The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) isn’t just about showcasing futuristic technology and out-of-this-world products — it’s a platform where top consumer brands reveal trends shaping innovation.
Since CES comes at the start of the year and features announcements and keynote addresses from heavy-hitters up and down the consumer brands landscape, as well as disruptive tech unveilings and startup innovations alike, it’s only natural to survey the biggest takeaways after everything has wound down.
Listening in and looking back at this year’s CES, we came away thinking about what the developments there mean for consumer brands throughout the upcoming year.
The 2024 CES underscored two major themes:
- Seamless technology integration into everyday life
- Strategic partnerships for innovation
Each of the biggest trendsetting takeaways we’ll cover featured one or both of those themes, with a partnership or cooperation at their heart, or things such as invisible AI that leverages the tech capabilities in effortless and even hidden ways.
Here are the six top trendsetting takeaways from CES for consumer brands.
Navigating Rapid Market Dynamics & Shifting Brand Strategies is Imperative
Today’s market evolves at breakneck speed, demanding quicker adaptation from brands.
Key questions brands must consider include the efficiency of product placement and delivery, understanding consumer preferences, and staying ahead of competitors.
Investing in technologies like Generative AI is crucial, but the real game-changer is a dynamic venture-building approach that creates a holistic feedback loop.
Consumers care about AI, but at the end of the day, does the product serve the purpose and their needs? If so, the type of tech capabilities to get there isn’t the main ingredient anymore.
Advance Innovation via AI and Strategic Partnerships to Expand Capabilities
Spotlight: Siemens Industrial Copilot
Siemens + Microsoft seems like a pairing of industry giants that doesn’t serve as a strategy for other brands. Yet, the key takeaway here is how there is already a shift in utilizing AI capabilities, and the trend of strategic partnerships emerging in 2024.
Siemens CEO Roland Busch highlighted the need to be innovative and sustainable, through partnerships that use AI and immersive engineering breakthroughs toward an industrial metaverse. The pairing of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Siemens’ Xcelerator digital platform shows how any consumer brand could forge an opportunity with an open AI company.
The Industrial Copilot specializes in diagnosing and resolving issues when a machine malfunctions. It not only identifies the glitch but also provides recommendations on how to eliminate it.
Impact
Creating new products doesn't mean you have to develop entirely new capabilities. Instead, it's about utilizing and building upon existing ones for your specific needs. This collaborative approach can benefit companies by improving logistics and enhancing problem-solving abilities, not to mention the competitive benefit of linking up high-level thinkers and problem solvers in a flourishing atmosphere full of diverse perspectives.
- Form partnerships with technology companies and startups for access and even co-creation of products
- Leverage AI for deeper consumer insights & market understanding to develop advantageous strategies for partnerships
Consumer brand potential
Harness AI to strengthen market presence through strategic partnerships, enhancing logistics, product development, and market analytics.
Go Bold: Merge Trends with Tech Such as Wellnessification + Eco Tech
Spotlight: L'Oréal + Zuvi's AirLight Pro
L’Oreal is using technology to blend the best of both worlds — offering wellnessification in their products and making them better for the planet with an innovative approach to beauty tech.
The AirLight Pro sports a lot of promises, including a 30% faster drying time and a 31% reduction in energy usage. It serves consumers on multiple fronts, replacing the normal thermal coils in a hairdryer with infrared light while maximizing airflow. Users also have the possibility to customize settings specifically for them in an accompanying app, adding in another big trend development — hyper-personalization.
The product was developed in partnership with the startup company created by former DJI engineers, Zuvi, to build on a similar light-based hairdryer they had created.
This again shows that partnerships to leverage complementary capabilities help consumer brands solve needs and fulfill consumer expectations in a more productive process.
L'Oréal AirLight Pro: The innovative new hair dryer presented at CES 2024.
Impact
There is a growing consumer demand for products that are both technologically advanced and environmentally sustainable. The market is shifting towards personalized health tech solutions, and people want their personal products to feel personal.
Action
- Develop sustainable, ecofriendly, tech-enhanced solutions, focusing on hyper-personalization
- Explore AI-driven health & wellness products, focusing on personal health monitoring and innovative solutions
Consumer brand potential
Integrate product development, packaging and delivery in an innovative pipeline that offers consumers products beneficial for them and the planet. Provide consumers with new products or improvements on existing ones that don’t make them choose between a product that’s better for them vs. one that’s better for the planet — they can be one and the same.
