A handful of Orange County companies are set to show off their goods at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.
“It’s the biggest event of its kind in the world,” said Jake Saila, marketing manager for Anaheim’s ZyXel Communications Inc., the U.S. arm of Taiwanese networking gear maker ZyXel Inc. “It’s one place where we get to meet all of our potential customers and build awareness, build our brand and get media coverage. It’s a convenient place to meet a whole bunch of people in one spot.”
A big theme of the show, just like last year’s, is gadgets and software that put portable PCs at the center of work and entertainment.
A lot of companies are making way for a future where the laptop will be a sort of “wireless hub” that can be hooked up to a digital television or a game console, and be
used to organize and share music, videos and photos.
“You manage and store your content on the laptop and then shoot it back out to those devices,” said Mark Simons, general manager of the digital products division for Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., the Irvine unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp.
Another big theme: “going green.”
Anaheim’s Targus Inc., which makes cases and accessories for laptops and other portable electronics, is set to display its line of eco-friendly cases.
“That’s a big focus for us this year,” said Al Giazzon, vice president of marketing for Targus.
Some of the local companies set to be at CES include Irvine’s Broadcom Corp.; Irvine’s Linksys, a unit of Cisco Systems Inc.; Irvine chipmaker Microsemi Corp.; Fountain Valley’s D-Link Systems Inc., a unit of Taiwan’s D-Link Corp.; Irvine’s SmartLabs Inc. and Cypress-based Universal Electronics Inc.
The conference is big on name-dropping and fanfare.
It’s set to host a series of high-profile speakers, including the Federal Communications Commission’s Kevin Martin, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini, Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang and other industry gurus.
While CES has always drawn a big crowd, the nature of that crowd has changed.
Consumers, not businesses, have become the driving force behind sales.
CES used to be a place where business was done and deals were inked between gadget makers, distributors and retailers.
Today, it’s more about schmoozing, entertaining and showing off the coolest products in a company’s tech lineup.
Case in point: musician Mary J. Blige is set to perform at an awards show for retailers hosted by Monster Cable Products Inc. on Jan. 8.
Booth Buzz
Companies can generate a lot of buzz by announcing products at the show.
Last year, Apple Inc.’s iPhone was the talk of the town during CES, even though the phone was announced from afar in San Francisco.
This year, expect product announcements from Toshiba, Broadcom, ZyXel, Targus and other OC companies.
The gadgets and hoopla are the show’s signature, but conference veterans mostly use their time at CES to reconnect with the people they work with over the phone all year.
“You are reinforcing your business relationships with people,” Targus’ Giazzon said. “I would say maybe only 20% of it is really about new business opportunities.”
For Toshiba, which has been attending CES for more than a decade, the show is about setting its sales strategy for the year.
“We don’t go to the show with the intent to capture a certain revenue number,” Toshiba’s Simons said. “Much is discussion about our future plans. It’s more about relationships for us.”
Toshiba America Information Systems sends about 130 workers and runs a 22,000-square-foot booth.
“We have now grown into a very elaborate large booth,” Simons said.
On display are Toshiba’s notebook PCs, projectors, digital music players and accessories.
“We try to show the products in the current and future settings,” he said. “It’s a presentation-oriented booth that allows people to have a one-on-one experience with the products.”
Simons estimates that more than 100,000 people stop by Toshiba’s booth.
“We do a lot of things to attract a crowd,” he said, including games that have Toshiba products as prizes to help attract attendees.
Some local companies will send representatives this year, but opted not to have their own booths, including Fountain Valley’s Kingston Technology Co. and Lake Forest’s Western Digital Corp.
The main reason is cost.
“We will be there, but not exhibiting,” Western Digital spokesman Steve Shattuck said. “We haven’t exhibited for years because it hasn’t been a cost-effective event.”
That’s because most of Western Digital’s disk drives are sold primarily to big computer makers and distributors, not consumers, he said.
Sweet Suites
Others cut costs by exhibiting in suites at nearby hotels on the Strip.
Targus will show at a suite in the Las Vegas Hilton, as will one of Toshiba’s units.
“Some years we do a booth and some years we do suites,” Giazzon said. “It depends on what our goal is for the show. I don’t need the booth because in years past, I needed to focus on accessories. This time we are really going to spend most of our time on the cases.”
The suites offer a little bit more privacy and quiet,things that are hard to come by on the bustling, 2 million-square-foot show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Retail buyers typically are invited to touch and test out products in suites.
“The suites are a good venue for educating retailers,” Giazzon said. “It allows us to control the environment where we want to demonstrate our products, which is hard to do in a retail setting or in a conference room.”
For companies looking to get their name out there, the expense is worth it.
“It is definitely very expensive,” ZyXel’s Saila said. “As long as you get your money’s worth, then it’s well spent.”
Having a booth is one way to “get your foot in the door with new products,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the first step, and then you have a meeting and follow up.”
ZyXel’s strategy is to have its gear in multiple booths, including some hosted by trade groups, in order to give it the best chance of being seen, Saila said.
“It’s such a huge show,” he said. “You have your products in as many different locations as possible so you hit the attendees at different points and get the maximum exposure possible.”
Party Circuit
Another venue for networking is the famed CES party circuit. There’s even an unofficial blog that keeps tabs on the events, where companies will book an entire bar or club for a night and invite the press, analysts and customers.
“There are always good parties at CES,” Giazzon said. “The best parties are the ones I probably don’t remember.”
A few years ago Targus hosted a party at Tabu, a club at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
“Companies will spend money on events like that for a good reason,” Giazzon said. “The reason we did it is because Targus was launching an entire new look and feel for its brand.”
Parties are another chance to talk to potential customers and the media in a smaller, more informal environment.
“At a lot of these events, you are hanging out with a lot of cool people and exchanging information,” Saila said. “You want the press people to get drunk, but not yourself.”
