CES缘何成为CMO乐园

    曾经的Comdex大展表面上看是在拉斯维加斯举行的计算机行业展销会，它一度成为全体硅谷人的年度聚会。随后，Comdex大展随着互联网泡沫的破裂而烟消云散，另一项同时期的业界展会——消费电子展（CES）的重要性陡然上升。从表面上看，参加CES的都是硬件厂商，它们参展的目的是向零售商展示有可能在当年圣诞节上市的产品。

    和之前的Comdex一样，CES基本上是电脑迷的盛会。人们在这里可以看到令计算机发烧友怦然心动的最新硬件。它们有些是实实在在的产品，有些则是如此梦幻，以至于从未在商店橱窗里出现过。对于一些聪明的公司来说，CES还为它们提供了一个机会，来推出主打产品，引起消费科技媒体的关注。一款在CES上让人眼前一亮的产品有可能就能决定某家厂商全年的销售业绩。

    但是后来，情况出现了变化。推出新产品的重要性不断下降。成为焦点也变得过于困难。苹果公司（Apple）让其他厂商意识到，和到拉斯维加斯博眼球相比，自己搞活动的效果要好得多。不过，CES变得越发强大，所有科技相关行业的思潮引领者一定会在新年过后立即赶赴CES。任何跟科技勉强沾边的产品都能参会，不管是空调，还是汽车。几年前，美国消费电子协会（Consumer Electronics Association）主席加里•夏皮罗甚至在CES上兜售自己写的书，内容是他自创的自由市场政治和对民主党的痛斥。

    实际上，CES的总展览面积为190万平方英尺（约17.65万平方米），在这里走上一遭会让人心力交瘁、口干舌燥、彻底丧失勇气——在CES的各个楼层有多少活动，在会场之外就会有同样数量的活动。它甚至成了让首席营销官们驻足的重大展会。这些CMO们十分清楚，科技是决定他们未来的关键（斗胆插一句，本周我写了一篇报道，内容是我的同事杰西•亨普尔在CES的《财富》杂志活动中主持的一次分组会议，主题是数字营销）。

    实际上，如果某位首席营销官不参加CES， 他就有可能和别人失去联系。数字营销咨询公司Medialink负责人温达•米勒德说：“现在，参加CES的营销人员并不是来看技术本身，他们的真正目的是了解技术怎样促使消费者行为发生改变。他们了解这些的原因不是因为技术很酷。他们要看的是技术变化如何改变消费者的行为。”

    用一句商业套话总结就是，CES已经达到了临界规模，甚至超过了这个水平。沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）电子商务业务负责人尼尔•阿什指出“CES是数字化转型领域的火人节。”沃尔玛为电子商务投入了130亿美元，但这项业务仍处于亏损状态（再斗胆插一句，周一夜间我在拉斯维加斯采访了阿什，就是他亲口告诉我，沃尔玛的电商业务尚未盈利）。阿什还说：“从消费者的角度而言，CES很棒，在这儿人们可以想象一下今后几年消费者会有什么样的体验。从商家的角度来看，CES的规模越来越大，这让它成为一个越来越重要的交汇点。今年的参展商多种多样，很有意思。一些CES常客已经离去，或者压缩了参会规模【比如微软（Microsoft）——编者注】。在停车场，你看到的全都是《纽约时报》（New York Times）、美国邮政（United States Postal Service）和宝马（BMW）。CES的发展变化很奇妙。”

    值得赞赏的是，尽管没有兑现哪怕一个大卖点，CES仍然实现了蓬勃发展。杜比实验室（Dolby Laboratories）新任首席营销官鲍勃•博彻斯说：“在过去5-7年里，CES既是有着最闪亮屏幕的电脑迷盛会，又是一项销售和营销活动。它一直在稳步发展。现在，人们既可以在这里会面和宣传，也可以公开阐述自己的观点。这个地方总是这么喧嚣。在这里提出新点子的难度很大，但这是个很棒的会面场所。”（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie   

    First there was Comdex, ostensibly a computer-industry buying exposition in Las Vegas that nevertheless became an annual party for all of Silicon Valley. Then, when Comdex collapsed with the dotcom bust, the already-existing Consumer Electronics Show, ostensibly a gathering of device makers showing retailers what they could sell the following Christmas, surged in importance.

    CES, like Comdex before it, was mostly a geekfest. It was the place to see the latest gadgets -- some real, some so fantastical that they'd never see store shelves -- designed to set the hearts of gearheads aflutter. It also was an opportunity for a few clever companies to launch major products and to grab the attention of the personal-technology press. A breakout hit at CES could define an entire years of sales.

    Then something changed. Product launches diminished in importance. It became too hard to get noticed, and Apple (AAPL) taught manufacturers that it's much better to do your own event than to compete for attention in Las Vegas. Yet CES is stronger than ever, the undisputed nexus for opinion leaders in any industry touched by technology to come together right after the new year. Any topic remotely tangential to technology is fair game in CES, from air conditioners to automobiles. A few years back it even became a venue for Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on CES, to hawk a book promoting his own brand of Democrat-bashing free-market politics.

    Indeed, for all the action on the show's many floors -- walking all 1.9 million square feet of CES is a soul-sapping, dehydrating, physically grueling, thoroughly demoralizing experience -- as much action happens off the floor as on. CES even has become an important stop on the circuit of chief marketing officers, who are fully aware that technology holds the key to their future. (Shameless plug: This week, I wrote about a panel my colleague Jessi Hempel moderated at a Fortune event during CES. It focused on digital marketing.)

    In fact, a chief marketing officer who doesn't attend CES runs the risk of being out touch. "Marketers who come to CES now aren't here to see the technology per se," says Wenda Millard, who runs the digital marketing advisory firm Medialink. "They're really here to understand technology as a facilitator of changes in consumer behavior. They're not looking at technology because it's cool. They're looking at changes in consumer behavior caused by changes in technology."

    To reduce it to a business cliché, CES has achieved critical mass. And then some. "CES is the Burning Man of digital transformation," says Neil Ashe, the head of Wal-Mart's $13 billion -- but money-losing -- e-commerce effort. (Shameless plug number two: I interviewed Ashe Monday night in Las Vegas, and he's the one who pointed out that Wal-Mart (WMT) doesn't yet make money online.) Ashe adds: "On the consumer side, it is a great place to go to be immersed in what consumers are going to be experiencing over the next couple of years. On the business side, the bigger it has gotten the more important it has become as a gathering point. It was interesting to see the diversity of floor participants this year. Some of the usual participants are gone or smaller [e.g. Microsoft --Ed.], and you have the New York Times, United States Postal Service, and BMW taking over the whole parking lot. It's amazing how it has evolved."

    To its credit, CES has thrived despite not even delivering on one of its key selling points. "In the last five to seven years it has become as much a sales and marketing event as a geekfest with the brightest TVs," says Bob Borchers, the newly installed chief marketing officer of Dolby Laboratories (DLB). "It's been a steady evolution. Now it's as much a place to meet and be visible as an announcement stage. There's always been so much noise. It's a challenging place to launch new idea. But a great place to meet."