I had a call with community member Dave Weinberg right after CES, and after I mentioned how exhausting it was, one of us came up with idea of the “CESta.”
Dave seemed ready to launch a whole business around CES nap pods. Who’s investing?
So, yes, I’m back from CES, and now I need to tell you about all the amazing tech I saw.
Except I didn’t see any amazing tech. I heard about some of it from folks there and read about the rest.
And even still… so much of what I heard about had that ‘what’s old is new again’ vibe.
Not convinced? Check my old deck covering 10 years of CES shows from 2007 through 2016. It’s all in there. This show was my 14th.
This year, just about the only device I saw mentioned repeatedly in the press was the Withings pee monitor that you hook up to a toilet bowl. We’ve gone from web3 to webPee. And I think that’s an improvement.
As for me, I spent much of CES hanging out at the Mediaocean Retreat #client. You can read their top 10 takeaways on their blog. Plus, they have a webinar next week where you can watch a ton of the highlights.
Also, did I mention they’re the latest, proudest, biggest sponsor of Serial Marketers and this here newsletter? Thanks, Mediaocean.
It’s strange for me to get to Vegas for the show and not see what the show is supposed to be about, but I’ve written about the other side of CES for a while. In 2015, I wrote a post on LinkedIn describing this Shadow CES. Here’s the juicy bit:
“The other CES is the Shadow CES. This is the one that tends not to get as much attention, but for some brands, it’s more productive. It happens at places like the Cosmopolitan or Four Seasons. A more official version of the Shadow CES took place at the Aria this year. Dubbed the C-Space, it was where marketers could meet up with established media companies like NBC Universal and emerging ones like Samba TV. They could also meet with each other. I joined one private discussion with select executives from an advertising trade association. While it had little to do with CES directly, it was a terrific opportunity to learn from these people who I wouldn’t have readily met otherwise.”
The Four Seasons is not a key spot anymore; I think Publicis used to put all their execs there. (Publicis was my parent company then, as I was with the agency formerly known as MRY and that is now known as Formerly Known As [no, I’m not making this up]).
The rest is accurate. Or at least it had been for years. For a good chunk of the ad industry, including the big tech platforms and others seeking ad dollars, Shadow CES is CES. There’s that quaint little car show down the strip, but that’s the sideshow.
Instead, the tech that everyone seemed to be talking about at the Cosmo and Aria and everywhere in between (narrator: there isn’t anything between them but a mall) was ChatGPT, or perhaps OpenAI more broadly. Beyond that, as my grandmother liked to say, bubkes.*
Yes, it came up on my panel during the Mediaocean Retreat. But it came up everywhere. Have you used it? How have you used it? Is this bad for Google? Is it great for Microsoft? Is it bad for humans? Is it great for humanity?
And yeah, like everyone else who’s checked it out, I’m obsessed, at least with the potential. After CES, I shared one of those “what I did on my winter break” projects: AISaysHireMe.com, with a slew of reasons ChatGPT says to hire me based on a rough overview of my job experience.
It is way better and brasher than anything I’d have written myself.
As for Shadow CES, there’s a lot that’s going to be happening this year in the ad industry: the rise of retail media as its own channel and line item, the increased monetization of CTV thanks to more ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD), the impending death for real this time maybe of third-party cookies, the increased adoption of clean rooms as a hedge against increasingly messy state-by-state privacy legislation, and a slew of questions about where advertisers will spend their budgets after a trying 2022 for many of the big tech media giants.
The Mediaocean shindig, C-Space, and other ad industry confabs talked a lot about these. It’s less about what’s new and more about what we do about the elephants in the room that are breaking all the furniture and probably will be looking to relieve themselves any day now.
It’s going to take more than a few webPee gadgets to sort it all out and figure out what to do.
It’ll take a ton of folks in the industry coming together.
That’s what happened at CES, and that’s what’ll happen next year at CES, and that’s why when a cab driver asked me when will I finally stop attending CES, I estimated about 40 years from now.
We’ll see if my toilet bowl thinks I have that many years left in me.
Until then though, see you next year. And, I hope, much sooner.
David
*My grandmother was a native Yiddish speaker, but I’m not sure she ever said bubkes when speaking English.
