Six marketing trends from CES 2020 you shouldn’t be missing

CES 2020: trendsetting tech show for digital marketing

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas traditionally kicks off the year in the tech industry and, with over 4,500 exhibitors, ranks amongst the most important technology events. Over recent years, CES has grown from a trade fair for entertainment electronics into a trailblazing tech show covering an ever greater number of topic areas. Besides the latest products, prototypes and gadgets, this year’s show also presented a multitude of exciting marketing trends for 2020, which will enter the limelight in the coming weeks and months.

#1 Spotify: new ad technology

Spotify’s new podcast ad technology is without a doubt one of the most interesting online marketing trends showcased at CES 2020. The Swedish streaming service introduced it at this year’s tech show. With the new ad technology, podcast producers and advertisers will now receive important marketing information for the first time. In addition to relevant key data such as ad impressions and reach, Spotify will also make anonymised data available in future, whether it be on gender, age or the device types used. Implementation of the new podcast ad technology is primarily intended to contribute to better control of ad interruptions and make the service much more attractive to marketers.

#2 IBM: artificial intelligence for better results in digital marketing

American IT giant IBM announced the market launch of its Advertising Accelerator for advertisers at CES 2020. The Artificial Intelligence system Watson lies at the heart of this first-to-market advertising solution, which is designed to help predict the impact of ad themes and creative elements on particular target groups and to significantly increase advertising effectiveness through targeted addressing. According to IBM, the Advertising Accelerator, which is an upcoming marketing trend, enables advertisers to better understand who makes up their target groups and what their preferences are, thereby assisting them in creating personalised campaigns, even beyond their current core clientele.

#3 Star Labs: is it possible to create interactive, lifelike avatars on your own PC?

Up to now, virtual brand ambassadors have taken up a niche role – not least because of the enormous amount of technical work required to develop and stage such a fictional figure. But this may soon change thanks to a project presented by Samsung subsidiary Star Labs going by the name of NEON, which would considerably simplify the process of creating an avatar that behaves realistically using stills and existing video footage.

What’s especially interesting for marketers is the aspect that, through the software solutions Core R3 and Spectra, the artificial characters are meant to be highly capable of learning and can interact directly with people, whether it be as a personal assistant, a virtual coach or even an influencer. The project is still in its infancy though. Star Labs is planning an open beta phase for summer 2020. This will show how developed the technology is and whether the avatars really do have the potential to become an influential marketing trend.

#4 Samsung Sero: rotating QLED TV for the meeting room

If you’re after a practical gadget for the marketing meeting room, then you need look no further than the Samsung Sero – a rotating QLED TV. “What is its USP?” I hear you ask. Well, the device can be rotated to landscape or portrait mode at the simple touch of a button to suit the content displayed. In this way, vertical videos posted on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, for example, can be viewed in full screen on the Samsung Sero. As the first smartphone TV, the versatile model is therefore ideal for testing mobile social media campaigns from a user’s perspective, amongst other things.

#5 Quibi: short films and mini-series for smartphones

Even before its scheduled launch in spring 2020, American streaming platform Quibi is already regarded as one of the biggest online marketing trends of the year. With a focus on special short films and series episodes that last no longer than 10 minutes and are produced exclusively for smartphones, Quibi wants to a fill a gap in the market, somewhere between YouTube and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime. The production of more than 175 shows and 8,500 clips is planned in the coming months.

Quibi’s offering has already attracted a great deal of interest from advertising customers. Various trade magazines have reported that all ad spaces for the first year have already been snapped up at a value of 150 million dollars. Early birds include big names such as Google, T-Mobile, PepsiCo, Walmart and Procter & Gamble.

#6 Voice: smart speakers continue to gain ground

Granted, the smart speakers presented at CES 2020 with sensitive microphones in the toilet seat or shower head may be a strange concept for most people. In terms of general development though, such curiosities are a perfect example of how digital voice assistants are increasingly becoming an integral part of our daily lives. As a result, the topic of Voice Search as one of the latest marketing trends is gaining more and more attention.

The growing importance of voice search has a massive impact on the required keyword structure and makes it necessary to adapt content strategies accordingly at a company level. In this respect, the biggest challenge for marketers is that voice search only outputs the best search result instead of several search hits, which is ideal for the winner but all other competitors come away empty-handed.