CES 2015 POV: What it Means for Media
By Mark Egan on 01/12/2015
Inevitably, when you finally return to the office from CES each year, the question beckons, “What did you think of CES?” It’s difficult to sift through this multisensory overload to land on one perspective that sums it up. However, I left this year feeling a deep sense of excitement, both as a consumer and a media professional. Here’s why:
Creative Democratization
Technology continues to enable and democratize creativity. 3D printers print everything from clothes to sculptures now. The swift progress of this category is driven by falling printer prices and exponential growth in the number of materials or compounds printers are capable of using. Implications for media: Brands should expect to work even more closely with consumers and their many, increasing avenues of self-expression.
The Smarties
Children born today will come up in a “smart world”. Smart bottles, beds and pacifiers were the latest additions to the digital home. I’m not sure if kids, who are ever adaptive, will run with this or ultimately feel overwhelmed. Time waits for no man; Generation S, the Smarties, will begin.
Implications for media: Expectations for many brands will be raised significantly, following a trend of humanization, from fluid interactivity to quantifiable help or benefits, in some form.
Automotive
Automotive technology will provide for more personal, contiguous experiences. Having your personal mobile settings, music, podcasts, etc blend with you seamlessly as you get into your car has a lot of benefits for consumers, which is why it will take off.
Implications for media: Connecting the data streams that link these experiences are important to providing a more robust view of customer journeys and campaign effectiveness.
Mobile
Mobile wasn’t a highlight. Not long ago releases of new phones and mobile capabilities dominated CES headlines, but not this year. However, I think there’s a good reason for it: mobile has become so ubiquitous and ingrained in our everyday lives, it really is our life’s “remote control”. It’s now about those things it commands.
Implications for media: Ensure mobile is seamless in every communications strategy.
Collaboration Economy
The Internet of Things is solidifying the collaboration economy. Once observers got past the shocking number of entrants in the smart home and wearables spaces, they noticed the number of partnerships within this fragmented space. Interoperability was prevalent among many frienemies: ADT, Nest, Philips, Stack, and others. More impressively, IFTTT has provided a basic programming code for consumers to easily stitch everything together on their mobile phones making them behave responsively and synchronously.
Implication for media: Communications ecosystems shouldn’t be limited in thinking by ownership structures. Let your imagination run wild, more companies than ever are willing to work with one another for the sake of great experiences.
Indeed, the ingredients of digital connectivity, creativity and collaboration were in full effect at CES this year. That’s why my one takeaway was that the road ahead is a tremendously exciting one for us. Now, more than ever, great communications planning is required to sift through it all to create the most powerful and differentiating brand experiences. What a great way to start the year!
Leave a comment:
All comments:
No comments yet.