PS: I’m setting up a new self-service approach for sponsorships. If you want to try it out, listings start at $49, which is less the price of 3 cups of coffee (I don’t drink coffee, but that sounds right with inflation, I think?). If you want to do something more involved than what’s there, let me know. Thanks. You’re the best.
|
Read Wynter’s B2B Message Framework!
In 4 steps, move your prospects down the funnel,
enter the consideration phase and convert.
Wynter is also looking for Marketing Execs to join
their research panel.
Compensation is $45-$100 depending on the survey length,
for only minutes of effort (it takes 2-7mins on average).
Join here.
——————————
WHAT TO READ:
——————————
Recent content shared by Serial Marketers and friends:
- AI Says Hire Me — David Berkowitz
- Best Together: Partnering for Real Impact in Cancer Innovation and Treatment by Jim Weiss
- Whataburger, Wawa and Bob’s Discount Furniture Top Brands to Watch in 2023 by Connor Perrett
- 5 Most Promising Ad Server Startups with Seed Funding (United States) by Just Funded Media
——————————
HOW TO SHARE
——————————
Thanks to Pauline Echols, Paul Robinson, James A. Gardner, Seth Girksy, Michael Winter, Richy Glassberg, Scott Monty, Bob Gilbreath, and E.B. Moss for spreading the word about the newsletter recently.
Here’s your own personalized link, with more referral rewards for sharing the newsletter. Visit https://
Share via: Email | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn——————————
EVENTS
——————————
Please submit any events you’re hosting to our calendar at https://serialmarketers.
UPCOMING SERIAL MARKETERS & SPONSORS’ EVENTS:
(times EST)
- 1/18, 11am: Wynter Workshops – How to Optimize Your Paid Media Strategy. Join this virtual event with legendary marketer Susan Wenograd.
- 1/18, 12-1pm: Mediaocean’s webinar — Highlights from CES 2023. Join Mediaocean as they share key takeaways and video highlights from their Mediaocean Retreat content sessions during CES 2023, including the CIMM Summit on Measurement and Currency Innovation.
- 2/1, 5-7pm: First Wednesdays in-person NYC, Mason Jar on E 30th. RSVP on Meetup! 5-7pm.
NRF 2023
January 14 – 17, New York
“The Retail Expo Pass is perfect for people tasked with finding the next great solution for their company. Get access to 950 exhibitors and 100 sessions featuring the latest product demos and case studies from the industry’s most innovative solution providers. RETAIL’S BIG SHOW: BY THE NUMBERS. No matter what the world has thrown at us, NRF has been there to unite, guide and provide breakthrough insights to anyone and everyone in the industry. As the leading voice for retail, we’re the only organization able to bring our whole community together.”
Register
THE ULTIMATE TECH STACK FOR CUSTOMER LOYALTY
January 17, Virtual
“Loyalty is the most valuable currency as DTC eCommerce brands compete for customer attention. And having a community of repeat shoppers boils down to leveraging the right tools and excellent customer service. You can’t build loyalty without instilling a sense of commitment between buyer and seller. Plus, fostering loyalty involves providing consistent, personalized service that builds trust and ultimately encourages shoppers to return. Those things are easier with a well-integrated technology stack.”
Register
MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS LAST BY PUTTING THEM FIRST
January 17, Virtual
“Let’s talk about customer loyalty. We don’t need to tell you that it’s far easier and cheaper to generate revenue from existing customers than new business. And as the saying goes ‘When the customer comes first, the customer lasts’: It takes a customer-centric strategy and ongoing positive touchpoints to gain both their trust and loyalty. So how do you implement a successful customer loyalty program? Join us.”
Register
PARCEL UNPACKED
January 17-18, Virtual
“Join us on January 17th and 18th, 2023 for our first virtual conference. See the ins and outs of Parcel from the community. Let’s Unpack Email Together. Register for free to join in on live coding, career development panels, and the latest walkthroughs of how to build an email design system of your own. Featuring a fantastic lineup of speakers, this email development focused event is sure to start off 2023 with a <b> bang </b>!”
Register
——————————
OUR PARTNER: PROPEL(X)
——————————
Accredited?
Propel(x) is an online investment platform that enables accredited
investors to invest in technology startups and venture capital funds.
Members range from individual accredited investors writing checks
as small as $5,000 to some of the largest family offices and funds.
