Giving Away the PR Recipes: Working with Media & Creators at CES 2025

Me at CES 2019. My Ears Get Hot After Mixed Drinks.

CES 2025 is a couple months away, let the madness begin. If one of your show goals is getting eyeballs on new products, this blog post is for you. While the show is largely the same as it has always been, one of the biggest changes in recent years is the presence of people who operate influential channels on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. 

This post gives you the recipe to work with journalists and content creators. Ultimately, you will need to talk to both to have an impactful boost of visibility for your gear at the show. 

I’d also be silly not to mention that I have ONE spot open in my client roster currently and have helped execute 11 CES shows on behalf of clients big and small. Hit me at paul@goldenstatepr.biz if you’re interested in working together.

When it comes to talking to journalists and creators at CES, you’ll need a few basics covered to have a shot at showing up in show coverage. I expanded on this fairly broadly in another blog post, “How to do Tradeshows as a Public Relations Professional”:

1. An Exciting New Product. Big brands can get away with iterative updates getting coverage, but realistically brands that introduce something sexy and new almost always get the most love. 

2. Great Photography. A surprisingly common mistake is not having great product photography to share with the press. Hire a photographer, have them take beautiful, professional photos of your new gear in a variety of formats. 

3. Easily Shared Written Media Materials. You gotta convey your new product messaging some way. Most of the time, press-facing documents like press releases, media alerts, product information documents, etc. will get the job done. Distribute them before, during, and after the show.

4. An Outreach Strategy. You and thousands of other companies all want to talk to the same small group of individuals. Approaching them in a strategic way is critical. This is likely the part where an agency or a freelancer can be your biggest help. Though, it can be done by yourself. Please reach out if you have specific questions about this process.

5. Someone Who Can Pitch Your Product Face-to-Face. You’ll need someone with deep product knowledge, energy, enthusiasm, and basic media knowledge to talk to press and be the company spokesperson before, during, and after the show. Media training really helps.

Alright, so you check most of the boxes above. How do you attract press and creators to write, shoot video, podcast, etc. about your new gear? A few tried and true practices include:

1. Hosting an Exclusive, In-Person Experience: Hands-on interactions, like testing high-end tech or riding in luxury vehicles attracts attention and interest.

2. Participating in Press Events: CES Unveiled, Pepcom, and ShowStoppers are must-attend if you have something new to share and are looking for a cost-effective way to get in front of a lot of media.

3. Offering Convenience: Ensure you make it easy for the press to get to you. Sometimes this can and should include transportation.

4. Providing Off-Site Adventures: Exclusive and memorable off-floor experiences—like concerts, parties, or dinners work great.

5. Sharing Meaningful Giveaways: Attract press with review-worthy product giveaways. Not always possible, but it’s generally smart to bring a few live samples if they’re small enough to travel with and it’s budget-friendly.

When it comes to content creators, the ballgame is slightly different. 

Because content creators are private contractors (most of the time) and are effectively running their own businesses, working with them is slightly different than traditional press. Creators usually do not have editorial boards, and their goal is to produce content that pleases the algorithms of their preferred platforms to maximize engagement. 

Luckily, many of the same activities listed above that attract press attention will also attract creator attention. You just need to ensure a few specific wrinkles exist so video creators can capitalize: 

1. Engaging Content is King. Not only do you need to have a product that kicks ass and is new/cool, you also need to present it in a way that’s visually stimulating and shows up well on camera. My feedback to the people I’ve spoken to about CES 2025 always comes down to ensuring you have an area where shooting high-quality video is possible. Also, the art of the demo is worth re-mentioning here.

2. Someone Comfortable Being on Camera. Tack this on to the duties of your product pitchers at the show, identifying someone who knows how to be on camera. This may or may not be the same person you have speaking to the press. Someone who can do it all is fairly rare, and I often don’t recommend putting senior executives in front of the camera unless they have experience with it/have been media trained.

3. Invest in Creators Speaking to your Desired Customers. The same way you invest in media via advertising, you need to consider investing in content creators. Creators with influential channels in your arena often demand fees for video work, and this is becoming more and more common. If you want to talk to a specific creator at the show, consider them more akin to traditional advertising and expect to depart with some dollars to get dedicated time on camera. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and you’ll have the right product, message, experience, etc. to get organic love on creators’ channels, but don’t bank on it. The best brands are partnering with creators in fun, unique ways. 

Deploy the above tactics and you’ll have success at the show. Of course, if you don’t have the bandwidth to do all this work, hire me and I’ll do it for you.