2011 ces social report

a report about social media and brands at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show

CESSOCIALREPORT2011 | WWW.CESSOCIALREPORT.COM

| 2011 CES SOCIAL REPORT oxfordcommunications.com2

2,700 exhibitors came to display. 140,000 attendees came to see. 5,000 members of the media, bloggers and analysts came to publish.

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been a barometer of innovative trends and consumer demand since its inception in 1967. The 2011 CES, which took place between Jan. 6 through Jan. 9, was no different—this year, the world’s largest consumer technology trade show manifested an all-out collision between social behavior and consumer electronics.

With over 158,000 CES-related tweets later, it’s clear that social media was used as a primary means of communication between attendees and exhibitors alike. The most exciting announcements from brands at the trade show were based on social technology or on socially-charged consumer behavior. This report will show how social media is impacting the way exhibitors exhibit, the way consumers consume, the way in!uencers in!uence and the way the successful achieve success.

| 2011 CES SOCIAL REPORT oxfordcommunications.com

further information on the report’s website and request in-depth interviews when possible and we were happy to have many brands take us up on our request of deeper insight.

Still, we’d love to hear what you thought of CES 2011 and the report … and since it is all about being social, we’d love to have a conversation with you, so feel free to reach out to us on www.CESsocialreport.com. Additionally, if you or a brand you represent will be at a future CES, please let us know so we can include you in our plans for 2012.

We do hope you’ll enjoy and stay social with us until next year’s report!

Yours Truly,

Ben GrossmanCommunications StrategistOxford Communicationse: [email protected]: 602.741.0314

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WELCOME TO THE REPORT!Every year, CES takes over Las Vegas to do what the destination is best at: dazzle visitors. The annual CES has become something of a marker of trends—a baseline for year-over-year realization of social shifts in our society.

Think about it—"ve years ago at CES 2006, Facebook was still only available to high school and college students and Twitter had yet to be invented. Over the years that I have attended CES, I have watched exhibitors, attendees and the conference itself grow increasingly immersed in the world of social media. Meanwhile, I’ve watched even the most basic products presented there become more and more integrated with the social Internet. Unsurprisingly, at CES 2011, social media played a bigger role than ever. In fact, some of my team’s most exciting observations were about the adoption of socially-powered technology by consumer electronics brands—both in products and in the way they presented themselves at the trade show.

The past year has made it clear that social media is here to stay—and that it is a force that demands to be recognized by "elds ranging from politics to marketers to consumer electronics manufacturers. As an integrated marketing agency, communication is the currency we deal with daily at Oxford Communications. In fact, that shift toward social media is fueling the strategy behind our most effective initiatives for clients both on and of!ine.

The CES Social Report has been developed by my team at Oxford to capture and catalogue our professional analysis of how the social revolution is affecting the strategies of exhibitors at CES. In the following pages, you’ll see our take on what brands are doing in response to the rise of social media at the world’s largest consumer technology trade show. The report is not intended to promote or offend any brands or individuals. We did issue an open call for



ALL IN THE INFLUENCE80 percent of in!uential impressions about consumer electronics are generated and distributed by 1.8 percent of online adults. This small fraction of social media users is in!uenced by a brain trust of high-powered opinion-makers who collect and distribute facts, insights and news about the consumer electronics industry. Marketers are quickly realizing that opportunities to ef"ciently reach the right people can unleash a tidal wave of earned media and in!uence.

Each year, over 5,000 members of the media and bloggers travel to Las Vegas to cover the product launches, announcements and futuristic experiences delivered at CES. These people are the super-in!uencers who fuel the opinions behind the impressions spread during and after the show. They have personal connections with large numbers of people through social media, and their opinions are sought out by their friends and family at a rate 2.5 greater than the average online adult.

THE 2011 CES SOCIAL REPORTThe CES Social Report has been developed to capture and catalogue what brands are doing to energize the in!uential social media socialites at CES; how they are creating branded experiences worth talking about; and which trends set the tone at the International CES. In order to deliver that level of insight, our team was immersed in pre-show buzz in the weeks leading up to the opening day, had our social listening dashboards up constantly, attended several of the most in!uential parties hosted by exhibitors and tirelessly walked the trade show !oor each day of the 2011 CES.

Here, you will "nd pro"les of what we deemed to be the top 10 most interesting brands based on their response to the rise of social media, examples and analysis of the top "ve trends in social media and a look forward of what we’re expecting to see at the 2012 CES in terms of social media’s impact on exhibitors and attendees.


