Panels at marketing industry events are often filled with buzzwords, and CES is no exception. One term that surfaced on the conference’s first day is “newstalgia, ” which refers to brands drawing on beloved cultural moments from the past but adding a fresh twist. Chick-fil-A’s newly launched 80-year-anniversary marketing campaign exemplifies this by featuring retro packaging and menu items aimed at capturing that exact sentiment. The overuse of buzzwords is particularly evident around AI, which remains the hottest topic on the Strip this year. Marketers, media executives, and agency leaders are still working out how AI will—and won’t—transform their industries. There is no straightforward answer yet on what this transformation (another marketing buzzword) will look like. From discussions at the conference so far, some marketers are captivated by AI’s ability to shorten production timelines, while others are concerned with protecting brand intellectual property amid the surge of generative tools. Additionally, some are focused on AI’s capacity to “unlock the value of intellectual property, ” as Samira Bakhtiar, general manager for media, entertainment, games, and sports at AWS, mentioned during a panel, highlighting its usefulness for brands with extensive archival content. Despite varying focal points, the prevailing attitude this week is that it’s no longer a matter of if marketers will adopt AI, but how they are using it and what advantages it can bring to their brands. This trend is expected to extend beyond just digital AI tools. “We’re going to see so many robots here this week—and good luck to all of us, ” said Elav Horwitz, chief innovation officer at WPP, onstage. He added that WPP is “testing how robots can help us with the future of production. ” Other notable highlights from the conference so far include: - Buying a Samsung product?

It’s likely to incorporate AI. - Amazon is aiming to be more attentive when pitching to advertisers this week. - Reddit has introduced its own new AI-powered media buying tool. A complaint: On Sunday night at The Linq, a false alarm caused a midnight wake-up call. After twenty minutes of confusion, guests in pajamas waiting in the lobby saw the alarm end abruptly, with no explanation provided. This left many with diminished confidence in how a real emergency would be handled. What happens in Vegas. . . well, all that.