> **来源：[研报客](https://pc.yanbaoke.cn)** REWIND SERIES / CES REWIND 2026 # ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, HUMAN DESIGN 5 EMERGING THEMES FROM THIS YEAR'S CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW INTRODUCTION # ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, HUMAN DESIGN CES has always been a spectacle - a sensory overload of bright lights, ambitious prototypes, futuristic promises, and the occasional uncanny glimpse of what the future might hold. Robots roam the show floor. AI is everywhere. Screens are bigger, faster, sharper. And every year, we leave knowing one uncomfortable truth: most of what dazzles at CES will never meaningfully scale. That's what makes CES so valuable for marketers - not as a predictor of winners and losers, but as a signal of how innovation is being framed, experienced, and made believable. At CES 2026, something subtle but significant shifted. Amid the noise and bright lights of sharper screens, faster processors, proliferating platforms, and ever-more sophisticated AI, the brands that truly stood out weren't simply shouting about intelligence, automation, or performance. They were doing something far more effective: they were making people feel something. They were turning abstract enterprise capability into lived experience through human-centered design. As remarked in a dentsu Breakfast Briefing session, 'CMO Futures: Where Intelligence Meets Intention', when as marketers we look back at CES, a conference inundated by screens, handsets, wearables, and speakers in the thousands, what tends to stick with us is value creation: the innovations that represented a tangible, relatable step-change. Here are some of the innovations that we felt combined Artificial Intelligence and human-centered design to create value (for consumers, creators, patients, communities, and businesses) across five key themes. INTRODUCTION # OUR THEMES 01 MAKING IT REAL: AGENTIC AI'S SOPHOMORE PHASE 02 LET'S GET PHYSICAL: ENHANCING IRL EXPERIENCES 03 CREATORS WITHOUT BORDERS: WHERE CULTURE GETS MADE 04 LESS IS MORE: THE RESILIENCE OF 'MINIMALIST' SOLUTIONS 05 FROM BUYERS TO BELIEVERS: THE RISE OF THE TOTAL PERSON EXPERIENCE IN B2B THEME 01 # MAKING IT REAL: AGENTIC AI'S SOPHOMORE PHASE Last year, at CES 2025, 'agentic' was the buzzword permeating the conference, as a result of NVIDIA's AI Blueprints announcement and of a considerable uptake in funding investment for AI agent start-ups. At this year's CES, AI agents started 'getting real' as they started to manifest a broader set of 'street level' applications that consumers can relate to in their everyday experiences, beyond interfacing with search and content generation tools. As remarked in a dentsu Breakfast Briefing session, 'CES for Marketers: Trends We Expect for 2026', hosted by dentsu's Whitney Fishman, EVP Futures & Insights and Sarah Stringer, Global Chief of Innovation, Media, this means we are entering the critical phase in the innovation cycle in which some use-cases will be embraced by consumers, and some - as seen with the discourse around 'Al slop' - will be rejected. Here are some notable examples of innovations showcased at CES where agentic AI was put in service of solving for some form of long-standing friction in our everyday experiences. # TIMEKETTLE - ROSETTA'S EARPHONES Imagine language barriers are no more and the implications this new reality can have for sectors like travel, hospitality, retail, and healthcare, to name a few. A CES 2026 Honoree in Artificial Intelligence, Headphones & Personal Audio, Mobile Devices, Accessories & Apps, the Timekettle W4 AI Interpreter Earbuds are the world's first in- ear translation device to combine Bone- Voiceprint Sensor Capture with LLM-powered, context-aware AI. The earbuds are reportedly $98 \%$ accurate in their translations, which are essentially real- time (delivered with a 0.2 second lag). ‘Agentic’ comes in play in this application as the AI leveraged in this device anticipates context, interprets intent, and corrects pronunciation across 42 languages and 95 accents. # LG - HOME ENTERTAINMENT 'SOMMELIER' As new entertainment offerings, new smart devices, new ‘must have’ applications and gadgets continue to emerge, consumers are definitely not struggling with a lack options when it comes to investing their downtime. As a matter of fact, they are more likely feeling intimidated by the embarrassment of riches they are presented with. Especially at a time when $50 \%$ of global consumers say they are making an effort to ration their screen time, $^{1}$ getting to make a satisfactory selection as fast and efficient as possible is something we all strive for on a regular basis. At CES 2026 LG showcased how their Smart TVs leverage its multi-AI architecture (webOS2026) to deliver smarter, more responsive viewing