The Consumer Electronic Show may have started out as a techie paradise, but it has morphed over the years into a playground for marketers as well. After all, so much of a marketer's job revolves around the latest technology, it stands to reason that many of the most popular gadgets will need to be a marketers radar.
Marketing and ad agency MRY CMO David Berkowitz told AdAge that CES provides brands with the opportunity to catch up on consumer tech habits. The brands that aren't able to keep up "will be left behind," he said.
Here are three big trends from CES for marketers to watch.
Virtual reality marketing is here
We heard whispers in 2014 that virtual reality is going to be big.
Marriott allowed hotel guests to virtually "travel around the world," Mountain Dew took its Oculus Rift headset on the road, and, at SXSW, HBO let attendees scale a "700-ft ice wall." But at this week's CES, it's clear that brands should get ready to board the virtual reality train in 2015. The technology allows brands to reach an audience that just wasn't available before. As evidenced by CES, it's here, it's cutting edge, and it could be a great opportunity for marketing innovators.
"Virtual reality will change the way we tell stories and create brand experiences for our consumers," PepsiCo's CMO of Global Consumer Engagement told the Wall Street Journal. "I believe that can deepen the connection between people and our brands."
The age of wearable marketing
When Tim Cook introduced the Apple Watch back in September, it was mostly met with ambivalence among consumers. "Aren't we connected enough? Do we really want a smart watch, too?" These seemed to be the common responses from consumers.
Well, if Silicon Valley has its way, it's happening. At CES, wearable makers seemed to try hard to make sure wearables blended in and didn't just look like something from a science fiction film. Everything from fitness bands, smart watches, glasses, and even clothing were on display. So what does this mean for marketing?
If 2015 really is the year that wearables catch on, this could open up a whole new treasure trove of audience targeting. Lisa Caputo, the CMO of Travelers Cos. Inc., an insurance company, told the Wall Street Journal that wearables can especially help with pharmaceutical markets, since "wearable devices all yield data such as heart rates...it could possibly be used by companies like Johnson & Johnson when they market low cholesterol drugs."
While it's still unclear how that will shake out, the first programmatic ad platform was announced for wearable this week. It does appear that the future is now.
Say it with us: Data, data, data
Yes, data mining has been very important for marketers for quite some time. But never before has so much data on consumers been available, and from so many different places. All the new devices, trends, and opportunities presented by CES mean that marketers will have to buckle down that much more and figure out the most streamlined way to analyze the data coming from wearables, streaming services, and online platforms.
Bob Lord, CEO of AOL Platforms, perhaps said it best in Ad Age: "The information available about consumer behavior, media consumption habits, and campaign performance has the potential to shape marketing like never before, impacting everything from how ad inventory is purchased to message development and even creative execution."
But not all the news came out of CES this week.
Here's a quick roundup of the other marketing headlines this week:
McDonalds announces major rebranding campaign
After quarter over quarter of declining revenue and a shift in consumer tastes, McDonalds finally heeded the call for a brand refresh. The brand is keeping it's "I'm Loving It" tagline, and is going for the idea that McDonalds is a commonly loved brand, even among the most bitter of rivals. That doesn't get at the fact that consumers want healthier food, but if that thinking works, it could serve as marketing inspiration for other struggling fast food chains.
Twitter finally attempts to cut through the noise
A common complaint among Twitter users is that it's hard to cut through the white noise of the social network, making it hard to often see the most relevant tweets. But this week, a "While You Were Away" feature was spotted, so it looks like the site is responding to the issue. This may be good news for brand accounts, as it looks like tweets now have the opportunity to get a second life among loyal audiences.
A Verizon-AOL partnership could equal marketing gold
Will they? Won't they? The rumors are swirling about a joint-venture between the two huge companies, but they are still just that—rumors. Of course, that hasn't stopped us from thinking about what it could mean for marketers. If a takeover does happen, it could be a gold mine of new audience targeting opportunities, between Verizon's cross-device targeting and AOL's software bundles.
Native ads in print? Forbes is trying to make it happen
The very nature of native ads push the boundaries between editorial and advertising. Forbes took it a step further this week when it introduced its first native ad magazine cover. For its annual "30 Under 30" issue, the magazine put out two covers, one of which was a native ad for AT&T featuring startup co-founder Jessica Matthews. How the cover performs could be a good indicator of whether or not other publishers should pursue more native ad covers.