Evolve Customer Connections by Embracing Enhanced User Experiences
Spotlight: Amazon + BMW's Intelligent Personal Assistant
BMW’s Intelligent Personal Assistant aims to integrate the entire traveling experience into a smooth ride where drivers can navigate, ask curious and fact-finding questions on the fly, and even understand their vehicle and the road better. They’re adding to that with Amazon’s Alexa LLM, saving resources on extensive language model training by leveraging an existing one.
BMW has announced plans to introduce Amazon's Alexa custom assistant
technology implementation later this year. (Photo: BMW Group)
Impact
AI integration in vehicles is improving the driving experience and adding value to automotive products. While the automotive industry is cultivating a new landscape that can seem insular, the approach to leveraging technological capabilities to give user’s ease of access, ease of use, and ease of mind is sustainable and replicable for consumer brands.
Action
- Improve your user experience through exploration of consumer needs, wants & expectations
- Utilize Generative AI tools such as digital audience mirroring, surveying and even digital twin prototyping to test ideas and iterations for hyper-informed, refined innovations.
Consumer brand potential
Infusing AI advancements into products and services doesn’t mean making it all about the technology. The positioning of this Al advancement & partnership between Amazon & BMW is that it will make driving safer, it will minimize distractions in the car and it will help drivers feel empowered by having answers about the vehicle rather than seeing an icon light up the dashboard and digging through a user’s manual or searching online for the issue.
Develop Smart, Invisible Technology for Superior Solutions
Spotlight: DeRucci smart sleeping products
The health company DeRucci claims it created the first anti-snoring pillow in the world. It’s a bold claim, but underneath it is a smart monitoring AI technology that monitors and adjusts in real-time, and also aims to reduce sleep apnea. The tech also works a little like the Sleep Number mattresses, in that user’s can adjust the pillow to their desires — no more deciding if you need a firm or soft pillow, the tech will be there to adjust and to help discover the solution.
On top of that, the company also debuted a smart mattress that can alert individuals about potential health issues based on their sleep data.
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The DeRUCCI Pro smart mattress employs a blend of sensors to continuously monitor sleep in real-time, evaluating sleep quality by tracking metrics such as heart rate, breathing, snoring, and movement.
Impact
Revolutionizing the way tech is used in everyday life. Consumers prefer technology that is both functional and unobtrusive, and this fits the mold of consumers wanting more access to taking control of their own health & wellbeing. Going after one of the most vital aspects of wellbeing — sleep — is an ingenuitive way to leverage new tech capabilities & AI to make it about the consumer, about the solution.
Action
- Create products that blend technology seamlessly into everyday environments
- Consider your current products and possible new venture models from a broader view
- Cross-analyze that with the base needs and wants of people
Consumer brand potential
This is a great example of hyper-personalization in product functionality. The tailored at-home experience could be replicated by consumer brands in the fitness equipment or furniture industries, for instance.
Expand Data-Driven Strategies in Retail & Marketing for Deeper Actionable Insights
Spotlight: Kimberly-Clark + Walmart's Luminate Charter
Kimberly-Clark is taking full advantage of Walmart’s Luminate Insights platform to better understand its customers inside the retail giant ecosystem — and beyond. The company took a holistic view of its operations and omnichannel approach to understand consumer behavior, brands and individual products as well as gaps in inventory, understanding “if something is happening at Walmart, it’s happening in other places.”
Impact
Gaining gated access to consumer, product and even competitor data for targeted marketing and product placement can go a long way to provide information and actionable insights across a broader spectrum. Kimberly-Clark took an innovative approach and built on the available knowledge, interpreting the insights with their own methodology as well, to be better informed in numerous aspects.
Action
- Upskill and empower analytics & insights teams to apply data & knowledge in unique ways
- Develop and enhance analytical capabilities for strategic decisions across various channels and to improve customer experiences
Consumer brand potential
The evolving shopping experience means omnichannel in many ways — such as needing quality data from diverse sources, such as retail partners, online sales and social media. A comprehensive view of consumers and industry audiences leads to more cohesive strategies that have a better chance at success.
How Future-Ready Consumer Brands Are Harnessing Tech Advancements
CES 2024 has vividly demonstrated that the future of consumer brands lies in embracing innovative technologies and strategic partnerships.
From the seamless integration of invisible AI in everyday products to the strategic use of data-driven insights for targeted marketing, the path forward is becoming clearer after a year of being shrouded in Generative AI era fog.
Brands that adapt to these evolving trends — prioritizing consumer needs, personalization, and sustainability — will stay ahead of the curve and also forge deeper connections with their customers.
The key is to blend technological advancements with a profound understanding of consumer behavior, ensuring that products and services meet the current market demands while also anticipating future needs.
This is the way that consumer brands can transform challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation in 2024.
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