experiences to the end user. This underlying architecture leverages multiple AI agents, resulting in the TV interface understanding users' intent faster and providing content recommendations across available subscriptions to take 'analysis paralysis' out of our downtime equations. # UNO - WHOLISTIC TRIAGING "Mens sana in corpore sano" ("a healthy mind and a healthy body go hand in hand"), the Latin adage says. But assessing shortcomings across both these two spheres has, historically, been easier said than done. A CES 2026 Honoree in Embedded Technologies, UNO Brain Body is a next-generation mental AND health screening kiosk that delivers hospital grade diagnostics within just one minute, capturing a variety of signals from brainwave activity to hearth rate variability, etc. The ‘at home’ version, UNOCARE, takes a similar approach as it analyzes facial blood flow signals through face recognition technology to identify key wellness states such as stress, burnout, fatigue, and anxiety, and then guide users by delivering personalized recovery pathways in its AI-powered wellness platform. # CERENCE - AGENT-2-AGENT ECOSYSTEM As evidenced in a recent dentsu research report, with $55 \%$ of Americans either using or planning to use it to shop, AI is emerging as a recurrent shopping partner for shoppers.² But what if AI agents on both sides of the commerce equation – buyer AND seller/service provider – start to collaborate to deliver an optimal experience for all parties involved? In the lead up to CES 2026, Cerence, an industry leader in AI solutions for the automotive and transportation sectors, announced it's moving beyond in-vehicle experiences with the launch of two new domain-specific AI agents: the dealer assist agent and the ownership companion agent. Automating lead capture, test drive bookings, and service scheduling while integrating directly with CRM and Dealer Management Systems, the former is designed to bridge the gap between customer expectations and dealership operational limits. On the other hand, the latter addresses the fact that most car owners do not actively use the most advanced features in their vehicles by providing an always-on service companion in the vehicle that helps drivers optimize the post-purchase journey. However, what is most interesting is perhaps the notion of the two agents collaborating to create an AI-powered service loop that facilitates real-time, context-aware handoffs between the vehicle and the dealership. THEME 01 # WHAT BRANDS SHOULD DO: DESIGN FOR 'SUPERVISING AI,' NOT JUST USING IT Build playbooks where humans set goals, guardrails, and brand voice—and agents execute. Train teams on prompt frameworks, QA, and escalation rather than only on “how to use X tool.” # MAKE YOUR DATA AGENT-READY Clean, structured, consented data becomes the raw material agents need to act intelligently. Invest in tagging, taxonomies, and consistent definitions across CRM, media, and commerce. # REWRITE ROLES AND KPIS Expect less time on manual build/traffic work, and more on strategy, testing hypotheses, and interpreting outputs. An upcoming dentsu CMO report shows that $50 \%$ of global marketing think redesigning marketing processes, workstreams, and skillsets with AI in mind is now a key part of their mandate. Shift KPIs from ‘volume of activity’ metrics (assets, emails, posts) to measuring the quality of outcomes. # GUARDGRAILS FOR BRAND AND RISK Set rules governing where agents can publish without approval, what data they can access, and define how to audit decisions. THEME02 # LET'S GET PHYSICAL: ENHANCING IRL EXPERIENCES While CES has grown into an innovation showcase that often features technology far beyond the reach of average consumers, there is still a consistent presence on the show floor from companies that are seeking to breakthrough by landing the idea for the next 'must have' physical home/personal gadget. AI is naturally positioned to be the 'secret sauce' of our times that developers are injecting into a plethora of use-cases to try to crack this 'must have gadget' code, and nowhere was its marriage with trending, physical accessories more evident this year than in the incredible amount of AI-companions, for both kids, pets, and grown-ups showcased at the show – most of which, inevitably, resembled Labubu dolls (sometimes, us marketers are quite predictable). Yet, beyond the 'trendy,' CES 2026 showcased some significant innovations in which technology was used to add new dimensions, new horizons to the physical world, promising to, at various levels, enhance human's ability to experience it and interact with it. Here are some of the most remarkable examples: # LEGO - THE INTERNET OF BRICKS The LEGO Group has unveiled SMART Play, which the company maintains represents one of the most significant evolutions in the LEGO System-in-Play since the