BWF Takes on Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show Part 1

From January 6th through January 9th, the BWF team took our show on the road to Las Vegas to represent two clients at the largest trade show in North America, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). For those unfamiliar with the show, it’s where major players in the electronics world unveil their new products while serving as a “who’s who” of the industry. While BWF has been representing clients at the show for over a decade, this was my first time at CES and it proved to be an amazing learning experience. Without further adieu, I will share three highlights from my inaugural trip to CES.

Highlights

1.) One word: ShowStoppers - ShowStoppers is an event held at many major tradeshows that allows exhibitors to interact with the press in a setting outside of the tradeshow floor. The attendees include the press (from just about every conceivable outlet), the exhibitors and their savvy PR people to connect the two. For the duration of the four hour event, we were facilitating interviews, giving product demonstrations, handing out press kits and interacting with media. There were over 1,300 journalists, analysts and bloggers in attendance who went around interviewing exhibitors and broadcasting on site. The highlight of the evening was connecting both our clients with Dr. Gadget of “Extra,” who was super friendly and enthusiastic. And to add to the fun, he gave us insider information on how Mario Lopez is adjusting to fatherhood.

2.) The Big Reveal - Having CES as a stage to introduce a new company as well as their new products is an experience I won’t soon forget. For our client, PocketBook USA, we were charged with introducing the Ukrainian company to the United States while unveiling their new product line of e-Readers. We planned and executed a well-attended press conference at their booth on Friday which was the end result of advanced media outreach and onsite guerilla marketing. Our very own Steve Winter served as the emcee for the presentation, and if we ever get tired of tradeshows we might pursue the avenue of providing entertainment for Bar-Mitzvahs and cotillions.

3.) Taking the Floor - I must admit representing two clients at the show did not leave a lot of time for perusing the show floor. I did not become an expert on smart TV’s, and I couldn’t even tell you what Lady Gaga unveiled for Polaroid. While I may have let down my friends who wanted the inside scoop and a picture of Lady Gaga, I was still able to take in some incredible things in passing. Microsoft had a space larger than most apartments that was even staffed with a help desk to assist people in navigating through it. I also managed to walk right into Reese’s official announcement for their new candy, which will be like their original minis but smaller and without the annoying gold wrapper. It looks like I won’t be finding any more of those in the dryer!

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