David Sable der weltweite Y&R CEO beschreibt seine Eindrücke und Konklusionen seines diesjährigen Besuches an der Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.  David sandte den folgenden englischen Text an alle Mitarbeitenden; wir wollen ihn Ihnen nicht vorenthalten:

For the past many, many years, I have been attending CES, the Consumer Electronics Show.  Once it was strictly a buyers show, where the big retailers came to make the deals with the likes of Sony, Panasonic and GE. (Remember any of those companies?) Then, a number of years ago, the show organizers invited Bill Gates to be the opening keynote speaker and the show transformed itself into a technology showcase, where everyone in the space who had anything to do with technology, (including Ford, by the way), came to unveil, look at, view, buy, discuss technology as opposed to only products, i.e., devices.

Today, many of our clients are here as well, along with every new media, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, AOL, you name it.  And their discussion is focused on how the “technology” they see impacts the brand through the user experience.

Among the notable things introduced at CES over the years — Pong by Atari, VCRs, Camcorders, Compact Discs, Nintendo, Digital Satellite systems, HDTV, Microsoft Xbox, Plasma TVs, Blu-Ray Discs.  You get the picture…all the magical innovations that have transformed our lives many times over and have given us so many new ways to tell stories about our clients’ brands.

Yet interestingly enough, if you follow the reports, there is nothing majorly new about technology being introduced this year.  Remember my point of view, that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are not technologies, nor do they consider themselves to be technologies.  So from a technology/new device point of view, there’s not a lot new.

However, it is critical to look at where the emphasis is, because I think that’s very telling.  And not only is it telling, I think it’s hugely empowering for our business. The show this year is all about screens and mobility.  And I’d argue that screens and mobility is in fact what our business is all about. 

First the discussion on screens.  The discussion is no longer about how many screens…remember the focus on three screens, then four?  All the talk about how many screens, where, when and how, are completely dead and gone.  Now the buzz is this. Whose screen is bigger?  Whose screen is brighter?  Whose screen has deeper and better colors? Which screen is the smallest and most portable?

The advances are, in fact, remarkable.  Just a few years ago, there were gargantuan wall-sized screens that weighed two tons, gave off enough heat to warm your house in winter and cost a small fortune.  Today those same screens weigh two hundred pounds (still heavy, but look at the difference), run cool, and are eminently affordable. 

Then, of course, there are the small phone-sized screens that have the same integrity of color, brightness and definition — in fact, often more. So here’s what it’s got me thinking.  What’s going on these screens?

There’s a lot of discussion everywhere about everything becoming smart.  All the talk is around screens and apps and converging user interfaces. Today, you can use your television like an iPad to get on Facebook, check your email, pay your bills, listen to your music.  But the truth is, despite the greater affordability, no one is buying a huge screen with magnificent colors and unbelievably high definition just to do Facebook. 

People are buying these screens with the anticipation, the promise, the hope of great content — content that has emotional impact, a huge entertainment value and ultimate gratification. 

Now let’s talk about mobile.  There’s been a lot of talk about the consumerization of IT.  Don’t think consumerization, think mobility. And don’t just think smartphone, think about how even a TV screen can be mobile (Wi-Di) so that you can walk around your house or anywhere, for that matter, and watch the ballgame, a movie or your favorite weekly show.

So how does it all converge?  Mobility and smaller screens, i.e., smart phones, when used with your big-screen immersive experience give us new and better ways to connect and create experiences that are much deeper than way back when you used to talk to your friend on the phone while you were watching the same TV show.

Bottom line, we need to start thinking about content in a different way. We have to segment and connect the different types of experiences. Facebook, accessed on your mobile device while you are watching the World Cup or Super Bowl on your big screen, is an infinitely more powerful experience than doing either one alone.  Both have emotional impact, both have connective impact, but by bringing these two strands of emotion and connectivity together, the game is changed. And that is the big win.

Interestingly enough, the companies like Facebook get it. Companies like Google get it.  Companies like Microsoft get it.  And they are all looking for ways to increase the value of the content we watch on the screens. 

We are being handed unbelievable technology every day.  The companies that are closer to their customers get that it’s the great creative experience immersed in the technology that sparks and sustains consumer interest. 

It goes back to what I’ve been talking about: 

            Creativity + Innovation = New Consumer Experience

That’s the discussion we need to keep having, the area we need to keep pushing, the direction we are heading.  Just think how our world has so greatly opened — and keeps opening — as technology proliferates so rapidly.

So, in a few years from now, when screens can roll up and be stowed away in your pocket, we will be there ready to help our clients engage and connect with their customers.

Technology for technology’s sake has a short shelf life.   So it’s really all about the meaning we can create with it.

David