CES was Boring, and That's A Good Thing

CES left a distinct impression this year. It was, quite frankly, boring. Compared to the tour de force of tech drama inspired by the announcements behind AI, VR, AR, voice UI, and other technologies that defined last year’s show, 2018’s offering felt staid.

Over the years at CES, we’ve been promised self-driving cars, robots that do our chores and “connected everything.” Yes, we’re starting to see certain promises realized but after talking about them year after year, their arrival now conjures little more than a shrug. This is how the deceptively simple march from innovation to standardization plays out: the spark of promising technologies ignites a blaze of predictions, prognostications, and prophecies. Much like any fire, the danger can come more from the smoke and hot air than the flame itself. In the meantime, we’re left with years of unmet expectations as futurist spinsters pontificate about a future that seems so near and inevitable it’s as if it’s already here.

The issue stems from our relationship with the new. When an entire category of products and technologies are in their infancy we project our own preferences onto what their future could be, while borrowing heavily from our relationship with established technologies. The very act of applying the conventions of the old upon the new impairs our ability to acknowledge the future we seek as it unfolds in front of us.

This year’s show delivered on much of that future; we just didn’t care to notice. CES didn’t come in with a roar. It all felt so...incremental, and that’s a good thing.

For brands and agencies, this theme of incremental change creates enormous opportunity.

•   The platforms of VR, AR, AI, drones, smart vehicles and others that dominated the news cycle of last year’s show are being democratized and the barrier to entry is dropping, fast.

•   While flocks of “me too” clones with questionable use cases covered the floor, there were also a number of smart and considered applications to be found amongst the chaos

•   The deluge of new accessories for virtual and augmented reality will give creatives a more nuanced toolset to design immersive experiences with greater depth and ease than ever before

•   The endless booths of cheaper wireless VR headsets give the technology its greatest chance to achieve mass scale amongst consumers

•   Increased options and scale play out across nearly every meaningful technology of yesteryear’s trade show, placing their benefits within reach of marketers outside of innovation and R&D departments.

•   The arrival of sensors in smaller, and more flexible form factors that can be embedded into nearly every format conceivable, opens the world of smart things to any agency or marketer with the appetite

•   As consumer adoption of emerging technology rises due to more mature products, cheaper options, and better integration, marketers that focus on these changes, instead of novelty, will be rewarded handsomely for their efforts.

Many of the products we witnessed at this year’s CES feel a bit more grown up, no longer in beta and more like usable, consumer-ready products. That may be boring for those seeking a high from the hit of new and novel, but to me, boring is beautiful.