WHAT WE SAW


WIRED MAGAZINE & AMDWired Magazine and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) joined together to create one of the most impressively social presences at CES 2011 Their socially infused efforts were uni"ed by the call to action for attendees to ‘Make a Scene.’ The booth, armed with powerful computers and tech experts, and its ‘Make a Scene’ initiatives provided a plethora of opportunities for visitors to create content and easily share it across their social networks.

One of the most compelling, shareable pieces of content generated at CES 2011 were the YouTube videos that Wired Magazine and AMD facilitated. These videos were created as short accounts from booth visitors of their CES experiences. After recording their videos, visitors were provided with a computer, software to edit and guidance from a team of tech experts. Then they were encouraged to upload their videos and share them with their social networks. The creators of the 10 videos with the most views at the end of each day were entered into a drawing for a computer.

Another social activity we found at this booth was the opportunity to create a digital cover of Wired Magazine that featured a picture of the booth visitor. This was accomplished using computers and cameras in the booth that were available to visitors and complimented by a full staff of tech experts.

Each of these social objects gave visitors the chance to create something worth sharing, but then also provided avenues for branded content to be shared in relatively organic ways. Getting branded objects out through the networks of booth visitors proved to be savvy and yields peer in!uence impressions for these brands across a diverse audience.


KODAKAnother booth that had an abundance of social tie-ins was Kodak. With space dedicated for bloggers, special guests, a SCVNGR game, QR codes, signage that encouraged social actions, and shareable content galore and products that have built in social capabilities, Kodak’s ‘social-ness’ was almost excessive. Kodak deserves full-credit for capitalizing on many of these social opportunities effectively at CES 2011.

Some efforts were highly engaging and led to meaningful plugs for the Kodak CES event across social networks. Notably, Kodak allowed visitors to play SCVNGR, a popular mobile social game, in a highly branded context. Playing the game, users were prompted to describe how they de"ne a Kodak moment with the option to share their response with their personal networks. We spoke with members of the social team at Kodak and they were very open about the fact that to be a leader in social spaces, you have to engage in some experiments, and this year SCVNGR was just that for Kodak.

Kodak has also continued to introduce products that feature a ‘share’ button. This button uses built-in technology to allow users to share their pictures across the social network of their choice right from the camera. After recognizing that consumers share photos across their social networks at staggering rates, Kodak built products that streamline the process. Doing so has allowed Kodak to make its products more relevant... and, in the process, developed a key differentiator for the brand.

Photo Credit: Kodak Blog

Photo Credit: Kodak Blog


AMERICAN EXPRESS | OPEN FORUMAmerican Express brought their OPEN Forum campaign to CES in a big way. At their booth, OPEN Forum hosted notable speakers who discussed business trends and how technology is impacting business strategies. Among these speakers was social media superstars Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki. The OPEN Forum has a history of tapping into top in!uencers for content in their small business community, and we were impressed by this extension of that philosophy for the trade show environment.

We stopped by the booth to catch Chris Brogan’s presentation, and in addition to speaking about ways that business has changed in the 21st century and plugging AmEx OPEN Forum, Brogan made an effort to show the opportunity that our new digital behaviors pose for businesses. He covered topics ranging from "nding complaints on Twitter to customizing websites, to the importance of an organization’s email database. Brogan challenged those present to assess if their (or their brand’s) practices were in-line with consumers’ everyday behaviors.

Before Brogan got to CES, he was publicizing his presence and in turn AmEx. These in!uencer’s activity make it clear that AmEx’s decision to employ experts like Brogan was a smart move. They have some of the largest, most enraptured and powerful networks on the social web. By enlisting their valuable expertise on topics, AmEx also got immediate exposure and impressions among Brogan and other’s substantial networks.


MICROVISIONHow can a brand capitalize on a product that is inherently shareable without a full booth of its own at CES? It can go guerilla. That’s right; guerilla marketing is not just for the streets of New York City, it is also welcomed in the hallways of 2011 CES.

Microvison, a laser projector that pairs with Apple iOS devices, was one of those products and may just have been the best example of how to have a booth-free presence at CES. The Microvision crew, conscious of the regulations of the trade show, were using the product themselves and happy to engage in a discussion with attendees that were curious.

