This article has been contributed by Devin Partida.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is not just an unmissable opportunity for electronic companies. It’s also a massive opportunity for marketers to gather inspiration and insights into developing trends.

The annual conference draws attendees from more than 150 countries to witness its more than 1,700 exhibitors. While the next CES isn’t until January 2022, these brands are already gearing up for the platform.

As CES 2022 draws nearer, tech companies are accelerating their ad campaigns to attract attention and generate pre-show interest. With 83% of international tech leaders expecting revenue increases, these businesses haven’t held back.

Here’s a look at some of the best prelaunch branding we’ve seen leading up to CES this year.

The 10 Best CES Branding & Marketing Campaigns for CES 2022 (Pre-Launch)

1. LG’s Virtual Experience

LG, a longtime exhibitor at CES, is taking its presentation into the future this year. The company announced plans to implement virtual and augmented reality to let audiences worldwide experience the show floor. In-person attendees will be able to explore high-tech displays through QR-code-based self-guided tours while at-home users explore the space in VR.

Branding its CES space as a physical and virtual combination appeals to longtime LG customers and new markets. The immersive in-person displays call to mind the company’s curved OLED walls of past CESs, which have become a show staple. Simultaneously, the VR features entice those who aren’t going to CES by capitalizing on its popularity.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

The key takeaway from this preshow branding is to balance brand legacy with the future. Jumping on new trends like VR offers something unique for future-minded consumers, but businesses don’t want to neglect their past selves entirely.

These new features should retain a sense of past branding, like how LG’s augmented reality spaces are reminiscent of its earlier CES displays.

2. GM’s Electric Silverado

General Motors’ approach to pre-CES branding uses the typical audience to generate excitement for a new direction. The automaker has committed to transitioning to electric vehicles, and in the latest step of that effort, has announced an all-electric Chevy Silverado. That may be strange to traditional truck buyers, but it’s exciting for electronic enthusiasts.

GM understands that the audience at CES may be more receptive to an electric truck than other, more traditional markets. The company has only released teasers of the vehicle to capitalize on this, saving its full reveal for CES. Anyone who wants to see the new Silverado when it first appears will have to go to the show.

This exclusive preview does two things for GM. First, it excites the electronics enthusiasts in its audience, who may be more interested in the truck anyway. Secondly, it draws other consumers into CES, where they will undoubtedly see plenty of other new GM products, helping the company make the most of the show.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

This launch is less of a new trend than an important lesson about market segmentation. Not all products will appeal to every consumer, so companies must double down on their specific target audiences.

3. Facebook’s Metaverse Rebranding

Facebook turned many heads when it changed its name to Meta, but this rebranding was more than a name change. The company has branded itself entirely around the concept of the metaverse, a virtual reality-driven idea on the cutting edge of technology. This phenomenon was a fringe technology before Meta’s rebranding, but now it’s a hot topic of discussion.

The name change shows utter commitment to this new direction, and it comes at an ideal time. Metaverse technology will be a popular theme at CES 2022, and now Meta is the most notable company out there. CES 2022 will have no less than three panel discussions about the metaverse, and now everyone thinks of Meta when they hear the term.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

This rebranding shows the value of commitment when taking risks. If a company is going to change its direction, it should commit entirely to show it takes things seriously and generates conversation. Facebook transforming into Meta ahead of CES is an excellent example of such a commitment.

4. Apple’s “Saving Simon” Ad

Apple has a reputation for its annual holiday ads. This year’s entry, “Saving Simon,” continues its recent string of “Shot on iPhone” commercials, which show off the impressive technical capabilities of Apple’s flagship products. The ad also incorporates plenty of humor and tenderness, appealing to the audience’s emotions.

In the ad, a young girl attempts to save a snowman by keeping it in the freezer until the next holiday season. The story is heartfelt up to the very end when a bicycle runs over the snowman as soon as the girl sets it down in the fresh snow. The sudden burst of humor keeps the ad from feeling too serious and potentially corny, while the whole commercial showcases what the iPhone 13 Pro can do.

“Saving Simon” doesn’t feel like an ad but a short film. As a result, finding out it was shot entirely on the new iPhone makes audiences feel like they can create similar content with the device.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

Apple’s pre-CES “Saving Simon” ad shows the value of firsthand experience. Don’t tell an audience what a product can do — show them. Instead of focusing on numbers, it simply gives a fun, lighthearted example, subtly influencing the eager audience.

5. Samsung’s “Galaxy for the Planet” Campaign

Samsung is a longtime CES staple, but it’s taken a new approach to preshow branding this year. In August, the company unveiled its “Galaxy for the Planet” campaign, committing to becoming a more eco-friendly business. Among other goals, Samsung aims to eliminate plastic mobile packaging and include recycled materials in its products by 2025.

Rebranding as an eco-conscious company is a smart move ahead of CES 2022. As climate issues become more prominent, consumers may worry about electronics’ negative impact on the environment, especially at a trade show full of these devices.

In a sea of unsustainable, energy-consuming products, customers will see a company committed to making a difference. This sets Samsung apart from much of the competition at CES, which is helpful, considering there are thousands of other exhibitors.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

Sustainability is an increasingly powerful marketing strategy as these issues grow. Brands can generate more loyalty and faith from their customers by focusing inward, making their own products and operations more eco-friendly.

