Around 4,000 exhibitors and more than 184,000 attendees descended upon Las Vegas January 9 to 12 for the 51st edition of C.E.S. Despite controversy surrounding the lack of women as speakers—and a major power outage that occurred during the event—C.E.S. still managed to offer a hub for high-profile brands to showcase their latest products and innovations at venues including the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Sands Expo Convention Center, Wynn Las Vegas, and Park MGM.
Brands such as Spotify, La Poste, Intel, Humanscale, and Polaroid provided interactive and eye-catching ideas on the trade show floor and at adjacent events and activations. From a tech product-inspired waffle truck and an air taxi simulator to a drone light show on the Strip, here’s a look at some of the buzziest highlights from C.E.S. this year.
For Intel’s keynote speech, Fireplay, a creative and design studio, created a custom laser effect for the speech backdrop. To create the effect, Fireplay designed and implemented a system of moving spheres, LED illuminators, and pulsed high-power laser beams to symbolize data flowing between connected devices and cloud-based network nodes.
Intel brought its drone light show to the Las Vegas Strip from January 8 to 11. The aerial performance, which involved a fleet of 250 Intel Shooting Star drones moving to the song “Stargazing” by Kygo, took place over the Fountains of Bellagio. The light show had previously taken place at Disney Springs, Coachella, and Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl LI halftime show.
For the fifth consecutive year, Spotify hosted its Supper music and food event for clients and partners at Hakkasan at MGM Grand. Before a performance by Wiz Khalifa, a screen above the stage provided facts about Las Vegas-related music. MKG produced the event.
The brand partnered with New York-based chef Eddie Huang to serve a variety of baos. The menu was presented in Spotify’s signature bubble signage in the event colors of purple and red.
Additional wall signage and branding included the title of the event, as well as advice related to the brand’s #2018goals hashtag.
Beverage coasters offered music and C.E.S.-related facts.
Samsung’s “First Look” product unveiling took place at Enclave, one of the city’s newest full-service event venues. Held two days before the start of C.E.S., the event featured the debut of the brand’s first 146-inch MicroLED consumer modular TV, dubbed “The Wall.” MKG produced the event.
Samsung’s onsite truck at the Las Vegas Convention Center offered Galaxy owners complimentary technical support, cracked screen repairs, and software updates.
For the fourth consecutive year, Twitter partnered with experiential marketing agency NA Collective to create the Twitter Commons, the brand’s dedicated space for events and client conversations at the trade show. The soundproof space included a branded bar.
Design elements included imagery of events, pop culture conversations, and movements that recently trended on Twitter, including Stranger Things, the #MeToo movement, and Black Panther.
The space, which was designed to feel warm and inviting for conversation, included decor elements such as a marquee-style hashtag and pillows with Twitter symbols.
Instead of giving away its usual branded swag, Twitter decided to give back by encouraging guests to donate to three nonprofits: Black Girls Code, Girls Inc., and the Las Vegas Victim’s Fund.
Bell Helicopter, a Fort Worth-based aerospace manufacturer, debuted its future air taxi concept at an interactive booth on the show floor. The booth was produced by GES.
Guests could test out the flying taxi by experiencing an augmented-reality simulator in the four-person cabin, which offered consumer scenarios including a red-carpet premiere landing and cross-city day and night trips. Sector 5 created the digital landscape and experience.
Foregoing a traditional trade booth this year, computer and mobile accessories company Logitech hosted an experiential and social activation in the form of a branded food truck, which served waffles and other treats inspired by the company’s newest products.
The onsite truck, which was designed by Praytell, was coupled with a Twitter promotion for attendees and fans, driven by the hashtag #LogiTreats. Guests who shared photos on Twitter with the hashtag were entered to win products and prizes.
La Poste, a postal service company based in France, launched an e-health application for patients and health professionals at this year’s trade show. The booth, which was produced by the VIBE Agency along with Paris-based Havas Group, was designed to have attendees experience the company’s different innovations and services for healthcare, the home, the city, and the office. The innovations were from the 15 most innovative startup winners of the French IoT, a competition that awards start-up innovations in different fields.
The branded booth incorporated the company’s signature hashtag #SimplifierLaVie—which translates to #MakeLifeEasier—on physical structures as well as a digital wall that curated tweets. CORT Event Furnishings provided furniture rentals, Day 1 Collective oversaw staging and construction, and VER handled the booths audiovisual elements and lighting. The booth’s technology elements were created by Paris-based SuperBien.
Humanscale, a designer and manufacturer of sustainable workplace furniture and products, showcased a booth designed to resemble an office environment. The booth was produced by Inspired Exhibits.
The main draw of the booth was a gravity room photo booth that promoted the brand’s new product the QuickStand Eco, which lets people sit and stand at their desks. Attendees could take gravity-defying photos at the booth, with photo technology provided by EventsTag.
Polaroid, which regularly features some of the most eye-catching booths at C.E.S., celebrated the launch of Polaroid Originals, a new brand dedicated to analog instant photography. The booth’s centerpiece was a massive replica of the Polaroid OneStep 2, the brand’s instant analog camera that debuted in September to mark the brand’s 80th anniversary. The booth showcased other products, which include 3-D printers and Amazon Alexa-enabled speakers.
The booth was designed by Andreas Bergmann, while the implementation of the booth design and event management was handled by Skyline. PRG provided the audiovisual elements.
