I’m back from CES. Thankfully, still not dead.
The show drove home a few reminders about things I am hoping we see less of this year:
“AI-powered” everything.
From freaky dolls to sex toys do we really need AI in all the things? I guess so, but perhaps we can tone down the rhetoric around it powering things. Our own primary research from last year suggests consumers do not love this.
See-saw cadence AI writing.
“True innovation isn’t just about building new tools; it’s about reimagining the human experience. It isn’t a destination — it’s a relentless journey.”
We can all tell what you did when you put this shit on a page and hit publish.
This garbage was all over propaganda copy at the show. I even saw several “PR thought leaders” puking this up all over their Linkedin pages.
If you are writing something for bots only, then sure, ride the AI see-saw. But spare the rest of us, please.
“Data-driven” anything
This one usually comes from engineers or people who know less about the discipline of marketing. I had a number of convos at CES with people who told me they were “data-driven.” Invariably, this was followed by platitudes about traceable marketing spend and me dreaming about swimming in a vast pool of Pepto Bismol.
I get it. I like data and attribution. They are not always everything.
There’s irony to all this. Everyone in tech worships Steve Jobs. But they tend to forget he bought billboards. Lots of them (outdoor was and is central to Apple’s new product release marketing playbook). Yet never has a billboard – even one bought by Jobs – ever had traceable value.
Big tech’s most underreported disservice is that it raised an entire generation of marketers to think everything should be directly attributable to sales. Brand – and the pieces that serve it, like PR, or outdoor – compounds over time, often with unclear direct impacts.
Have a good weekend.