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CES 2025: What to Do Now to Prepare

CES 2025 is less than six months away, which means, if you haven’t already, it’s time for automotive and mobility supplier marketers and communicators to get to planning.

The show will take place January 7-10, 2025. As one of the most important automotive industry events in the world, CES brings together developers, suppliers of consumer technology, manufacturers, technology delivery systems and more to address the current challenges facing the industry.

With a number of public relations (PR) opportunities at the show, what do you need to start doing now to make next year’s CES a PR success?

But how do you help your company stand out for the hundreds of other suppliers of autonomous, EV, connected car, ADAS, vehicle camera, lidar, radar and software tech at the huge event?

Here are our top six tips:  

1. Take a look at CES past: If your company has participated in CES in the past, reflecting on how the show went for your company can go a long way. Start by gathering your planning team to review: what worked; what didn’t work; what logistical problems did we face; what can we add; and is there anything we should stop doing?

2. Lock-in your spot: CES space fills up fast. Last year CES had more than 4,300 exhibitors vying for space. If you haven’t already saved your spot for 2025, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) team can help you, whether you’re looking for indoor or outdoor exhibits or set packages. Don’t forget to ask the CTA about sponsorship opportunities, speaker proposal submissions and other special events you want to be a part of during CES.

CTA also offers a number of hospitality suites, exhibit suites and meeting rooms outside of the main show floor. These options allow your company to conduct meetings or media interviews in a more private and distraction-free location.

We strongly advise booking these facilities through CTA, as trying to book a space for unsanctioned events during CES offsite can get you banned from future CES events. Sign up to be notified when registration for the show opens here.

3. Plan to achieve great PR: Start working on key messaging and defining your key objectives for CES 2025 now. Begin with questions like: what’s our news; what products or technologies will we launch or showcase; do we have enough hard news for a press conference; what customers and/or partners might want to participate with us; and what can do we do ensure we stand out in the crowd?

Once you have your answers, you can start planning your PR, as well as synergistic advertising and social media strategies. This would also be a perfect time to connect with your PR and marketing agency partners that have significant experience with CES and similar B2B shows to get their best ideas early in the process, when they can be game changers.

4. Design your exhibit: Now is also the perfect time to get things started with your exhibit team. Depending on your booth size, this will need to start several months prior to the show to minimize stress and prevent last-minute premium rush charges.

From initial concept to installation, your exhibit team can assist with highlighting your company’s products and showcasing your image and brand the best way possible, while helping your company stand out amongst everyone else.

5. Assess your outreach list: Having a presence at CES is a huge investment. You can have an amazing booth and the most creative CES event invitation, but it will all be wasted if the invitation doesn’t get to the right people to visit your event or booth.

Start the process of reviewing and expanding your prospect list now, so that you’re not reaching out to the wrong people or scrambling at the last minute to try to find the right contacts. Set a goal to have your final, vetted prospect list completed by early October, which will give your team time to focus on the execution for the last few months before the show. Do the same for your media list.

6. Research speaking opportunities: The much-coveted speaking slots at CES can generate a lot of attention. The CTA team says the best speaker submissions demonstrate how the speaker is a catalyst for innovation and change and is an influencer in the industry.

The CES content team receives a significant number of submissions each year and makes selections based on the following criteria:

• Concise objectives with actionable takeaways for attendees;
• A unique take on the latest trends in technology that will inspire and educate;
• A diverse voice and point of view; and
• Shows engagement, mobilization and enthusiasm on the topic.

You can sign up here to be notified when the CES 2025 call for speakers opens.

With a competitive show like CES, you can’t leave your success to chance. Start your planning today!

Note: Over the next few months, we will be sharing other installments of our CES 2025 blog series — offering practical, insightful information from our team to help automotive suppliers and mobility technology providers leverage their presence at CES. And if you’d like PR support from an agency that’s been there and done that, contact us at bianchipr@bianchipr.com or call us at +1 248 269 1122.

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