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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: CES SPEAKER SERIES 2020

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In January, more than 175,000 tech enthusiasts gathered at CES 2020 in Las Vegas for a preview of the world’s most exciting new products. eMarketer spoke with speakers at this year’s event about their takeaways and predictions for 2020.

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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: CES SPEAKER SERIES 2020 MADE POSSIBLE BY: 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 Overview

4 Chris Duffey, Senior Development Manager, Adobe

6 Rob Pegoraro, Freelance Tech Journalist

7 Jayne Pimental, Senior Director, Growth Marketing, Draftkings

9 Victoria Petrock, Principal Analyst, eMarketer

11 2020 CES Reflections from Sponsor ALC

13 About this Industry Insights Collection



OVERVIEW

In January, more than 175,000 tech enthusiasts gathered at CES 2020 in Las Vegas for a preview of the world’s most exciting new products. As usual, the exhibit space was chock-full of futuristic, eye-popping innovations, including flying Hyundai Ubers, bionic robot sharks, smart pajamas and zero-gravity bathtubs. But beneath the shiny veneers and seemingly endless hype, tech companies are working quietly to address a growing problem: As AI, the internet of things (IoT) and next-generation connectivity relentlessly creep into everyday life, “tech angst” is at an all-time high.

A Q2 2019 GlobalWebIndex survey found that nearly one in four internet users worldwide (24%) don’t understand new technology and fear being left behind, up from just 15% in Q2 2013.

Consumers are also more anxious than ever about technology’s ability to compromise their personal privacy. At the current pace of development, it will soon be difficult to watch TV, drive a car, open a refrigerator or even go to sleep without sensors collecting data about these experiences. For this reason, it’s more important than ever that the industry find ways to help people comfortably use technology in simpler, more intuitively “human” ways and understand how it can ultimately benefit them.

If CES 2019 was all about how technology can make people’s lives easier, CES 2020 was about making the innovations themselves easier to use and less tech-like. This trend manifested itself in several ways. In this Industry Insights collection for CES 2020, you’ll hear from three speakers and eMarketer’s own principal analyst Victoria Petrock about this trend and more.

% of respondents

Internet Users Worldwide Who Say They Do NotUnderstand Computers and New Technology, Q2 2013-Q2 2019

Q2 2013

15%

Q2 2014

17%

Q2 2015

20%

Q2 2016

20%

Q2 2017

21%

Q2 2018

21%

Q2 2019

24%

Source: GlobalWebIndex, "Connecting the Dots: Consumer Trends that WillShape 2020," Nov 12, 2019252069 www.eMarketer.com



Chris spearheads Adobe’s Creative Cloud strategic development partnerships across the creative enterprise space. He’s been featured by Business Insider, and Yahoo as one of “The industry’s leaders on the top issues, challenges and opportunities in the fast-changing world of mobile marketing.” Chris has been a creative consultant with over 35 advertising

agencies across the major global holding companies: WPP, IPG, Havas, Omnicom, Publicis and MDC, having worked across every major industry vertical. At CES 2020, he spoke on the panel “Artificial Intelligence Meets Real World Shopping.”

As CES 2020 kicks off the year in tech, what’s at the forefront?

As we enter 2020, we are standing at the edge of our next era. Driven by the internet, social media, AI, VR/AR, IoT … these advancements have transcended technology in of itself and become part of our daily lives. Going forward, our industry has an even greater opportunity and obligation to design technologies, products and experiences that enrich people’s lives beyond benefits just for stockholders but for stakeholders. “Doing good is good business” will be even more important as we enter this new decade.

What have been the biggest surprises for you, positive or negative, since CES 2019? Did your predictions for 2019 come to fruition?

A digital image, email, social post or piece of content can now travel at the speed of light, spreading whatever message the sender intends, whether good or bad. Truth and empathy are allusive things these days. Since Adobe was founded over 30 years ago, creativity and technology has always been core to our business. With that in mind, Adobe is committed to being a responsible innovator. We believe technology plays a huge role in our ethical discussions. And we are committed to bringing this kind of technology to our toolsets. Additionally, there is also a human awareness component. Technology can connect us in meaningful ways, but it also needs thoughtful consideration. And this is why we are proud to be part of CES, we understand the responsibility as it relates to these technologies, and when done right, its contribution to society.

What is the biggest challenge your business faces as you head into a new decade?

