CES is AI’s Dream of a Trade Show
It’s been several years since Rain the Growth Agency had a significant presence at CES. Though it’s always hard to imagine being out of the office the week after we return from holiday break, 2025 turned out to be a great year for us to revisit the largest trade show in America.
The week of January 6th, we had a team in Las Vegas to support a software client who was launching a new product on the main floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center—the major leagues of CES for sure. We also had another team in Vegas for a three-day stream of partner meetings: adtech, media, prospects, clients—with a little bit of time for exploring and evaluating the trade show floors.
The time passing between this year’s CES and the last one we attended pre-COVID forced a pretty stark comparison, with some clear pros and cons in the show’s evolution. Here are a few of our major takeaways:
AI, End of Sentence.
It’s an understatement to say that AI was the focus of almost every exhibitor in the various expo halls of CES. No doubt the correct marketing strategy of the moment for any individual technology brand. But when you see hundreds of them side by side, all with different variations of the line “AI makes life better,” it’s hard not to giggle? Cry? Run? That said, the step change in technology’s potential thanks to AI was something to behold, and certainly the most impressive evolution of CES year over year.
Agentive AI was the buzz term, with all major brands like LG, Samsung, Sony, and SK Telecom demonstrating AI agents that could enable connections across a platform of products. Unsurprisingly, AI was a continued thread of conversation with media and adtech partners throughout the week.
Squeezing the Middle
In the media and advertising section of the conference, the Sky Suites meetings became a meme of its own making, with dozens of glow-sign toting hosts guiding hurried business people into long elevator lines on their way to quick meet and greets with adtech brands in their lofty Aria suites. The literal stacks of meetings in that building can’t help but draw comparisons to the layers of partners involved in the execution of today’s standard digital advertising campaign. Our primary objective in these meetings as always is to streamline those layers as much as possible by optimizing partners and reducing fees. At CES, we made progress on those points in several areas, and we heard validating conversations with others working to do the same.
How Big is Too Big?
CES is made of three main territories: the biggest brands showing off TVs and refrigerators at the Las Vegas Convention Center; up and coming innovators exhibiting at the Venetian Expo Hall; and the advertising and media industry owning the Aria campus formerly known as CityCenter. Each of these territories could individually qualify as one of the largest trade shows in the country, so absorbing all three of them in just a few days isn’t really the objective of most attendees.
That said, the productivity potential within our niche was solid despite the expanse. Partner meetings at the Aria C-Space were fruitful and the concentration of the industry made it so we regularly bumped into partners and friends without really trying. When we were researching category disruptors at the Venetian, exhibitors were very open to having conversations about their go to market plans and how agency partners could be helpful in a launch.
Where Can I Get One of Those?
It’s worth noting the event is much more global than it was when we first attended many years ago. There was a noticeably smaller proportion of U.S.-based companies in the smart home and healthcare territories where we spend a lot of our time. So we had a lot of open questions about U.S. distribution plans for some very impressive looking brands that have clearly had marketing success in other countries.
After the last couple years of grumbling about the declining usefulness of industry trade shows for agencies, I think CES had more positives than negatives. Rain the Growth Agency will see you there next year!
This article is featured in Media Impact Report No. 61. View the full report here.