Skip to main content

So, did you have the chance to be present at CES 2020? You know, the aptly considered โ€œa global stage for innovationโ€? Well, whether you attended or not, chances are, you probably read some articles. And many of the news pieces that came out in regards to CES 2020 surrounded the same topic. HBO and their hit show Westworld, a dystopian future where technology reigns supreme in strange ways. And thatโ€™s exactly the topic weโ€™re discussing on todayโ€™s Event Brew.

New call-to-action

Today weโ€™re joined by our amazing hosts Will Curran and Nick Borelli. Because after news broke about the Westworld activation at CES 2020, they just had to jump right into it. So expect some of the most interesting discussions weโ€™ve had thus far on the show. Grab your favorite drink and press play โ€“ itโ€™s time for some brewing!

Click here for the full audio transcription.

ces 2020Itโ€™s Not Westworldโ€™s First Rodeo

CES 2020 wasnโ€™t the first instance where HBO caused waves with their bold activations. โ€œTwo years ago at South by Southwest, there was an activation, that Viacom via HBO via Westworld did, that it was just unbelievableโ€, Nick recalls. โ€œSo there was a number of different companies with the main organization being HBOsโ€™ parents. But also Lyft and a few others. And attendees would be picked up in a car by Lyft. And then there was like an audio kind of like the introduction of what to expect of this activationโ€.

โ€œBut they took you off-campus, and they dropped you into this huge, kind of like wild West kind of a town that they createdโ€, he continuesโ€. And they had 100 character actors who had 400 pages of script, that were kind of gave the parameters for these characters to act within and things they had to say eventually to get to it. But they were to improv and also utilize these lines, but you also have to get from A to B to C and you have to guide it there. People are blown away because it was completely immersiveโ€.

Take Two: CES 2020

โ€œSo this activation was a two and a half-hour long interactive experience, at the Las Vegas Nomadโ€, Will explains. Essentially it leads with that everyone was hearing about this invite from this company called Insight. And obviously, if you watch the show, you donโ€™t know anything about Insight quite yetโ€.

โ€œBut essentially the activation happened that they reached out to a bunch of people who invited them to come, kind of similar to South by Southwest. Iโ€™m sure itโ€™s based on the invite or press list or whatever it may be. And essentially what they did is they sent the attendees a survey and said, โ€œHey, we want to ask you a bunch of questions.โ€ And the big questions that if I remember right in this article that talks about are they asked them about like food preferences, name, last name. What other questions? Whether they feel guilty after eating animals, they feel anxious about the futureโ€.

Things Get Weird

โ€œAnd essentially, to take it to a high level, there was a dinner party with a keynote. That was it. But then it got weird very, very quick. So, this guy is walking in line, heโ€™s waiting in line and in the article, he talks about how a woman walked up to him that he didnโ€™t recognize and gave him a big hug and said how nice it was to see you, how his dog was and how his boyfriend by name were doing. And he spent the whole time talking or wondering, man, did I forget that we had met or if the game had begunโ€.

โ€œBut he says that, โ€œIt quickly became clear that it was the latter.โ€ So, in the article of businesses, โ€œThroughout the night, random folks approached me and my coworkers to discuss personal details of our lives, our work, the articles we had written, the changes in our hair color. And in one case, uncertainty whether or not to move out of their current city was warranted.

The Breakthrough

โ€œAnd it says that โ€œessentially they found out that the later they found out there was a 600 page script similar to what they did the last time, that was personally tailored for the entire evening.โ€ So essentially what they did is they scour the internet for all the information on these people, and were able to build these epic scripts to personalize their experience. So instantly people were coming up and talking about things that you donโ€™t know them, but they know a lot about youโ€.

What About Privacy?

Discussing the events that took place during CES 2020, Nick is all for it. โ€œPersonally, I donโ€™t believe in the level of privacy that most people believe in. Because I believe that every time you engage with one of these platforms, you are willingly giving up privacy to everything that you publishโ€.

โ€œI believe it is a publishing platform, in which we engage in their terms of serviceโ€, he adds. โ€œAnd oftentimes when it has no price and it offers a lot of great tools because itโ€™s paid for by someone else. It comes with a stipulation that absolutely everything that you give there is open for anyone to find out about. So, I just am not scared, nor am I entitled to a product like a Facebook without paying the Piper. In the way that they have designed and I have agreed toโ€.

Personalization Enters The Chat

Will brings up that this activation was all about using data. And using data to make better decisions for people. Which brings us to the topic of events and hyper-personalization. โ€œItโ€™s trickyโ€, says Nick. โ€œThey just did it as a show of brute force power of what they can do because itโ€™s like a fun activation for a television show. But if youโ€™re in a real behavior professional, you could read certain clues about people. And determine that some of this stuff might be creepy. So best to not play your hand too hard and let people know how much you know about them. Itโ€™d be subtler while others would like the less subtletyโ€.

โ€œThatโ€™s really where I find it funny with this stuffโ€, he continues. โ€œBecause I think that everyone wants personalization, customization and less friction, and more satisfaction in their experiences. And other people are subjectively creeped out by it going too far for them. Knowing where too far is for other people right now in this period where I think too far is a significant number of people, is going to be the trick. And then I think over time that bar will go further and further back to the point where again, minority report where people arenโ€™t really squeamish about it at allโ€.

Deeper Into The Events Industry

Will wonders if the CES 2020 activation didnโ€™t โ€œcreate damage within your attendees to the point they donโ€™t want to ever attend the event again? Or will they just be back next year as long as you say we took it too far, sorry?โ€. And here, Nick says that โ€œthere are ways to mitigate that risk by creating smaller sample groups and focus groups. You donโ€™t necessarily have to treat your core attendees like guinea pigsโ€.

