CES 2022: Brand and marketer updates from annual tech event

CES is now live in Las Vegas despite the mass exodus of major participants, including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Lenovo, Amazon, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, General Motors and other brands. This week, attendees and exhibitors started trickling into the electronics bash. While many of the biggest names in tech decided to host virtual presentations or forego CES altogether, some companies kept their in-person appearances, including Samsung, which will still present its major keynote speech to kick off the electronic’s show on Tuesday. 

Jan. 3, 2022

3:00 PM ET

Samsung kicks off CES with NFT TVs

Samsung Electronics has been among the companies committed to demonstrating products live at CES, and it already made a splash with an NFT platform for TVs. Samsung opened CES with a series of announcements around its smart TV software, including an integration with NFTs. Samsung said its NFT platform allows consumers to discover, buy and trade NFTs. The non-fungible tokens have been one of the hotter technologies from the past year, giving web 3.0 enthusiasts a way to collect digital artwork. Electronics companies have been coming up with new ways to display these virtual collectibles through smart screens.

— Garett Sloane

2:00 PM ET 

COVID testing swag

Got my first #CES2022 swag pic.twitter.com/rYp4nTWdJM

CES attendees are reporting that safety precautions are being taken seriously with plenty of masking and organizers distributing personal COVID-19 test kits.

Have to say, so far everyone has been very mask compliant. Happy to see #CES2022

Last month, CES organizers promised to make personal tests available as part of increased precautions. On Monday, the first people on the ground were tweeting about the ramped up measures and showing off their complementary COVID-19 kits. Health tech also happens to be one of the hot themes at the electronics show. Abbott, the maker of the BinaxNOW test, received an innovation honor at this year’s CES.

— Garett Sloane