We want our and the world’s creative energy to go toward making the human experience better. We believe in serving the creator of an experience, while at the same time respecting the consumer of that experience. Digital is ubiquitous and designing with data and new technologies is our new reality. This is why creativity has never been more important. As we approach this new era of designing innovation, we can collectively enter it with responsibility, ethics and empathy in mind and all commit to finding ways to continue to connect humanity, not divide humanity, both on an industry and individual level.

CHRIS DUFFEY, SENIOR DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, ADOBE



—CONTINUED

Now let’s focus on this year. What major tech trends are you looking for in 2020?

The Future of Jobs Report by The World Economic Forum predicts in 2020, the top 3 fundamental skills needed in business will be inherently human:

- Complex problem solving

- Critical thinking

- Creativity

Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) can and will be used to amplify these human skills through a stream of intelligence for previously and seemingly impossible superhuman results. Ultimately, the only sustainable response to technological disruption is to try to lead it.

CES 2020 was packed with keynotes, events, announcements, and products. Which will have the most lasting impact?

There are certainly universal themes and opportunities that stand out for future-proofing success:

1. It’s just as much about the innovator mindset as it is about the technology

2. If you get it right the first time you’re probably not going far enough/aiming high enough

3. Rules and constraints bring certainty

4. Finding the balance with the cost of customer acquisition

5. Using data to connect the dialogue between body and mind

6. AI will make us even more human

7. There is no disruption - It’s incremental

8. How can we best design systems that drive brand purpose and behavioral change

9. New societal interaction with technology will become more anticipatory

10. Where do we want forthcoming tools to take us?

If you could pick one thing that should stay in Vegas, forever, what would it be?

CES!



Rob is a Washington, DC-based freelance tech journalist who answers consumer questions at USA Today, covers tech policy issues at Yahoo Finance and offers telecom guidance at Wirecutter, as well as other online and print media. He’s also been featured on radio, TV, podcasts and at conferences. At CES 2020, he spoke on the panel, “5G Meets Retail.”

As you think back on your expectations for CES 2020, what were the biggest surprises for you?

I didn’t think I’d get a chance to get a ride in a self-driving car, but I did one morning from the Sands to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Someone was about to get into one of Aptiv’s BMWs and I asked if I could join him, since I was heading the same way.

A negative surprise was seeing such patchy support, if not outright apathy, for the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard. That could mean a lot to cord cutters, as well as local broadcasters. But TV manufacturers seem more interested in 8K sets that will be irrelevant to much, if not most, of the viewing population.

What is the biggest challenge businesses face as we head into a new decade?

News sites face serious and sustained problems with an adtech industry that doesn’t generate enough money while also snooping on our readers, viewers and listeners. Connected TVs

do a lot of surveillance of their own. But among major vendors, only Samsung mentioned privacy as a concern, and they only talked about giving viewers a new app to adjust privacy settings.

What’s top of mind for you this year?

Privacy, privacy, privacy. While I don’t expect any new laws to come out of Washington, states will act on their own while such OS vendors as Apple will continue to implement their own regulation, in the form of default settings that block more online tracking.

Did you see this sentiment at CES too?

The privacy conversation hasn’t really reached CES yet. We’ll know it will when a major vendor announces not just a new privacy-settings app but plans to adopt data-minimization techniques to collect and retain less of their customers’ information.

What major tech trends, specifically, are you looking for in 2020?

8K TV, smart-home and smart-cities tech, wearables, and 5G.

CES 2020 was packed with keynotes, events, announcements and products. Which will have the most lasting impact?

Self-driving cars could have an enormous effect on how we get around. But after seeing my self-driving-car ride end in a traffic jam on Paradise Road, and then opting to walk the last three blocks with my fellow passenger to the LVCC, provided an effective reminder. Putting only one or two people inside a few thousand pounds of metal on a paved road remains a fundamentally inefficient form of transportation.


CES traffic. Who else would want it?

ROB PEGORARO, FREELANCE TECH JOURNALIST



Jayne manages growth marketing responsibilities across paid search, paid social, programmatic and Adnet at DraftKings. Her team works to drive new user growth through these various channels efficiently and effectively. Jayne joined DraftKings by way of MachineZone Inc., and previously served as the director of revenue and ad operations at Reddit.

At CES 2020, she spoke on the panel “The Future of Data-Driven Marketing.”

As you think back on your expectations for CES 2020, what were the biggest surprises for you?

I’m surprised with how much of an echo chamber our industry has become when listening across panels featuring opinions from agencies, vendors and in-house. It feels as though everyone is agreeing with each other and no one is addressing the elephants in the room for each industry.

