CES and CES Asia Innovation Awards in 2017. An important point to note is that CES and CES Asia have separate awards and brands need to make two separate applications to be considered. Though the award winners for CES 2019 has been announced, your brand may register for CES Asia 2019, and seek consideration at a later stage for awards. JU&KE Studio was co-founded in 2016 after Christophe and Julien met in Shenzhen, known as the global Silicon Valley of Hardware that is tightly integrated with an advanced manufacturing ecosystem. Christophe began this interview by sharing the selection criteria of the Innovation Awards for both CES and CES Asia: 1. Engineering qualities 2. Aesthetic and design qualities 3. The product's intended use/function and user value 4. Unique/novel features and features that consumers would find attractive 5. How the design and innovation of this product directly compare to other products in the marketplace Kandao Obsidian Camera, CES Innovation Award Winner 2017 According to Julien, JU&KE were privileged to partner Kandao, who was seeking to update an existing VR camera prototype to participate in both CES and CES Asia 2017. "The CES shows are a terrific platform for brands to launch themselves on the world stage", said Christophe, adding that, "It was a mutual match as we partnered Kandao end-to-end to design a fantastic high-performance product. Kandao’s VR camera comes with 6 fisheye lenses arranged in a hexagonal layout. We decided to name the product "Obsidian" to match the color and also designed a fresh brand logo and packaging." As JU&KE is one of the few international design studios located in Shenzhen, this facilitated a close partnership with Kandao where all communication was done within the same time zone and personal visits were made to the production line to better control design outcomes. This attention to detail paid off handsomely as Kandao became a CES Best of Innovation winner in the Digital Imaging product category. Kandao logo inspiration - A "Play" button and "K" for Kandao Julien commented that "Winning this award provides far greater exposure and access at CES. For example, a special showcase area is made available to showcase winning products. Your brand is also invited to CES Unveiled, where hundreds of members of the media mingle with Innovation Award winners and preview their products. This gives your brand a good chance to reach beyond CES attendees and gain valuable earned media publicity." However, this successful design required careful advance planning. Julien indicated that a three months lead-time is required for the end-to-end planning done for Kandao where a prototype was already available. If there's no prototype to start with, then the lead-time goes up to six months. Responding to a query about CES Asia, Christophe commented, "We have noticed a growing trend where more international brands are participating in CES Asia for the first time. Many of these brands are already familiar with China as their products are benefiting from the high-quality design and manufacturing in Shenzhen. Brands are now quickly recognizing that though these products are born in China, they are consumed by the world." Crowdfunding Campaigns Another way to differentiate brands from the CES pack is to indicate that your product has successfully attracted significant funding support on an international platform such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter. There are two reasons why crowdfunding success helps to raise brands to the eye level of CES attendees and beyond: (1) It provides a relatively objective way of assessing a product that attracts potential customers, partners, and journalists who are seeking to discover fresh and innovative products at the CES exhibitions. This effect is definitely attractive to start-ups as well as companies who have just started internationalizing as they lack a strong brand name. In recent years, this crowdfunding effect is starting to attract established brands who do not need to raise funds. According to David Mandelbrot, Indiegogo CEO, "We’ve had campaigns from companies like Procter and Gamble, Honeywell, and Bose. They’re big, public companies. They don’t need to raise funds. But they’re using Indiegogo to validate the products coming out of their innovation divisions and launch those products to an audience they can engage with directly." In terms of an Asian brand example, Anker's sub-brand Nebula has also successfully raised $1.2 million for a mini-projector by Nov 2017, in time for January’s CES 2018. (2) Crowdfunding platforms have been rapidly evolving, with the largest platforms helping brands beyond the crowdfunding phase, and providing opportunities to scale, e.g. order fulfillment in target markets. CES offers an opportunity to meet these potential partners and spark off win-win collaborations. David revealed that 40 percent of Indiegogo's transactions are cross-border. He also pointed out that Indiegogo partners Ingram Micro on order fulfillment in the U.S and that some of its clients had secured brick-and-mortar distributors such as Target. Targeted Media Outreach Press outreach may sometimes be overlooked by first-time CES exhibitors as they are so focused on the event itself. This is a big mistake as the target audience for your brand goes beyond the exhibition attendees: CES 2018 received 107,120 media mentions, on top of generating 49 million Snapchat live views, and around 1 million #CES2018 and @CES Mentions. You can be sure that apart from hustling for customers, every company on the CES show floor will be seeking media attention to spread their brand story. So how can brands prepare ahead of this event? Let's start with what international journalists are looking for and the types of pressure they face. Mike Butcher, a TechCrunch editor, reports getting some 500 emails per day, and he only takes a few seconds to decide whether to read the entire email. Therefore, it’s critical that any communication to the press be about news, not self-promotion. Of course, the best-case scenario is to attract journalists to approach your brand and ask specific questions that are interesting to their readers. Therefore, it is important to time your outreach. Monthly print publications are doing their CES roundups long before the show, while some online news outlets patrol the show floor with cameras for same-day coverage. As a reference, Kandao had sent a press release two months ahead of the CES event when their Innovation Award win was announced. This helped gain the attention of the relevant journalists who needed to start work ahead of the actual event. Another best practice is to prepare a media kit that can be found on your brand's website. Media kit materials should include a one-page corporate overview, press release materials, product specifications, product images, team/executive bios, and the company logo. This helps busy reporters report on your company more quickly without doing additional research! Finally, it is advisable to seek help especially when your brand is new to the international arena. By approaching a well-known press release distribution network such as PR Newswire, your brand may evaluate the various options such as finding and pitching to the journalists that cover your technology niche as well as organizing a "live" press conference on the show floor. PR Newswire offers services such as press release distribution to your targeted destinations as well as content creation services to help you craft stronger messages to reach your target audience. Conclusion It isn't mutually exclusive to win a CES Innovation Award, organize a successful crowdfunding campaign AND woo the press to cover your brand. In fact, it is definitely easier to attract media coverage if journalists spot a unique differentiator such as an Innovation Award or a successful crowdfunding campaign! Originally published in Chinese at Cifnews, and in English by Jx Tan on Linkedin. Click here to view releases distributed with regards to the upcoming CES 2019 event.
