CES Scales Up While Companies Push Back

The Consumer Electronics Show is being pushed in ever-more-glamorous directions as organizers attempt to top themselves every year. Much like the final years of the E3 event, this week's showcase will feature loud music and brightly-lit stages. At the same time, also mirroring E3, the big businesses that drive CES are starting to rethink the need for the event itself. The New York Times reports: "Technology companies now frequently introduce their products elsewhere, in an effort to reach consumers more directly. The Apple iPhone, the Nintendo Wii and other recent must-haves were not unveiled at C.E.S. One of the industry's biggest hits in 2007 was the Flip Video camcorder, an easy-to-use pocket-size device that sells for $120. Executives from Pure Digital Technologies, its maker, visited Las Vegas last year during the show but kept to their hotel suite at the Wynn."

It's only reasonable.

[aquaepulse]

Why compete against other companies, while having to pay for floorspace? Why not start an ad campaign and send out more units to review to technology websites.

Public admission?

[derflammenhund]

Isn't CES closed to the public? Doesn't it then seem to make more sense to communicate directly with the consumer than to waste time and energy on something that only bills itself with the word?

Disregard if that's not the case, of course, but I can see where they're coming from if they only allow journalists entry.

Re:Take a cue from the porn guys

[TubeSteak]

I've never understood why CES was so unfocused.

Because the Consumer Electronics market is so wildly unfocused?

Better to break it up and have people going to smaller shows where the products they're actually interested in are shown in more depth.

Maybe it'd be a better idea to break it up, but if products aren't being "shown in more depth" I'd imagine that's the exhibitors fault and not CES's.

My question is why do companies do the Hotel Suite thing?
Can they not afford a booth on the floor?
Are they just trying to keep it exclusive?
Other reasons?

Re:Take a cue from the porn guys

[BenEnglishAtHome]

Because the Consumer Electronics market is so wildly unfocused?

Yeah, that's certainly part of it. But there are other factors that lead to the show being diluted. Some people go who really have no reason to. The car audio guys, for example, would reach far more of their buyers if they stayed at SEMA shows. And lots of people show up for reasons I can't fathom. Maybe there's some tenuous connection between iPod cover sales and consumer electronics. I'll grant that. But I actually saw an exhibitor whose product was those toy birds that stand next to a glass of water and continually bend over to dip their bill in the water. They belonged at a toy show, not CES. But CES has gotten so big that lots of exhibitors are just there because they think everybody is there. If they were honest, they wouldn't be able to articulate a reason for going.

...if products aren't being "shown in more depth" I'd imagine that's the exhibitors fault and not CES's.

I disagree. With the crush of show-goers, it's tough to see anything in depth. There are just too many people waiting, pushing, crowding to the front to see what you've got. If any real business is going to get done, you need to have a booth large enough to set up a walled-off office. At minimum, you need enough space to have some tables, separate from your product, so that you can sit down away from the crush and talk business. Those basic 8-foot booths where someone puts two chairs along the back curtain with a small table between them are, imo, completely useless for actually having a conversation and making a sale. Many to most exhibitors don't/can't spend spend enough money to get enough space. Others go even further and do the whole hotel suite thing.

My question is why do companies do the Hotel Suite thing?

Three things I can think of, offhand. 1 - See above. 2 - High end audio dealers need a quiet space to demo their stuff and the general show floor is anything but quiet. 3 - Parties that make a good impression on your customers and partners. Among my old friends, the last time I was in a corporate suite was in the wee hours after the AVN awards. The party was great right up until the point where they made the announcement "If you're not talent or you're not here with talent, you gotta leave now. The orgy's about to start.", followed immediately by security goons assisting the fat and dateless behind-the-scenes guys, like me, rather quickly out the door.

Can they not afford a booth on the floor?

Some can and do the suite in addition to the booth. Some can't afford it. A useful booth requires not just more cash but also more people to run. With a hotel suite, you can close the door if things get too crazy or if you want to pay special attention to one buyer. Some even close the door at lunch (not too many, though).

Are they just trying to keep it exclusive?

That's certainly part of it.

Trade shows in general are in decline

[PenguinBoyDave]

I have seen overall trade show decline in the past four years from both a vendor and attendee perspective. Why? As a vendor, it wasn't a great use of our marketing dollars to drop anywhere from $90K to $150K for a large booth, sponsorship and otherwise, for a show that didn't deliver when it came to converted opportunities. In the late 90's, we'd drop nearly $250K for a show, but as things went on, we noticed that all vendors appeared to scale back...except for Novell...they make Linux World with all the floor space they take up and all the swag they give out.

What I did notice though, and this holds especially true for the Linux World Show in San Francisco (specifically) is an increase of C-level executives attending.