The agency model is outdated and threatened yet barely anyone touched upon how they’re taking a hard look at restructuring to fit the needs of the current marketer.

Vendors weren’t getting out of pitch mode to ask more questions about what the market wants rather than pitch-point solutions.

Another thing not addressed was how hard it is to bring things in-house, what infrastructure is needed and where we’ve failed in the past few years. This is becoming more of a trend and it’s critical to talk about.

What are your predictions for the most important trends of 2020?

Creative innovation is coming back into focus. While in the last years the focus was on targeting, marketers are remembering that without decent creatives your targeting is meaningless. It’s also one of the last things the walled gardens have yet to take away from the marketers as a lever to pull to optimize.

What were the most talk-about trends at CES?

In most of my one-on-one meetings, I was very impressed and excited to hear about the focus on refining in-housing. In years past, it was just about rushing and taking media buying, strategy, etc. in-house. But now marketers were talking in more measured, systematic approaches.

I think we’ll see better offerings from vendors with products to support in-housing. We’ll likely see this from the agency side too with in-housing initiatives for their clients in a consultancy capacity.

As always, I heard a lot of about data. But I also heard more about creative than in years past. Creative innovation is great to see and I hope to see a lot of it in 2020!

JAYNE PIMENTAL, SENIOR DIRECTOR, GROWTH MARKETING, DRAFTKINGS



—CONTINUED

CES 2020 was packed with keynotes, events, announcements and products. Which will have the most lasting impact?

Parties are overrated and it tends to draw the same people. I don’t dig the parties as much as I dig the one-on-one time with people that I don’t get face time with often.

I also enjoyed the second circle network I get introduced to. It’s great to meet the experts of various fields that are not always at the industry events I go to.


Spirited socks. We’re adults. Dress up. Don’t wear crazy socks and think that checks the box.



Victoria leads eMarketer’s coverage of emerging technologies, including the internet of things, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, big data and online privacy and security. She’s also extensively covered digital marketing and advertising in healthcare and pharma, automotive, financial services, telecom and travel.

Brian Chen of The New York Times recently wrote, “Like it or not, the future is connected.” Was this a prevalent theme at CES this year?

It was absolutely prevalent. In fact, this year was a continuation of last year’s focus on 5G and the internet of things. It’s becoming clearer how new technologies like AI, high-speed networks and huge cloud platforms are creating all types of interconnectivity between people and things around the world. Right now, there’s a heavy focus on smart homes and connected cars, but in the future, practically everything will have the ability to connect and communicate. Vertical siloes are breaking down, and new, more open ecosystems are enabling companies in different industries—which may have made strange bedfellows or even been competitors in the past—to partner with each other to deliver more value to their customers and to society.

The auto industry is one example of this. In the past, you’d see one car manufacturer after another introducing their latest and greatest technology. We still see some of that, but as the tech has gotten more sophisticated, these companies realize that they’re really good at developing cars, but they’re not necessarily tech experts. At CES, it was interesting to see automakers and parts

suppliers working with so many tech partners, entertainment companies and other service providers to advance the concept of connected mobility.

Do you think companies are taking this vision more seriously?

Yes, absolutely. Many of the world’s top electronics companies, as well as Amazon, Google, Toyota—and even Delta Air Lines—were talking about a future where everything is connected and highly personalized. Everything is still very screen-based right now, but the day will come when we’ll have more ambient devices and sensors seamlessly operating in the background that know us and are ready to anticipate our needs. These devices will interact with us in various ways—maybe voice control, gesture control, biometrics or augmented reality [AR]. They’ll collect data and make decisions that I hope will make our lives easier and make the world a better place. At the end of the day, it’s really about the collection of massive amounts of data to inform what we’re doing now, but also help anticipate things we’ll do in the future that maybe we haven’t even thought of yet.

Besides connectivity, what were some other themes at the event?

Sustainability was a hot topic this year. Companies are responding to people who want their tech not just to be useful, but to be purpose-driven and do something positive and beneficial for society and the planet. This year, nearly all the auto companies were talking about zero-emissions vehicles and many even touted the benefits of data collection as part of their sustainability stories. For instance, collecting auto emissions data from vehicles can aid in the development of new, better products and can be used to help other industries like energy

VICTORIA PETROCK, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, EMARKETER



—CONTINUED

and healthcare. One of the most intriguing products this year was Impossible Foods’ introduction of plant-based “pork,” which the company is hoping will help make the global food chain more sustainable.