One can expect to see Early Stage (Series A), Growth Stage
(Series B, C), and Late stage (Series D or later) investment
opportunities on the platform.
Create a free account today.
https://links.swapstack.co/7i7
——————————
JOBS
——————————
Keep checking out the #jobs channel in Serial Marketers for more. You can also see our full list of job resources here. Here are some great opportunities shared in these places or sent to me directly.
NEW WATERLOO
Brand Manager
Austin, TX
“Reporting to the Director of Brand Marketing, the Brand Manager will be accountable for creating + executing impactful marketing initiatives that drive brand and revenue to the following Austin-based outlets: La Condesa, Sway, Il Brutto and Butler Pitch & Putt, with potential occasional support of other New Waterloo outlets as needed. This role requires a brand publisher mindset: you’ll create the content our audience is looking for, that aligns with marketing & revenue goals, then optimize the path to conversion. As our Brand Manager, you will be responsible for strategizing, planning, scheduling, communicating, and delivering marketing + programming initiatives that are on-brand, on-time, and on-budget. In other words, you’ll get to work with a lot of awesome people, in a hectic + fun industry, making really special stuff happen (but still on-time, on-budget, and on-brand)…”
Apply
TOMORROW’S UNIVERSITY
Chief Marketing Officer
Remote
Via Laurel in the community
“Tomorrow’s Education is an early-stage Edtech startup based in Berlin founded by serial entrepreneurs, Christian Rebernik and Dr. Thomas Funke. Our vision is to redesign education and educate and empower the leaders to tackle the greatest challenges of tomorrow together. As our first Chief Marketing Officer, your goal is to implement successful marketing strategies, strengthen our communication and branding as well as lay the foundation to build the team in close collaboration with our CEO. We are looking for a hands-on and self-driven person, who will shape the marketing direction while building a strong community for our University. “
Apply
KALOGON
Marketing Lead
Remote
Via Carla in the community
“Kalogon creates innovative, personal solutions to preventable problems. Our first product, the innovative Kalogon Orbiter Cushion, is designed to eliminate discomfort and improve the quality of life of wheelchair users. Our products are designed for those living an active, seated life. Kalogon seeks a Marketing Lead to join the team to help set strategy and execute on key marketing programs to drive awareness, deliver sales leads, and connect with our amazing community. This is truly a role for a marketing generalist, with broad based experience across a wide array of marketing levers, and a strong background in building strategies. The main focus of this role for 2023 is to build programs so that Kalogon is recognized by every clinician who focuses on seating by the end of the year.”
Apply
PROFITERO
Head of Product
Boston or Remote
“We’re looking for a Head of Product to envision the future of our platform as we evolve from a provider of e-commerce analytics to the first global commerce platform using predictive intelligence to anticipate, activate and automate our client’s next best action to drive profitable growth. Our technology monitors 70 million products daily, across 900 retailers and 50 countries, helping over 4,000 leading brands optimize search placement, product content, pricing, stock availability, reviews and more. We are positioned well in the marketplace as the only integrated insights driven commerce solution providing customers the flexibility to utilize SaaS, advisory or full-service activation. News outlets, including Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal and Ad Age frequently cite and trust our platform as a source of data for their stories. We have an entrepreneurial culture with core values of TAP; Think Like a Customer, Achievement over Activity, and Positivity is Contagious.”
Apply
Also, check out the Serial Marketers job board
Other job resources (see a full list here):
- Beeler.Tech: Job listings for ad operations, programmatic account management, sales operations, and more.
- Braintrust: A freelance platform where you are the owner and where freelance talent keeps 100% of the bill rate.
- Candidate: Featured marketing and sales jobs
- ExecThread: Senior roles spanning a range of verticals and cities; membership is free but fully vetted (this uses my referral ID to get you in faster)
- Lunch Club: Match 1:1 around predetermined goals with accomplished professionals (free)
- NYC Ad Jobs & Networking: A popular Facebook group
- Questions to Ask for a Marketing Role: What questions should you ask when starting a new marketing role or job?
- Serial Marketers Job Board: Post regular and featured listings and subscribe for updates.
- Venwise: Submit your job interests here and get in front of their roster of hiring leads; select “Serial Marketers” under “How did you find us”
Do you run or enjoy other job listing sites? Let me know, and I’ll share them.
No Comments
Leave a comment Cancel