introduction of the LEGO Minifigure in 1978. SMART Play is a new interactive platform powered by a custom-made chip, measuring smaller than a standard LEGO stud. Sensors, accelerometers, light sensing and a sound sensor as well as a miniature speaker are embedded in the system to enable SMART Play Lego sets to be enhanced by responsive lighting, sound, music effects – think lightsaber hums and flashes, as this new standard is being introduced in the Lego Star Wars theme. This innovation is seen as a way to deter children and grown-ups alike from thinking of play in terms of a dichotomy between 'toyetic' vs 'video-game based,' but rather bring some of the interactive elements that are drawing younger generations to the latter into the former, in an effort to reduce screen dependency. # .LUMEN - AUTONOMY, REINVENTED A CES 2026 Honoree in Accessibility & Longevity, lumen's new wearable device is marketed as 'glasses for the blind.' Using sensors and AI, the glasses detect safe walking paths and guide the user in real time through intuitive haptic feedback, essentially absolving the function of a guide dog for the visually impaired without the demands that owning a pet comes hand in hand with. The system is built on 'Pedestrian Autonomous Driving,' an equivalent of the autonomous driving features used by vehicles like Zoox (the autonomous bus-shaped shuttles now deployed in masse on the Las Vegas strip) or Saymo (the low emissions delivery robots used by companies like Uber in cities like Los Angeles) but built for the sidewalk-level urban experience. # WIROBOTICS - ADAPTIVE ASSISTANCE Robotics has been a growing focus at CES in recent years, and 2026 was no exception with new robots being showcased to perform (or attempt to perform) a great variety of complex actions, from folding laundry to playing tennis. However, the most intriguing applications of robotics seen this year were not aiming to see machine replace human but rather assist them through human-centred design. This was exemplified by WIRobotics’ WIM KIDS product, a walking-assist wearable robot designed for growing children. The product features an adjustable modular leg frame system that can be replaced in three stages to accommodate children’s growth from ages 4 to 15, and an AI-based personalized algorithm that provides users with natural walking assistance without restricting their movement, while also improving their stability and comfort. The WIM series is already being used by seniors, people with limited mobility, and workers who require endurance or musculoskeletal support, and now is aiming to revive children's motivation to walk independently – a great example of technology put at the service of the enhancement of the human physical experience. # WE ARE SEEING IMMERSIVE INTERFACES MERGE WITH PHYSICAL SYSTEMS. AS MARKETERS, WE SHOULD TREAT EVERY MEDIA SURFACE AS MAGIC. # WHITNEY FISHMAN EVP, Futures & Insights, Americas dentsu # LOVENSE - NEXT-GEN COMPANIONSHIP In a recent Dentsu Creative research study, $46 \%$ global Millennials said that they sometimes feel that their AI chatbot understand them better than their friends and family.³ Therefore, it’s not surprising that AI companionship is rapidly growing year after year as one of the most prevalent focus areas at CES. While most exhibitors took the Labubu/furry route to 'materialize' their AI companions, one company brought the "Let's get physical" theme to life in the most literal sense: pleasure tech leader Lovense showcased its AI Doll. Much more than a life-size talking robot, this doll is being marketed as the physical form of a Lovenge AI companion. It can emote via dynamic facial expressions, it's equipped with realistic skin and texture and, eventually, will have long-term memory capabilities and customizable personality modes. Continuous learning, persistent memory, and intimacy building - Lovense is aiming to win the race to unlock the ultimate AI partner that users can connect with both physically and emotionally. # WHAT BRANDS SHOULD DO: THINK BEYOND THE SCREEN Map where your brand can 'show up' in physical flows: store shelf, warehouse updates, cardashboards, smart mirrors, kiosks. Treat these as media surfaces, not just ops infrastructure. # PROTOTYPE 'EXPERIENTIAL UTILITY' Build small pilots where AI actually does something for the customer: auto-reordering staples, pre-filling forms, guiding through spaces, adjusting offers to context. # DESIGN FOR MULTIMODAL UX Voice, gesture, gaze and haptics start joining clicks and taps. Creative needs to be clear when spoken, not just read on a screen. # NEW DATA ETHICS QUESTIONS Physical AI means more sensors and more intimate data (location, biometrics, in-store behavior). You'll need clear consent flows, visible value exchange, and tight governance. THEME03 # CREATORS WITHOUT BORDERS:WHERE CULTURE