LAS VEGAS 鈥� Media coverage at the Consumer Electronic Show has become as big as the show itself.
Years ago, the practice of generating media coverage for companies at CES was a basic matter of 鈥渨orking the street corners.鈥�
Regardless of whether an exhibiting company hired a publicist or facilitated those efforts on their own, the traditional modus operandi was for staffers 鈥� press releases and media kits firmly in hand 鈥� to scour the crowd roaming the halls hoping to pick out that lone appropriately color-coded badge that designated the targeted individual as a journalist.
The visual sighting of that color often meant it was open season to pitch your story and attempt to drag that poor unwitting soul into your booth (or your client鈥檚 booth) for an interview.
But that was then. This is now 鈥� and today, media is big, big business at CES.
鈥淪tories at CES no longer get produced on the show floor,鈥� said Tyg茅nia Saustier of Paris-based Kalima P.R. 鈥淣ow, there are three events designed specifically to showcase companies with cool products to the media, plus two full days of CES-sponsored special events, all of which are designed to support coverage.鈥�
This year, the action began on Tuesday, two days prior to the official show opening, when the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) hosted CES Unveiled, a three-and-a-half-hour press-fest attended by nearly 2,000 journalists.
More than 180 companies paid $7,700 and up for the opportunity to showcase their products in an exclusive media-only setting. The action continues the next two evenings, when two other private entities 鈥� Pepcom and Showstoppers 鈥� stage their own nearly identical events, both of which attract a similar number of exhibitors and journalists.
鈥淭he key to the success of CES from a media perspective is to keep journalists happy,鈥� said Allie Fried, CTA鈥檚 director of global event communication. 鈥淎nd you do that by providing them with what they want. And what they want is food, water, Wi-Fi, and by making sure they have everything logistically they need and they get all the information necessary to get in touch with exhibitors to secure that news.鈥�
For CTA, the care and feeding of the media is both a massive 鈥� and highly necessary 鈥� element, the results of which are well worth the effort. 鈥淓very year, we poll our exhibitors, and year after year they tell us the same thing. They come for the media coverage.鈥�
And that coverage, Fried says, is massive. 鈥淐ES gets more coverage than the Super Bowl. The news cycle absolutely stops when CES week gets here. It鈥檚 amazing, incredible and exhausting, all at the same time.鈥�
Most journalists concur.
鈥淐ES is the ultimate event, and that鈥檚 why we launch every new year of our program and have done so for the past 22 years here at CES,鈥� says Dave Graveline host of Into Tomorrow, a syndicated tech-focused weekly radio show that airs over more than 160 radio stations nationally. 鈥淭he beauty of covering CES is that we get to see, touch and report on products and companies that are in the early stages of their product development 鈥� in many cases, before they become big.鈥�
But media coverage at CES is not just limited to the startups. On Tuesday and Wednesday of CES Week, the two days prior to the show opening, all the 鈥渂ig boys鈥� get their turn. LG, Bosch, Monster, Samsung, Panasonic, Hisense and dozens of other companies host their annual 鈥渟tate of the company鈥� media event. Typically open by invitation only to accredited members of the media, these news conferences generate incredible amounts of exposure, as writers, editors, bloggers and producers clamor to learn what鈥檚 new, what鈥檚 big and what鈥檚 next.
What to learn more? No problem, at least not this week. Just pick up any newspaper, watch virtually any TV newscast or visit any technology website or blog and see for yourself.
Steve Winter and Kenny Fried are 草莓传媒 contributors who work for , a Sage Communications Company.
