Tradeshow Transparency
Posted January 10th, 2007 by admin
This week kicks off CES, the mammoth tradeshow for consumer technology and MacWorld. Even though this year marks the largest exhibit space ever used for CES, with more than 2,700 exhibitors, it’s interesting that there have not been many huge announcements.
Companies used to wait for CES to publicize major announcements and new product releases because 10 years ago, you needed a big trade show to generate hype and buzz and reporters would get exclusives and were sometimes instructed to speak only of what was approved. But now sites like Engadget and Gizmodo are leaking news before the shows, blogging live from keynote speeches and putting up videos from corporate sponsored parties.
Over at MacWorld, Steve Job announced the iPhone at the keynote but it was more of a confirmation rather than an announcement since there had been lots of chatter and speculation around it for the past few months, AND the partnership with Cingular was revealed even before his keynote speech this morning.
With information getting passed around the blogosphere so quickly, companies no longer have to build the hype into these extravaganza events to create media excitement. Marketers have to realize that consumers and communities no longer wait for Walt Mossberg to attend a show and tell you what’s cool out there. The communities are going to decide what’s cool and Engadget would have to look out for those in the events.