When we stopped by to meet them in a dark hall behind a booth, they showed us how their product could be used in a gaming situation and invited us to plug one of our devices into their product to project something of our choice. In addition to using their product and showcasing its capabilities, the Microvision crew offered anyone willing to tweet that they were seeing the product at CES a $10 iTunes gift card.

Sample tweet by one of this report’s authors.


GRIFFINFor the second year in a row, Grif"n has enjoyed success in social spaces leading up to CES. Grif"n has shown an ability to assemble share-worthy ideas and activate social media presences to distribute their content far and wide. Last year, prior to the CES 2010, Grif"n created a series of YouTube videos about members of their company road tripping to Las Vegas in a restored Volkswagen Van.

This year, Grif"n shared a slide deck through SlideShare.net that gave 25 tips for those attending CES. Grif"n initiated the spread by seeding this content on Facebook, Twitter and other corners of the web. This content capitalized on a real need that existed within the CES community. Grif"n also shared CES 2011 by tweeting live updates as its booth was assembled through a branded Twitter handle. This strategy created an af"nity for the booth, and generated a desire among followers to see the booth in real life during the show.

Engaging attendees before the show, while they are planning their activities, has proven to be an effective way to handle the inevitable bandwidth issues that arise during the show. After all, Grif"n did claim this year’s iLounge.com’s Best of Show 2011. That said, the booth lacked speci"c call outs to join, connect, follow or share any aspect of the show experience through social media.


RCA & AUDIOVOXRCA and Audiovox (its parent company) saw CES as an opportunity grow the fan bases of their brands and to share meaningful content with their existing online connections. Through coordinated efforts, these two brands used custom tabs and a specialized set of pro"le images to draw awareness to their presences at CES as the show approached. The Facebook Pages featured a series of pro"le pictures that counted down the days to CES. This coupled with effective management, engaging content and some holiday gift buzz allowed the RCA Page to enjoy some rapid growth prior to 2011 CES.

Because of this success, there was some press attention paid to how these brands were using social media ahead of the show, and a company representative was quoted in a Los Angeles Times blog, saying, “This year at CES we will place a signi"cant focus on our RCA and Audiovox Facebook and Twitter presences. Our main goal is to build up our fan base. Not just to hit a certain number, but to have a large group to be able to reach out to with new products, fan giveaways, contests and focus groups.”

During the show, Audiovox equipped models on the !oor with iPads and sought out Facebook fans and Twitter followers on the spot. In addition to this, there were call outs in the booth on stanchions for attendees to ‘like’ the brands on Facebook and follow on Twitter.

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SKULLCANDYAt this year’s lifestyle-centric Skullcandy exhibit, members of the general public could take free branded items, listen to DJs mixing music, watch artists generating street art and play a ‘Plinko’ style game (for those Price Is Right fans out there) for a chance to win Skullcandy products. Lifestyle engagement was about all the average attendee got from Skullcandy at CES 2011. Invited journalists, however, were invited to a private area to see Skullcandy products and announcements. Despite the lack of publicly available for product on display, Skullcandy had an extremely successful and crowed booth. Why? They capitalized on the social nature of lifestyle marketing and appointment dynamics.

Branding through lifestyle, while sometimes expensive (paying for guest DJs and artists), can certainly make your brand, event or booth worth talking about. Skullcandy further capitalized on this draw by creating scarcity and demand for the different aspects of its booth. The company had DJs spinning at speci"c times and ran certain activities to coincide with these events. This created a heightened sense of interest in the booth. If an attendee showed up to see something speci"c, he/she likely showed up at a time when many other people were there too. This made the booth feel like a real event in and of itself.


POLAROIDOne of the old tricks of the trade for marketers is borrowed interest. Polaroid is seeking to capitalize on the FAME Monster of Lady Gaga to rejuvenate its brand. At last year’s CES, Lady Gaga was named Creative Director and Inventor of Specialty Products, causing quite the media stir.

This year, it was time to show the yield of this partnership. Polaroid and Lady Gaga didn’t disappoint. The line of products, called Polaroid Grey Label, claims to represent the simple, but cutting-edge aspect of the brand. With the compelling booth that Polaroid had and some well-executed literature, Polaroid created a very sharable experience. Layer on top of that Lady Gaga’s second annual appearance at the booth, and Polaroid had a swarm of attendees, media and fans alike, two hours in advance of the appearance.

The camera submersed in a tank with live !sh certainly warranted an MMS home. Whether it warranted the !ght with AT&T’s over-burdened network the weekend of CES is a whole separate question.


CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOWThe Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) – which hosts CES, has made a concerted effort to capitalize on the social nature of the attendees at the world’s largest trade show. CES is no longer just a chance for Foursquare users to get their Super Swarm (or this year, Super-Duper Swam) badges. This year attendees could earn a special CES-branded badge in addition to multitude of other opportunities to share their CES 2011 experiences.

CES is aiming to give attendees plenary ways to connect through social media–not only with the exhibitors at CES, but also with the conference itself. This year, CES had covered all its bases with presences on Facebook and Twitter (@intlCES), blogs at Digital Dialogue, a partnership with Foursquare and a mobile application for all major devices.

The Facebook and Twitter presences have garnered respectable followings, and each are actively used by CES to plug events, exhibitors and up-to-the-minute news. This year, CES also had an of"cial TweetUp, to which all CES-goers were invited to join in on at the SpaceQuest Lounge on Friday, Jan. 7. Between the burlesque dancers in the middle of the venue, giveaways and a Twitter stream "lled with tweets attempting to grab the attention of those at the TweetUp made for a rather unful"lling experience.

One of the ways that CES had hoped to organize the social happenings at the trade show was through an interactive site called the CES Social Circle. The site was designed to show recent mentions of CES-related topics across social networks. The site featured recent tweets, Facebook posts, press by key in!uencers and mentions based on location. Though we admired the effort, we ultimately felt the CES Social Circle lacked recognition of how the social elite behave. The online social elite is the world’s best self-organizing crowd. Providing the CES Social Circle for this crowd is akin to having assigned seating at your local Starbucks. We can only assume the CES Social Circle was more popular with social media beginners following from afar than it was for in!uential power users.


INTELIntel, the chip manufacturer and perennial CES case study had a booth that earned signi"cant attention. With a visit from the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, a Facebook-streamed press conference, high volume of posts on Twitter and more than 1,343 check-ins, Intel was not only present on social media, but reaping the rewards of highly in!uential attendees.

Though Intel was not the only brand to stream a press conference via Facebook, the brand did provide fans following CES from afar the opportunity to stay engaged. Intel’s Facebook community was hyper-engaged in the live-streaming event and the brand was also heavily talked about on Twitter, claiming to be the 10th most mentioned handle for CES related tweets.

In addition to all this activity, Intel created a custom app that tracked check-ins across Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla for all the brands at CES. Across these platforms, there were 10,133 check-ins to branded booths at CES, with BlackBerry (2,422 check-ins), Sony (1,573 check-ins) and Intel (1,343 check-ins). NBC Universal was a distant fourth with 353 check-ins.

Intel’s Social Media Strategist, Brian Rhoads, succinctly expressed the opportunity that exists for brands in social media at CES 2011: “Social media builds awareness for Intel, builds community and connects us to users wherever they are, in the medium of their choice,” said Rhoads. “It’s expanding Intel’s voice everywhere.”

We agree with Rhoads because expanded voice and connecting with users on their terms is what social media at CES should be focused on.

Photo Credit: Intel Blog


WHAT WE OBSERVED


2011 CES TRENDSWhat’s changed always tends to be a main area of interest whenever we attend CES. Here, we’ve set out to document some of the shifts we’re seen in brands’ presences as a result of the continued rise and evolution of social media. This year, we’ve selected "ve major trends:

1. Inviting In!uencers In: Instead of trying to grab in!uencers’ attention as they walk by booths on the trade show !oor, brands have begun inviting in!uencers to set-up shop broadcasting within their exhibits.

2. Social Check-box: While some brands reached out to online audiences through social media in 2011, others checked that box off the list with rather simple social media activities, showing that brands know they need to be in the space, but aren’t yet sure how.

3. Interdependence of Social Media and Technology: Social media doesn’t only act as a marketing tool for brands at CES. Many brands have begun introducing products or service offerings that are powered or inspired by social media.

4. Exhibiting Without An Exhibit: In a world where brands can build audiences and communicate with attendees on the !y, they also no longer have to stay on the trade show !oor. Several brands broke away from a traditional exhibit to meet in!uencers elsewhere.

5. The Proper Party: CES 2011 featured over 35 known (and many more unknown) parties. Some resulted in quality conversations about the host brands, while others just resulted in liquored attendees.