GETS MADE While brands are investing in AI adoption to market more efficiently and enhance the scale of what they are able to deliver, the continuing, and in fact, growing importance of 'human' creators cannot be underestimated. In fact, according to 2025 dentsu Consumer Navigator research, nearly two-thirds (60%) of people engage with influencer content and 28% of consumers make weekly purchases inspired by influencers.4 As remarked in the afore mentioned dentsu Breakfast Briefing session ‘CES for Marketers: Trends We Expect for 2026,’ today creator content is where culture often gets made, not just amplified. As such, it's not a surprise that CES is growing its focus on creators. Last year the conference inaugurated its 'Creator Space' and this year one of the most prominent exhibitors, Samsung, elected to host its installation 'off campus', and, instead of having a presence in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Conference Centre alongside competitors like LG and Hisense, hold a space in this location for creators covering CES to record their content. Some remarkable innovations showcased at the conference aim to open-up new opportunities for content creators to push the envelope even further in the future. # ZERO ZERO ROBOTICS – 'ALWAYS ON (YOU)' CAMERA What if, rather than having to choose between sitting at a desk and talking into a static camera, or shoot POV content, or having to pull selfie-stick acrobatics, creators could always be perfectly in frame, no matter where they are and what they are doing? At CES 2026 Zero Zero Robotics unveiled HOVERAir, a waterproof self-flying camera built for hands-free filming everywhere (including on water). The lightweight drone the camera is mounted on is designed to be capable to take off and land directly on water and leverages automated tracking to record video content at up to 100 frames per second in 4k in more than 10 smart flight modes. # REMENTO - LORE AS-A-SERVICE The AARP's AgeTech Collaborative space is cementing itself year after year as one of the 'must' stops at CES. In this installation, AARP hosts a wide variety of innovation partners spanning across multiple use-cases that are relevant to older consumers. This year, one of these partners was Remento - an app that allows users to record personal stories, which are then edited with the help of AI and published in a hardcover book. This generative AI application is designed to specifically prompt users to share meaningful, evocative personal stories that can be left behind to loved ones or used to record family anecdotes in scenarios where memory loss is impending. However, there is a natural fit for younger creators here as well, as they need to build the 'lore' around their public persona, especially when they first start publishing on social platforms and cultivating a niche audience. # OHSUNG SYSTEM - NEXT-GEN COSPLAY 3D printing may not sound as exciting as it did a few years ago, but we need to contextualize that in the large scheme of things we are, using film as a touchstone, probably still at the ‘black and white + silent’ phase of this medium. However, at this year's CES we saw a paradigm shift as Ohsung System unveiled Gauss MT90, a next-generation metal 3D printer based on Paste-based Metal Extrusion (PME) technology. Unlike the powder- or welding-based 3D systems that preceded it, Gauss MT90 removes dust, explosion risks, and high-temperature processes, making it safe for offices and laboratories. In a recent Dentsu Consumer Navigator report, $47 \%$ US respondents said that they engage with influencers because they post about entertainment content that they are fans of.5 The connection between content creator engagement and entertainment IP is humongous and we can imagine a future where this type of 3D printing standard is available to super- fans, as many content creators are, to produce next- generation cosplay artifacts (imagine youtubers like Nerd of the Rings streaming in movie- grade Lord of the Rings chain male, or TV- grade Mandalorian armor from Star Wars). FOR BRANDS, LEANING INTO THE CREATOR ECONOMY IS NO LONGER A NICE-TO-HAVE: IT HAS TURNED INTO THE CORE CHANNEL. PERSONALITY-LED MEDIA IS WHAT IS WINNING AUDIENCES' ATTENTION." # SARAH STRINGER Global Chief of Innovation, Media dentsu THEME 03 # WHAT BRANDS SHOULD DO: INVEST IN FEWER, DEeper CREATOR RELATIONSHIPS Move from one-off sponsorship posts to multi-wave collaborations, co-created IP, and recurring series. Treat creators as strategic partners with audience insight, not just reach. # DEFINE YOUR 'PERSONALITY-LED' LAYER Develop internal faces (founders, experts, community managers) who show up regularly on video and live formats. Make sure your brand identity is clear in tone, POV and values so those personalities ladder up to something coherent. # PLAN FOR MICRO-MOMENTS, NOT JUST HERO ASSETS Build banks of short, contextual clips that can ride trends and answer specific questions (“how do I...?”