6. Impossible Foods’ First Mass Marketing Strategy

Impossible Foods, makers of vegetable-based meat substitutes, is a comparatively new player at CES. Its most recent branding strategy, “We Love Meat,” is the company’s first foray into mass marketing campaigns. Impossible targets perhaps the last segment one would expect to be interested in their products: longtime meat-eaters.

While the company’s meat alternatives have plenty of health and environmental benefits, the “We Are Meat” campaign focuses on something else: flavor. The string of ads is reminiscent of fast-food commercials, showing burgers sizzling on the grill. Instead of trying to convince meat-eaters to try something new, it attempts to show how its products offer what they already crave.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

It’s difficult to convince customers to change habits they’ve held for years. Impossible Foods takes a more effective route by showing that customers won’t change their lifestyles by trying these products.

The decidedly non-educational approach also avoids talking down to the consumer, which can be effective for any sustainability-minded company.

7. P&G’s “Lead With Love” Program

P&G has used CES as a platform to encourage responsibility for years. The company’s CES 2021 presentation focused on how tech can help solve global problems like water scarcity. The brand has continued that spirit throughout the year with its “Lead With Love” campaign.

The program highlights community improvements P&G has engaged in, like providing clean water and building homes. P&G goes beyond merely publishing its social governance efforts, though. The “Lead With Love” campaign goes a step further by highlighting similar actions from people outside the company, like public figures and customers.

P&G generates a sense of community by including these other efforts. This helps the campaign feel more genuine, not something the company does to appear more responsible than it is.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

The inclusivity of this project is something any company can learn from. Corporate social responsibility initiatives can be a helpful marketing tool, and they work better when they include the customer. People who feel they’re making a difference will continue to support the company.

8. Panasonic’s “Play for a Better World” Campaign

Another responsibility-minded pre-CES campaign is Panasonic’s “Play For a Better World” initiative. Ahead of CES 2022, the company has started a campaign focused on supporting children in need. This initiative differs from similar efforts because it gamifies the process for consumers.

The campaign involves a mobile game anyone can play for free. Players earn points that add up to real-world efforts from Panasonic. When the community reaches 1 million points, Panasonic will donate its entire line of appliances to organizations helping children in need in India.

Like P&G’s campaign, this initiative involves the consumer in community improvement programs. It has the added benefit of gamification, which may entice more people to get involved, leading to more impressive results on Panasonic’s part.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

Gamification is gaining ground and will continue to do so in 2022. It’s a way to entice more users to interact with a brand. Tying gamification to a cause many consumers care about could lead to even higher engagement. These interactions are an indispensable resource, whether or not a company is attending CES to show off its products after this engagement.

9. Bosch’s “#LikeABosch” Expansion

Home appliance company Bosch didn’t start a new initiative leading up to CES 2022 but expanded one. The brand’s “Like a Bosch” campaign began in 2019 as a way to show how Internet of Things (IoT) devices can make life easier. Bosch then refocused on sustainability and brought it to new countries in 2021.

Like others on this list, Bosch’s pre-CES branding is all about becoming an image of environmentalism. What’s unique about its approach is its lighthearted, humorous take on the idea. The campaign features multiple video and image ads with over-the-top, goofy characters living “like a Bosch” with their products.

Sustainability is a serious issue, so bringing humor to it can be a welcome addition. Bosch also made this media more shareable by centering it on the hashtag #LikeABosch. Whether users were sharing it because they thought it was funny or to make fun of it, using the hashtag generates more engagement.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

The success of the #LikeABosch campaign leading to this expansion teaches an important lesson: Brands don’t always need to be serious about serious issues. Focusing on the silly and lighthearted helps ads travel around social media, reaching as many viewers as possible.

10. Toyota’s “It Could Be You” Campaign

Toyota made waves at CES 2020 when it unveiled the Woven City, a training ground for IoT devices and self-driving cars. This year the carmaker is focusing on something else for its branding, following its success at the Olympics. In an expansion of its “Start Your Impossible” campaign, Toyota has begun a series of “It Could Be You” ads.

The ads highlight Paralympians and encourage viewers that they could be the next. This subtly ties Toyota to the idea of a pioneering, groundbreaking spirit. Just as these current and future athletes have broken barriers, so too could Toyota’s technology. Focusing on Paralympians specifically also acts as a segue for the company’s future accessibility concepts.

In addition to these athletes, the ads show Toyota’s prototypes for accessibility-minded, artificial intelligence-driven technologies. Connecting these to inspiring athletes’ stories makes them seem all the more innovative.

Prelaunch Branding Takeaway

Other brands can learn from Toyota’s emphasis on inclusivity. It also shows how it can be more helpful to tie products to a concept or feeling rather than hard facts and statistics.

There’s a Lot to Learn from CES Prelaunch Branding

CES is an ideal marketing opportunity for electronics companies. As these brands gear up to make the most of the show, other businesses can learn a lot from their prelaunch campaigns. No matter what industry a company is in, it can take away something from these examples.

Each of these companies has taken a slightly different approach to branding, but they’re all effective. Businesses should understand how diverse their options are, mix and match strategies, and find what works best for them. They can then begin marketing campaigns as innovative as the technologies at CES.

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About the author: Devin Partida is a business tech and innovation writer. Previously, her work has been featured on The Boss Magazine, Talent Culture and Techopedia, among other publications. To read more from Devin, you can find her at ReHack.com, where she is Editor-in-Chief.