INVITING INFLUENCERS INBrands spend much of their time at CES trying to get in!uencers’ attention by greeting them once at their booths, inviting them to the right parties and making sure they don’t get too close to un-media trained product engineers. Some especially savvy brands are beginning to realize that’s yesterday’s way of relating to in!uencers who are increasingly asking, “what’s in it for me?”

This year, we were highly impressed with NBC Universal and Kodak’s efforts to invite in!uencers to become part of their booths. NBC Universal gave bloggers, podcasters and online in!uencers a home base, The Hub. These in!uencers were given time slots to use NBC Universal’s space throughout the show right next to the international professional broadcasting studio, where each in!uencer had their own set, Internet hookup and power sources. Kodak created the Blogger-Zone as part of its K-Zone, a section of their booth where Kodak featured its chief blogger, and invited The Pulse Network, a social media content producing startup, to interview thought leaders and produce live content.

The best part? Not only did these brands draw important in!uencers in to cover their booth, but the invited guests had their own in!uential guests come to be interviewed under the auspices of the host brand. In fact, we caught Chris Brogan being interviewed at the Kodak booth shortly after his presentation at the American Express OPEN Forum booth.

In short, both brands set out to develop relationships with in!uencers ahead of time and found meaningful ways to provide true value to the in!uencers they wished to reach. While the in!uencers were welcomed to broadcast (and tweet) whatever they wanted from the booths, they always made sure to cover - and thank - their hosts.


SOCIAL CHECK-BOXAs social media has gone mainstream and so have consumers’ expectations that companies will have an active presence on some of the key social media sites—like Facebook and Twitter. That expectation seems to spill over to brands attendees at CES. But there’s a key difference between having meaningful, result-driving social media strategy embedded within a company’s presence at the trade show and simply being able to check a box off a list of requisite components of an exhibit.

While many brands went well above and beyond checking a box, some brands chose to keep it relatively low key when it came to social media, while others featured no visible mention at all. JVC’s booth featured an uncharacteristically last-minute-looking 8.5”x11” sign on its welcome counter inviting visitors to “stay connected” with the company. Blackberry featured a rotating graphic on its big screen simply providing users with the requisite information to visit its Twitter presence, Facebook Page and blog. Victorinox put up an easel with a call-out to check-in on Foursquare and follow the brand on Twitter, as well as a loose tie to a “crack the code” contest. Our take-away from these brands was that it was great that they are trying to get involved, but ultimately need to focus further on the value proposition their social media presence is offering up to attendees.

Still more interesting was the impact consumer adoption of social media had on the way brands talk about themselves. We noticed a slew of brand tag lines that directly referenced a more connected and social consumer. GE’s ecomagination section touted the brand’s role in “empowering the connected consumer.” One of RCA’s newest products touted the its bene"t to a connected consumer: “Never be left powerless.” The side of Kenmore’s booth featured a direct reference to the size of its social media following. Kenmore’s brand is on the cutting edge of the social media revolution- breaking new ground as the largest appliance brand on Facebook. In our estimation, size isn’t all that matters, but we like the zeal!


One of the trends that goes well outside the traditional bounds of marketing with social media is the impact that social has had on business decisions and product development. At CES, we were interested to see social-driven features incorporated into products as well as heavy investment in social technologies by brands in areas outside their standard wheelhouse. These shifts that have begun surfacing over the past year prove how convergent social technology and consumer electronics will be in the years to come.

Last year, at CES 2010, Polaroid announced its partnership with the highly in!uential (and social media savvy) Lady Gaga, by which the recording artist and pop culture personality will act as the company’s creative director. At this year’s show, Lady Gaga made her second appearance to announce some of the products that have been the yield of that relationship. Polaroid’s new Grey Label collection, designed by the Haus of Gaga, trumpets the products’ inherent tie to social media in literature about the line: “Every Polaroid Grey Label product was designed with the idea that creativity and sharing go hand in hand, in both the digital and physical world. After all, where’s the fun in creating something amazing and keeping it to yourself.”

Qualcomm featured an entire side of its booth labeled “Social Networking.” Comprised of several socially-oriented concepts, the two that caught our attention were Vive and Skoot. Vive is a platform that operates as a start-up within Qualcomm as a result of a group of employees winning an innovation contest. This online application hooks into social networks like Facebook in order to help people "nd mobile applications that their friends like no matter what device the user’s friend owns. Skoot is a mobile application that is white-labeled to cell phone carriers like Verizon and comes standard on new phones. The white-labeled application allows cell phone owners to use one application to navigate all of his social networks within one application. Carriers are incentivized to license the technology from Qualcomm, because it prioritizes communication with the mobile network to conserve the phone’s battery and the bandwidth of the wireless towers. Skoot was acquired by Qualcomm after originating as a private start-up.

