Guest Post: At CES, it’s all about standing out

This year marked a milestone for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Association announced this week that the show reached a record breaking number of more than 3,100 exhibitors, up from around 2,700 in previous years. With 140,000 attendees walking around, the biggest feat that these thousands of companies come…

About the author: The following is a guest post by Macy Koch (left), marketing director for Syncbak, a Marion, Iowa-based startup currently showing off its technology at CES. (Full bio at bottom of post.)

Editor’s Note: For more on Syncbak, see our post, “At CES, Syncbak unveils its internet television solution,” and Macy Koch’s first guest post, “Guest Post: From big to small, CES has it all.”


This year marked a milestone for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Association announced this week that the show reached a record breaking number of more than 3,100 exhibitors, up from around 2,700 in previous years.

With 140,000 attendees walking around, the biggest feat that these thousands of companies come across is gaining attention, allowing for an opportunity to pitch their product or idea to the tech-enthusiasts passing by. This is where creativity comes in.

We took a stroll through some of the exhibits and we quickly saw a variety of ways that businesses were trying to bring attention to their booths.

A common, sometimes controversial way, includes “booth babes,” female models paid to work at trade shows with high numbers of male attendees. Their job is often to offer product demos and encourage attendees to speak to sales people from the company, usually while wearing revealing, or tight fitting clothing.

Qubeey, a communications platform company, uses many women to interact with booth visitors by giving away prizes, explaining the product and tracking booth visitors with badge numbers or business cards.

Other booths choose to draw visitors in with novel products or experiences. Our favorite that we saw was an oxygen bar. After my co-worker, Andy, sat down and put the tubes on, he was then given the pitch for a company that recycles used technology products, something that has nothing to do with the bar. Yet, Andy was stuck (with tubes connected) to the booth until the pitch was done.

2nd Solutions, a company that purchases, refurbishes, and resells technology, found an innovative way to draw CES visitors in: an oxygen bar.

Often, to showcase a product, many companies will try to replicate the environment that their product will be used. We saw living rooms, kitchens, and outdoor scenes all within the confinements of a large convention hall. Rather than asking how a product would be used, an attendee can quickly see the space that they’d be using the product in, and often, the function of the product within that space.

Tri Cascade, a company with products to manage home energy consumption, replicated rooms from a home to showcase their products and uses.

Some companies learn from retail and focus on how the product is displayed and how the environment feels. Carpeted floors, soft couches, live plants, and glass display cases can be seen in many booths with high-end products.

In the end, though, the most important piece for a company to remember is that a strong product often can speak for itself, no gimmicks needed. Some booths that have had a constant flow of visitors have had no marketing materials, just their product and their young, laid back staff. They walk around in t-shirts, jeans, and socks, sometimes munching on bananas, showing their video product to anyone who passes by.

Flashy booths and unique experiences may bring in traffic, but a great product and a strong pitch makes the news.

(Left) I’m Watch, a revolutionary watch that syncs with your phone for hands-free music, calls, and alerts, is expertly placed in glass cases, similar to those used at jewelry stores. Attendees browse the selection of watches while resting their feet on padded, white carpet, a detail that means comfort for those who’ve been on their feet all day.

Image credits: Photos courtesy of Macy Koch.


Author bio: Macy Koch is the marketing director at Syncbak, a startup technology company revolutionizing the way consumers watch broadcast TV. She has spoken at several conferences with content regarding individual branding, social media and college leadership.

Koch can be reached by email, macy.koch@syncbak.com, or found on Twitter, @macykoch.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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