Hi, your friendly neighborhood media and tech editor Josh Sternberg here.
I'm not sure if you heard, but CES happened last week. The annual tech show in the desert positions itself as the place to see where our tech-dependent lives will go. It's where self-driving cars and 3D-printing machines let attendees picture themselves in the (not-too) distant future. But the event also serves as the first phase of a company's calendar year, for both marketing and operational purposes.
For example, in 2018, Google kicked-off its Google Home "Make Google Do It" campaign at CES.
This year, we saw experiential marketing whiz kids Giant Spoon bring HBO's Westworld to Sin City with a special dinner, setting the stage for marketing the upcoming third season.
We also saw Uber take its next logical step and pull an Emmett "Doc" Brown and say, 'where we're going, we don't need roads' after introducing its partnership with Hyundai to build an air armada of flying machines.
The point is this: there could be worse ways to roll out, or even test, your company's marketing.
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Our intrepid team on the ground - publishing editor Sara Jerde, travel reporter Ryan Barwick, and video producer Nick Gardner - did some things:
Saw an out-of-home screen from Delta called Parallel Reality;
Took a ride in a $225,000 whip;
Watched a 7'1" man ring doorbells.
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As you can see, we're trying something new here. Like it? Hate it? Let me know.
Hope you have a great Monday, and I'll see you next week.
-Josh