，“is this worth it?”) across platforms. THEME04 # LESS IS MORE: THE RESILIENCE OF 'MINIMALIST' SOLUTIONS What is arguably the technology breakthrough that most defined consumerism in the last 20 years – the smart phone – came out of a simple consideration: ‘why should a person carry a cellular phone, AND a portable music playing device, AND a camera, AND a laptop... instead of a single device that can absolve all of these devices’ functions? Much of CES is an incredibly entertaining gadget showcase that amuses us as we sift through obscure use-cases, but in the 'real world' consumers are limited, either financially, spatially, or physically, when it comes to the number or size of devices they can carry with them, or stick into their homes. 'Minimalism' is often a quality that helps tech solutions endure, as putting smaller demands on consumers when it comes to adoption is one of the most immediate ways to enhancing one's staying power through a 'path of least resistance' strategy. Here are some notable CES 2026 innovations that embodied a ‘less is more’ philosophy: # CERAVOL - SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL In recent years, glasses have been a favorite surface for the CES spectacle. We have seen AR glasses, VR glasses, and now, naturally, glasses that leverage AI to assist the wearers' experience and understanding of his/her surroundings. And, similarly, we have seen an infinite number of takes on earbuds, earphones, headphones, all seeking to unlock the next horizon of audio-delivered entertainment and information. But, outside of specific use-cases, do we truly need both? Or rather, do we need them to be separate? Ceravol seems to suggest the answer is no, as it unveiled its Lyra Bluetooth smart glasses, which are accompanied by two additional earbud series designed for the hard of hearing. The Lyra glasses don't feature an integrated display like much of the glasses showcased at CES. Instead, they can be fitted with prescription lenses and offer hearing aids integrated into the stems, eliminating the need for older consumers to look for separate devices in the morning. # DONUT LAB - SOLID UNBURDENING Batteries literally power innovation... but at the same time they have also been a burden to adoption due to the weight, girth, and costs they often entail. This has been particularly true in the automotive sector, where traditional, liquid-based batteries have been a major barrier to the industry's ability to move to EVs as a default. What Donut unveiled at CES 2026 promises to change this drastically, with huge implications for auto and, most likely, a vast ripple effect across multiple sectors: the world's first all-solid-state battery. This new standard enables longer range, lighter structures, and unprecedented flexibility in vehicle and product design (as evidenced in the line-up of Verge motorcycles leveraging it being showcased at the show). The Donut Lab solid state batteries are made from abundant, affordable, and safe materials, and are apparently cheaper than lithium-ion alternatives. # STRUTT - ALL TERRAIN, COMPACTED There is a plethora of personal vehicles addressing accessibility issues, but often they can only meet limited, or specific use-cases: getting out of bed, moving around indoors, moving around on flat, even urban and suburban terrains, in-car solutions that can be fitted into mass-market models to allow users dealing with accessibility issues to drive SUVs, or off-road vehicles. Strutt aims to meet users with an all-you-can-need, single personal transport vehicle that can deal with all terrains and any conditions that users find themselves in. It leverages Co-Pilot technology to sense complex surrounding environments, enabling the vehicle to make continuous, and seamless adjustments as it moves, smoothing any journey and preventing bumps and collisions. Natural language models embedded in the vehicle mean that users can request complex maneuvers without fiddling about with controls or menus. THEME04 # WHAT BRANDS SHOULD DO: # THINK 'PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE' Whether you are designing a product, a service, a customer experience, or simply designing a campaign, be as conservative as possible when it comes to adding actions, steps, behaviors that consumers need to add on to their routines in order to be able to experience your brand. Demanding an extra effort should only be paired with truly remarkable, memorable moments that are worth it. # PARTNER WITH NATURALLY ADJACENT OFFERINGS Figure out how your brand, products, services naturally extend into other companies’ offerings – whether these are physical products in their own right, or lifestyle offerings like