Keep an eye out for companies to continue to make social features standard in their products going forward. Once limited to cell phone makers, increasing consumer demand is resulting in pressure on manufacturers of devices ranging from cameras to appliances to include social relevancy.

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INTERDEPENDENCE: SOCIAL MEDIA & CONSUMER ELECTRONICS


With over 2,700 exhibitors at CES 2011, it’s easy to understand why some brands fear they’ll be lost in a sea of branded set-ups. This year, we noticed a major in!ux of brands opting to exhibit at CES outside of a traditional booth space on the trade show !oor. Whether they leveraged show !oor-based guerrilla demos, outdoor street teams and models or off-site suites, brands big and small made a splash at CES without paying top dollar for !oor space (which goes for $41 a sq. foot). Our favorite example of a brand exhibiting without an exhibit was MicroVision, a

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EXHIBITING WITHOUT AN EXHIBIT

Redmond, Wash. based technology company that offers display and imaging products for mobile devices. The company initiated buzz around its CES appearance ahead of time by trumpeting the fact that brand representatives would be holding impromptu RAGE HD matches in the darker areas behind exhibits on the trade show !oor. To participate, attendees were encouraged to follow MicroVision on Twitter (@microvision) to "nd out where they could "nd the brand’s team and play for a chance to rank as one of the day’s top "ve scorers to win their very own SHOWWX+ projector. When we ran into the team, they were also offering attendees $10 iTunes gift cards for tweeting their thoughts about the demoed product on the spot.

Intel’s team took to the streets outside the Las Vegas Convention Center to hand out rather ponderous books to the masses. While the brand certainly had a major presence on the trade show !oor, at the height of registration madness, Intel jumped ahead in attendees’ psyches by giving them their "rst giveaways and putting the Intel booth number in their hands immediately. While Brother International

Corporation’s embroidery crew did have a presence at the North Hall, buyers interested in Brother’s inkjet and laser printers had to look beyond the grounds of CES 2011 to meet Brother’s team. While the brand’s printer products were absent from the trade show !oor, Brother rented out the Playboy suite at The Palms casino to host a luxe experience for invited guests.

Engaging with attendees in the halls and grounds of CES forces brands to manage a "ne line. But it can pay huge dividends. As the hubbub on the CES !oor only continues to grow with the advent of 3-D TV, increasingly popular celebrity appearances and TVs the size of houses with the depth of credit cards, we expect to continue to see brands stepping out of their booths to create more unique and differentiating experiences for attendees.


THE PROPER PARTYEarly in the 20th century, American comedian Fred Allen de"ned a cocktail party as, “a gathering held to enable forty people to talk about themselves at the same time. The man who remains after the liquor is gone is the host.” While Allen may have been of a different generation and parties at CES often exceed a forty-person head-count, he pinpointed a challenge that party hosts at CES still face today. Because attendees at in!uencer parties often have their own agendas and personal interests, how can brands allow them to talk about themselves, while also in!uencing conversations (in-person and online) to center around the purpose of the party? At CES 2011, there were over 35 known (and many more unknown) parties planned by brands. While some kept their products and messages front and center, others just served to support Allen’s sardonic supposition about parties.

Nissan made a big splash at CES 2011 to publicize the launch of the new LEAF, billed as the world’s "rst affordable, all electric vehicle available on the mass market. While the automobile’s presence at the show extended far beyond the "rst day, Nissan hosted a launch party at Little Buddha in The Palms hotel. Over the course of the night, a few hundred attendees and around 50 media folks stopped by, but we were left wondering if there was a way Nissan could have gone beyond generating awareness of its product to engage attendees with product attributes while at the party.

Instead, attendees engaged mostly in exploring the attributes of a free bar and Michael Jackson-obsessed dance !oor (with occasional appearances by a giant Nissan polar bear). Partner brands, including Microsoft’s Windows Embedded technology did make appearances at the party through coasters and literature on bar tops, but the event missed the opportunity to have attendees chatting about the LEAF, rather than the party itself. The one thing that will always stick with us? These bizarre hired interactive dancers that Nissan had cloaked in gauzy botanical dresses.