Privacy was also a major theme. With the recent hubbub about data collection and consumer privacy regulations going into effect, Facebook, Amazon and Google were out in full force, trying to carve out industry thought-leadership roles and get ahead of the issue. Even Apple, which hasn’t participated in CES in 28 years, sent their senior director of global privacy, Jane Horvath, to participate in a panel called “Chief Privacy Officer Roundtable: What Do Consumers Want?”

Another theme, more like a personal observation, is what I call the “over-engineering of technology.” Of course, this is CES, and there were all kinds of far-out gadgets that will probably never make it to market. But it struck me that some companies have developed technology to replace human interaction that shouldn’t necessarily be replaced. For example, there was a lot of sleep tech to help you get a good night’s rest, and I am all for that. But one company is now selling an electronic baby bassinet that can be completely controlled by an app. It’s meant to help sleep-deprived parents: If their baby is crying, they can stay in bed and just press a button on their smartphone to get the electronic bassinet to play sounds and rock the baby to sleep. It is a cool idea, but it got me questioning, “How far is technology going to go before we can avoid basic human interaction like cuddling your baby?” I’m not saying I wouldn’t be tempted to use this when my kids were screaming and crying in the middle of the night. But I also think we need to stay mindful of where we cross the line between being helpful and inadvertently creating new problems with tech.

You also cover augmented and virtual reality. Any highlights on this area at CES, specifically?

There was a lot of talk about virtual reality for gaming, sports and entertainment, but I didn’t see any huge leaps forward from where we are now. Meanwhile, there’s still a wait-and-see mentality regarding AR. Samsung showed off some prototype goggles that they’re targeting for fitness uses, and there were some other interesting industry-focused applications, but they were fairly limited to specific devices and ecosystems. I think people have acknowledged that something big is coming with AR, it’s just not clear when. Apple is rumored to be developing AR glasses, and these could have mass-market appeal because they’ll likely be compatible with a lot of other Apple products out there. But until the larger tech companies like Apple, Google or Amazon get behind the technology in a big way, larger-scale developments will likely be limited.



MARKETERS ARE FRUSTRATED WITH LEGACY DATA MODELS

This post was contributed and sponsored by ALC.

Deep beneath the consumer product face of CES is an active and vital exchange between agencies and the data and technology layer of the marketing and advertising ecosystem. At this year’s CES, vendors that took the time to listen and receive an education. Across the board, agencies voiced frustration with the state of data—and sharp concerns about the coming year. Here are three themes that emerged:

Data Business Model

At a basic level, today’s agencies are unhappy with the current state of the data industry. They’re tired of the confusing labels and the fractured offerings. They’re tired of having to string together various specialized solutions and watch their dollars be divvied up across the many hands that touch any given piece of data or the consumer experience. And yet their legacy data providers aren’t delivering the innovation needed to be a one-stop shop. Agencies want a simple, understandable, privacy-compliant path to consumer identity, and they don’t want to have to stress over the specific types of data needed to get them there.

Moreover, agencies want to find price stability in the realm of data. They want to be able to extend their implementation of data without worrying about incremental costs. They’re frustrated with inflexible, complacent legacy data providers that aren’t willing to evolve their engagement models for their specialized needs. Without flexibility and predictability in data costs, it’s hard to provide clients with comprehensive, consistent guidance and support around consumer identity.

Competitive Conflicts

The frustrations with legacy data providers don’t stop at inflexible engagement models. Increasingly, we’re hearing competitive concerns among marketers about their data providers, particularly when it comes to vertically integrated data providers and agencies. Marketers are rightfully worried that they might be working with a data provider that is owned by a competitive agency or one that works with their competition. Given that first-party data insights represent the single greatest competitive advantage in today’s marketplace, such concerns are very warranted.

The Economy

Finally, the complacency and competitive conflicts of legacy data providers spark a separate anxiety among agencies regarding the state of the economy. Economists might not agree when a downturn will hit, but most agree one is on the horizon. When it comes to an agency’s data needs, this looming macro-economic concern calls into question the viability of venture-backed alternatives to legacy data companies. Most agencies agree that their data needs have evolved to the point of needing to look beyond their entrenched data partners, but understanding the stability and future prospects of any given potential partner presents challenges.

As this year’s CES, we heard a lot of excitement about new horizons in data-driven marketing, but the growing concerns of today’s agencies also came through loud and clear. The need for flexibility, independence and stability in the next generation of data partners is evident, and the future belongs to those that can deliver.

—Rick, CEO, ALC



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