The International Consumer Electronics Show is a two-birds-one-stone scenario for Panasonic. The brand is able to show off new products -- like a tablet that can be chucked across the room without breaking and the requisite plethora of super-resolution TVs -- and refine how it will market those products for the rest of the year.
"What I did a lot this week was sit and listen to people in the different areas [of Panasonic's booth] to hear what they're saying about our products," said Panasonic President Julie Bauer, who overheard people talking about the company's beauty line -- which includes hair dryers and curling irons. "Two hair stylists said, 'This hair product is amazing … What's nanotechnology?," said Ms. Bauer.
Panasonic has also hired bloggers to hang out in each of the booth's five sections to tell or show passersby how they've used Panasonic's products. For example, one beauty blogger starts out her talk with wet hair, then styles her hair with a hair dryer. Panasonic intends to take the vignettes seen on its CES show floor and run them throughout the year at stadiums sporting Panasonic's screens.
"For our consumer business in North America, the transformation [in marketing strategy] is going from product-centric to an experiential model," Ms. Bauer said.
However one vignette to air at famed race track Churchill Downs could not be filmed in the exhibition hall, in part because it involves a horse. Ms. Bauer offers more on that in the below video.