Let’s talk about the CES marketing pilgrimage, the annual tech-theater ritual where marketers act like futurists and technologists pretend they understand brand.
Yes, tech and marketing strategy are deeply connected. But they are not the same thing. And confusing the two is how we end up with ad budgets torched on tools no one knows how to use, and campaigns built around tech features instead of customer truths.
Marketers are mistaking proximity to tech for strategic clarity.
Many participate in CES to signal relevance instead of making strategic decisions grounded in customer reality.
Technology is about what’s possible.
It gives us new capabilities: faster data processing, real-time feedback loops, AI-generated content, predictive analytics, etc.
Marketing is about what’s meaningful.
It defines what matters to people, how attention is earned, trust is built, and value is communicated across time.
Strategy is the bridge.
But that bridge doesn’t get stronger when everyone tries to stand on the same side.
Marketers shouldn’t pretend to be ML engineers.
Technologists shouldn’t lead brand positioning decks.
You don’t need a CES badge to understand what’s happening in AI, automation, or data privacy. You need a thinking brain, a trusted wrap-up report, and the judgment to ask: Does this actually serve our customers?
Here’s what’s not a strategy:
Walking a curated floor tour and calling it “insight”
Sitting through a branded breakfast panel with more egos than action items
Collecting jargon like Pokémon cards
Most of what’s being pitched at CES will either disappear within a year or become plumbing in the background. What matters is how you integrate tech in service of your brand’s actual promise, not how early you posted a selfie next to an AI-powered vending machine.
Stay informed on tech updates and your CTO's work. But remember, your role as the customer advocate, meaning interpreter, and attention guardian remains vital, even if a new app can generate sentences faster.
If your marketing strategy depends on being in Vegas this week, you don’t have a strategy. You have FOMO in a lanyard.