• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 11, 2015

Did you go to CES last week? Were you one of the sea of 150,000 people who descended upon Las Vegas for a week-long technology-fueled orgiastic experience of epic release? If so, you might be familiar with some of these trends. If not, read on.

Digital media consultant and journalist Susan Kuchinkas braved the sea of flesh and returned home to pen a piece entitled CES 2015: Five Trends That Could Change Advertising for Portada. She cites connected watches and quotes Essence Director of Mobile Jeremy Sigel who told her, "While smartwatch ads may start there (on the watch), the bigger opportunity will be highly contextual push notifications that strive to be additive, and branded applications that are inherently helpful to keep a brand top-of-mind."

Additionally, Kuchinkas thinks OTT (over the top) TV from the likes of Sling and others will allow for improved targeting as a result of increased ability to tailor content to specific audiences. Internet-connected cars were all the rage at CES as well and that means yet another captive audience advertisers can tap with ads on the increasingly prevalent infotainment screens within vehicles.

Kuchinkas thinks increasingly popular virtual reality experiences like Occulus Rift and Google Cardboard could make for perfect ad platforms much in the same way ads have found their way into gaming experience.

And then, of course, there is the Internet of Things, that increasingly ubiquitous phrase which is tossed about to describe everything from internet-enabled toasters to health tracking devices. Because of the way these devices incorporate and leverage big data, highly personalized contextual and behavioral ads could become mainstream.