Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
With 170,000 people attending #CES2016 in Las Vegas in January, it’s going to be easy to ‘get lost in the shuffle’ and never get to see what really matters to you or your business.
The Digital Place-Based Advertising Association has solved that problem for its members for the last two years and again this year will do so by holding a DPAA fully curated three-day exhibition tour that also includes private thought leadership sessions, VIP passes and a range of other experiences.
“CES is basically a confluence for media, brands, advertising, content and technology,” says Barry Frey, DPAA president and CEO who developed the DPAA tours and will again lead this year’s group of 20 or so members at #CES2016. “It’s a place where senior executives get a sense of how technology is influencing consumer habits, so that they can plan their strategies. It includes learning, relationship building and new concepts for strategic planning.”
The DPAA tour is very focused for the DPAA member mix of media owners, research members, and both hardware and software companies attending. All are staying at the Aria which makes it easy for keeping together, for transportation, and to access certain events being held at that hotel, including the C-Suite.
The curated tour of the exhibition floor itself is geared especially for the members’ priorities. Complete with headsets and microphones, they’ll be led by a tour guide familiar with the digital place-based industry. They’ll also get VIP passes and preferred seating for two big keynotes, one by Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, and another by Dr. WP Hong, president of Samsung SDS.
Their Tour Experience begins with the media kickoff party, followed by various after-parties. The next day, they’ll attend two closed sessions, symposiums with advertisers and agencies leading the discussions. Among the various topics at these will be: data; programmatic; connecting with mobile; and ‘What do advertisers want?’.
“These can help our members set their own business strategies,” says Frey. “Then there will also be a third session of only our members regarding specific industry directions. It will give the members a chance to bond and develop ideas and strategies driven by the DPAA.”
There’ll be party in the evening with the ad agencies group executives. The next morning, a special breakfast will be held on media innovation, led by a tech media journalist. Then, after the Samsung keynote, there’ll be a ‘Brand Matters’ session (and VIP seating for the DPAA group), with advertising and media people including Steven Burke, CEO of NBC Universal, and other CEOs, CMOs from McDonald’s, GE and Coca-Cola among others.
After attending the NEC cocktail reception, there will be a group dinner – and, of, course, a last party. And during the whole event, they’ll have access to the Executive Club Lounge on the CES show floor, and several other exclusive perks.
“The whole three days will be a mix of bonding, learning, education and networking, along with gadgets, gears and Las Vegas,” says Frey. “It’s 100% relevant to our members. When they see what consumers are using, what content they want, it helps them build their own plans and strategies. After all, the end user affects business. We are already going over our planned limit of people, but we will have to limit the number that we can accommodate for such a curated event. It takes a lot of navigation and efficiency but is totally worth it.“
Frey himself had attended CES for about 15 years when he decided that, by having a presence at the event, the DPAA, “People can see what a formidable group we are.”
Frey says that with consumers viewing TV differently, he sees that the digital place-based industry winning some dollars from the TV sector.
“All in all,” he says, “the DPAA members are, as a group, seeing about 15% growth in 2015 over last year.”
Follow DailyDOOH