THE PROPER PARTY (continued)

One of the most successful parties at CES for the past few years has been Lenovo’s Blogger Lounge. Hosted at Aquaknox in The Venetian, Rebecca Welles, graphic designer on Lenovo’s corporate identity team brings the brand to life through a meticulous and impressive showcase that takes over this high-end restaurant. The photos alone show how beautiful this invite-only event is, but we’re also consistently impressed with the simple number of conversation-worthy occurrences at the party every year. This year, Lenovo partnered with the Social Media Club to allow in!uencers to request a spot on the guest list.

On the night of the festivity, attendees were greeted by brightly-colored and gripping product displays, complete with screens showing the most recent activity across social networks about the party and products. An open bar, DJ, acoustic performance by popular band (and viral video masters) OK Go and a stand-out ThinkLab (laboratory featuring torture tests on Lenovo products) all entertained and excited in!uencers to stick around and publicize the happenings at the party. Knowledgeable and sociable brand representatives were strategically placed around well-executed displays to talk attendees through product offerings, announcements and contests.

We’re expecting brands to become better at connecting people (including their own representatives) in the !esh by allowing attendees to plan in-person meet-ups based on pre-party social media contact. Finally, keep an eye out for companies (like Lenovo) becoming more savvy creators of in-person social experiences that translate more seamlessly into social experiences online.


WHAT WELEARNED


6 LESSONSLEARNED

FROM CES 2011

1. Be Generous: Give people a reason to mention you, even if it is compelling sharable content or a space in your booth where bloggers can write and recharge. If you can give something of value to in!uencers, they are likely to mention your brand. Getting mentioned leads to awareness of your brand’s CES presence and can create a meaningful platform to share your messages.

2. Be Sharable: Being generous and providing motivation to share is one thing, but prompting and enabling sharing is what gets word to travel. Do you prompt people to connect with you in social spaces? Do you encourage visitors to share their experiences? Do you suggest sharable items that people will be inclined to share?

3. Be Experimental: Just like Kodak’s use of SCVNGR at 2011 CES, brands looking to take the lead in conversations about exhibitors will need to be prepared to experiment. Try new platforms, widgets and applications routinely. As with all efforts, seizing opportunities and growing will always be the result of trying new, and sometimes scary, things.

4. Be Proactive: Capitalize on the ability to create content, connections and conversations prior to the start of the show. Build pre-show buzz with compelling updates or valuable information like Grif"n. Start conversations with folks before they make it to show !oor and make sure they are planning to visit your booth. Finally, create strategic content that is ready to be posted, or can be scheduled to post while you are busy with booth attendees.

5. Be Timely: We are all familiar with the phrase, ‘be in the right place at the right time.’ But can you engineer what is the right time for speci"c people to be at your CES booth? Yes, you sure can and Skullcandy provided an excellent example this year. Through appointment dynamics, you can create the need for certain audiences to be at your booth at certain times. This can allow you to know when you will be busy and when speci"c types of guests will be more likely to stop by.

6. Be Brilliant: Being at the world’s largest consumer electronics trade show puts you on an excellent stage to share your message with the world, but it is a very crowded stage indeed. How will you stand out? Brilliant strategies, tactics and execution always cut through the clutter. Seek an innovative partner who can bring outside perspective and illuminate opportunities to differentiate your brand.


OXFORD COMMUNICATIONSWe are the full-service marketing, creative and communications agency that issues one call to our clients and employees alike: Be Brilliant.

GET SOCIAL WITH US, WON’T YOU?

BEN GROSSMANCommunications Strategistc: 602.741.0314 | o: 609.397.4242 x174e: [email protected] t: @BenGrossman

CHRISTOPHER STEMBOROWSKIAssociate Communications Strategistc: 980.253.7164 | o: 609.397.4242 x172e: [email protected]: @cjstem

That call echoes through our agency’s work that ranges the full gamut of integrated services, including account planning, social media, interactive, public relations and trade show experience design. Ultimately, our services are built to leverage a combination of online and of!ine initiatives that generate in!uence when, where and how it matters to consumers most.

Oxford has a track record of bringing category re-de"ning work to brands in a diverse set of industries, ranging from fashion retail, to consumer electronics, to quick service restaurants, to healthcare organizations. As a result, we are proud to have worked with some of the biggest names in the industries we work in, like Audiovox Corporation, Bombardier, Prime Retail and Brother International, as well as many other dominant regional and niche players.

For more information, please contact one of the

report authors:

a report about social media and brands at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show


2011 ces social report

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