"I didn't see the future at CES" – marketers still await tipped tech's killer products
When returning from the annual pilgrimage to the digital innovation mecca that is CES, there’s always a temptation to breathlessly proclaim “I’ve seen the future, and it’s definitely [insert tech here] shaped”. However, having massaged some feeling back into my poor feet, it’s been relatively easy to avoid such hyperbole this time around.
CES 2016 showed glimpses of tech to come
There were some incredibly exciting and innovative individual solutions on display (I absolutely loved Panasonic’s digital window display technology), but sometimes it does us marketers good to stay grounded in the now, rather than fixating on the possibilities of the future. After all, it’s our job to help our clients decide not just the what, but the when too.
The CES experience has always been useful in helping to define that tipping point: where the tech or trend has reached a level of maturation when it is ready for the brand to either introduce to, or engage with on, the mass market.
Yes, we’re supposed to know what’s what on the cutting edge of innovation – that’s part of the modern digital agency offering – but we’re also here to know about ROI. For that reason, from my perspective as a marketer the why is more relevant than the how – and that’s why CES was a bit of letdown this year.
There were 3,800 exhibitors at the show, but I reckon at least two-thirds of them can be disregarded because they are either copycats or offer products with very little relevance to us as marketers. The technology that looked disruptive and new a couple of years ago – think VR, drone tech or 3D printing – is certainly maturing, but the killer apps are still lagging behind.
Take the latter: two years ago it was the darling of the CES digerati, but the floor experience this year shows that a hefty reality check has set in. It's clearly understood this is not the solution to all manufacturing challenges. Therefore, the printers on display this time around were being marketed to developers of prototypes and to schools in order to teach kids 3D design.
The smart home market is one that is closer to reaching my tipping point, but it’s still cluttered and lacking the kind of coherent focus with which brand marketers can engage. Consumers either have to combine a lot of different products from different sources (leading to multiple phone apps or multiple control devices) or they have to buy a product suite from a startup that may not succeed and could leave you with an obsolete product.
What I heard at the show was a lot of “this sensor will be ready in Q3”, or “we are currently undergoing an Indiegogo campaign”. Lots of products are in the works but it's still something of a cosmic cloud. It’s when that cloud coalesces into a critical mass, ie a manufacturer shows that it really owns the market and can take the lead in setting the industry standard, that we marketers can really get stuck in.
Klaus Holzapfel is innovations director of digital agency Zone