CES 2013: Top engagement strategies, games and giveaways

EM’s 2013 International CES experience is over and we are now left to mull over show exhibits and tend to some very sore feet. While exhibitors offered quite a few striking visual experiences for visitors that focused on brand perception and the products, many also offered engaging activities and games that were fun, informative or gave participants a chance to win stuff.

Here is a five-point rundown of a few notable interactions between exhibitor and visitor:

1. The New York Times offered more than just the opportunity to sign up for a subscription. There were consistently long lines at the brand’s two photo-portrait activations in the exhibit. You chose a color scheme, a topic that the newspaper covers, and then had your photo taken with the device. An application would then automatically generate words from archives of the Times that formed to create a portrait of your face. It was then printed out on the spot and placed in a branded black frame that you could take home.

2. To promote its OPEN forum, a resource for business owners, American Express set up a digital memory game where users could match the brand’s products with a description of its services. You first practiced the game at a special station and then stepped up to the main kiosk to officially register with your name, email and phone number, and then played the game. The user with the fastest matching time each day won an iPad Mini, but just by playing you also won a free t-shirt, some popcorn and a cupcake. Hey, we’re “open” to free snacks.

3. Moneual, a company offering a variety of high-tech and eco-friendly products for home and office, captured attendees’ attention with a display of its café tables designed with a tablet as the surface. The tables could revolutionize the restaurant world (and beyond) by allowing a patron to browse a menu, select or see an image of the dish they’d like, call for a waiter or even pay a bill with the swipe of a finger. The brand demonstrated these features by having visitors sit at a table and swipe and choose a complementary beverage that was then prepared for them on the spot.

4. Verizon’s exhibit offered an eye-catching way for visitors to learn in depth about the services it provides through two touch-enabled surfaces. A giant screen featured dozens of Verizon topics represented by bright digital cubes in an orb formation—you could touch one of the cubes and a window would appear offering more details or examples. At a touch-enabled table, you could pick up a glowing cube inscribed with a topic, place it on the large table surface and underneath, a digital display of subtopics represented by smaller cubes would appear. By touching one of the subtopics, you would get a pop-up window offering, again, more detailed information. As an added bonus, while using the table you could charge your device from several wireless chargers located at one end.

5. The United States Postal Service drew in passersby with visits from Marilyn Monroe and Elvis impersonators, who posed for photos in a nostalgia-inducing photo activation centered on the postal stamp. The exhibit also offered a basketball free-throw game, where at certain intervals of the day you could shoot hoops as fast as possible. Those with the most hoops in the time allotted took home a University of Las Vegas ball.

Click the links below for featured photo galleries:
Audi
United Healthcare
Canon
Hisense
Panasonic
Consumer Electronics Show 2013