In 10 years of serving clients at CES, the best tactic we’ve used to get press for a client involves avoiding the show.
Counterintuitive, I know.
We’ve always found that, when possible, showing new tech to one or two highly influential outlets just BEFORE the show in a one-on-one scenario works best.
This is not at media showcases like Showstoppers or Pepcom or CES Unveiled, which all have value, but are, like CES itself, inherently less-than-perfect because of the volume of shiny objects and one-to-many format.
Here are a few keys to making the pre-event play work:
- The demo is a genuine private show-and-tell of new tech. Do not try this with your older products.
- Use an embargo that lifts the day before the show.
- Deal with a large media outlet that syndicates heavily and a reporter known for their in-depth knowledge of a category.
The syndication part is CRITICAL.
ALSO KNOW THAT…
- This play gets more juice when coverage is accompanied by a cool asset (one year we had a video of a robotic suitcase rolling around a New York subway station by itself) that you and the target media outlet co-engineer.
Like all things, this blueprint is not 100 percent perfect.
But it has been good to us and our clients.
When this works you see:
- A lot of buzz and follow-on coverage at the show.
- A lot of action at the profiled company’s booth (many people actually cite the coverage in conversation).
This approach is not hard to pull off.
Make it yours.