โ€œAnd I think that thatโ€™s what Westworld was doing. And I think that thatโ€™s what we can do with the live events. It really is the data exhaust of attendees, measuring that and then applying that to understanding human behavior and then different types of people in order to, get them to do the things you want them to doโ€, he adds.

ces 2020Data & Artificial Intelligence

โ€œWe need to have a campaign of awareness of what is the data about ourselves, what we are putting it out thereโ€, says Nick. โ€œAnd where weโ€™re doing it. Like when you write someone an email and then using a free email service thatโ€™s being scrubbed. So look for keywords in order to deliver advertising to you or to understand your behavior more and moreโ€.

โ€œThe problem with AI 15, 20 years ago when people were thinking about it is, itโ€™s going to be ruled really, really slowlyโ€, he continues. โ€œBecause it takes too long to manually input data into it for it to learn. Cut to social media age where itโ€™s like, no, it has so much human data applicable to it. Its ability to learn about us is like, itโ€™s completely like you just turn it onโ€.

Looking Into The Future

โ€œI think it will be interesting to see in the future tooโ€, adds Will. โ€œI mean, all itโ€™s going to take is someone to create some sort of realistic system that allows you to collect data. Scrub the internet and tell you to build profiles on people. And then all they have to do is open an API and then say, insert into my registration system. Iโ€™m thinking for the business sample, itโ€™s CRM. So then that way when I get up when someone requests a quote. Boom, I know everything about them! All their kids, everything I could find on the internetโ€.

โ€œWhat makes them angry, what makes them happy?โ€, Nick adds. โ€œGet me down to the point of, this is their fears. This makes them trust. Trust and fear. Those are the two number one behaviors that Iโ€™m looking for as a marketer of what triggers those things. Because I want to be able to do whatever I can in marketing to take you from a lack of awareness to trust as fast as possible. And like that comes through, personalization is a level of trustโ€.

What It Means To Humanity

The CES 2020 activation got Nick thinking about humanity. โ€œWeโ€™re offered the opportunity to grow by being put into positions where we arenโ€™t comfortable, that we donโ€™t let things come out of the left field that we donโ€™t expect. And we have the ability to overcome itโ€, he says. โ€œAnd if you have a world that is tailored to you based on the things that youโ€™ve already done to give you more and more of itโ€ฆLike for instance, if you always drank coffee and you had a lot of internet of things, items in your house. And would have the coffee delivered to you the exact way you always like it. All you would do is youโ€™d be built into this never-ending loopโ€.

Nick goes further with this idea of tailoring the world to oneโ€™s liking. โ€œIf your news avoids pain, then youโ€™re like, the world is always exactly like I thought it was. And it just confirms your biases over and over and over again. So like Iโ€™m looking at this kind of personalization. Well, you donโ€™t want to see this kind of news, you donโ€™t want to get this kind of information. It could trigger you. It could do this, it could do that. And what youโ€™ll end up resulting is a pretty safe, comfortable life. Where you get from A to B as quickly as possible with the least amount of friction as possibleโ€.

What About Events?

โ€œSo discomfort might be something that we consider in our designโ€, says Nick. โ€œAnd that is as opposed to the ideas of personalization as possible. Thatโ€™s where I believe that events are, a pivot point between art and science. I think that itโ€™s your responsibility to understand the science of people. And itโ€™s also your responsibility to create a kind of a piece of art or something that makes people feel something in the way that it expresses what you believe. In order to, get them somewhere that they havenโ€™t experiencedโ€.

โ€œYou could just deliver the same thing over and over again and optimize itโ€, he continues. โ€œBut youโ€™ll find that you would be in this loop of retention potentially. But if you really want to make an impact, the next level requires you to take a leap of faithโ€.

A Sense Of Entitlement

โ€œThe only way to reach people really is to do the thing that theyโ€™re basically saying to doโ€, says Nick. โ€œWhich is to go personalized because itโ€™s what grabs them. Like they are publishing all this information. Theyโ€™re giving every second of their lives out to the world and theyโ€™re also saying, itโ€™s very difficult to put something in front of me or for me to spend any time on anything. Because nothing is speaking to me specifically enoughโ€.

โ€œSo the user again is begging for all this stuff. And every once in awhile wakes up from this dream saying, what do you mean I have to pay for it with the idea? I should be able to have a Facebook, not pay for it. Have everything about me hidden and not known. Itโ€™s just like entitlement. Itโ€™s not a real thing. And there are search engines that exist that are completely closed offโ€.

CES 2020: One Heck Of An Event

โ€œI think this is the potential to create a movement about, at least chip away at it or start these discussionsโ€, Nick concludes. โ€œBecause again, it went from an experience that people had that was immersive experiential to other people like being so taken back by it that the world went and heard about it. And then for people like us to tell other people about it, thatโ€™s a movement. That is bigger than just, trying to change someoneโ€™s behavior. Thatโ€™s trying to change behaviors of people and turn them into change agents. And, so for me, these are the best events, periodโ€.

Conclusions

And thatโ€™s a wrap on this weekโ€™s edition of Event Brew! Whatโ€™s your take on what happened at CES 2020 with the Westworld activation? And what are your thoughts on privacy, data, and events such as this? Make sure you let us know and donโ€™t forget to tune in next week for some more brewing!

Resources

AI for Events: The Future is Here

Data Privacy: โ€˜Mind Your Own Businessโ€™ Act Is Making Waves

The most insightful vision of the future at CES came from HBOโ€™s โ€˜Westworldโ€™

New call-to-action

Nick Borelli

Author Nick Borelli

With 20+ years in the industry, Nick Borelli is passionate about helping event brands communicate stories that result in achieving strategic goals.

More posts by Nick Borelli
Share via
Send this to a friend