travel, fitness, etc. – in your target audiences’ everyday experiences. Design partnerships that benefit all of the players: end users who can simultaneously get the best of both worlds, and both organizations involved from a growth standpoint. # MAKE CHOOSING EASIER FOR END USERS We have all experienced the pain of going through a 25-page menu in a restaurant when we are under pressure to place our order fast. If offerings in your inventory are differentiated from one another only by very discreet benefits, question whether you should rather 'shrink' that inventory itself by restricting production to multi-purpose variants (where discreet services are perhaps monetized as subscription-based services when possible). THEME05 # FROM BUYERS TO BELIEVERS: THE RISE OF THE TOTAL PERSON EXPERIENCE IN B2B The innovations showcased at CES 2026 revealed a new truth about modern B2B growth: the future of B2B marketing is not just smarter - it's more human. As AI accelerates decision-making, automation reshapes work, and buying groups expand and rotate with increasing speed, traditional B2B influence models are breaking down. More data does not equal more conviction. More content does not equal more trust. In fact, the very tools designed to make B2B marketing more efficient are often making it harder to stand out. What today's B2B environment demands is something deeper - relevance that resonates at a human level. What felt different at CES 2026 wasn't the presence of AI - it was how often AI disappeared into experience. The most compelling enterprise brands weren't positioning technology as an abstract capability or an efficiency lever. They were embedding it into moments of passion, purpose, and participation - moments that engaged not just the professional self, but the Total Person behind the professional façade. These Total Person experiences engage emotion, context, identity, and meaning alongside rational proof. They reflect a fundamental truth: at the end of the day, marketing is emotion, communication, and connection. That’s unmistakably a human endeavor - even in the most complex B2B ecosystems. Across the show floor and keynote stages, a common pattern emerged. Leading B2B brands are: - Designing experiences that engage both logic and emotion. - Showing up in cultural, community, and professional contexts that make complex value tangible. Using experiential AI to deepen relevance, not just automate output. - Turning enterprise technology into something people can feel, not just understand. The result is a shift from persuading buyers to cultivating believers - people who carry confidence in a brand across organizations, roles, and decision cycles. This isn't about softening B2B marketing. It's about strengthening it, by recognizing that belief is the true growth multiplier in modern enterprise markets. And belief is built when brands engage the Total Person, not just the buyer. # IBM:WHERE PASSION MEETS PROOF During a live CES 2026 session on using tech to reach fandoms, IBM offered a clear demonstration of one of the most important trends shaping B2B today: belief is built fastest when enterprise technology is experienced in moments of passion. Rather than centering the conversation on a single product launch, IBM's Jonathan Adashek walked the audience through how its enterprise AI platforms power some of the world's most culturally resonant experiences - from Wimbledon and the Masters to Ferrari F1, UFC, and the Grammys. On stage, IBM showcased how AI drives real-time insights, predictive analytics, and personalization across fan apps, broadcast experiences, and behind-the-scenes operational systems. What made the session compelling wasn't so much the novelty - it was translation. Complex AI capabilities were made instantly understandable because they were shown operating in moments people already care about. Whether surfacing live performance insights in motorsport, contextual analysis during live sports, or real-time summaries for global audiences, IBM demonstrated how AI becomes intuitive when it's experienced, not explained. Crucially, IBM framed these experiences not as consumer marketing, but as enterprise proof points. These platforms are stress-tested at global scale, under real-time conditions, with massive data volumes - the same realities enterprise buyers face every day. As Adashek noted during the session, "There's no such thing as B2B or B2C. You're always marketing to people." For IBM, fandom is not a branding shortcut; it's a belief engine. When decision-makers experience IBM's technology in moments of passion, they don't just understand what AI does, they internalize what it enables. That belief then travels back into buying groups, boardrooms, and long-term transformation conversations, accelerating trust and momentum. # ADOBE - PERSONALIZATION PEOPLE CAN BELIEVE IN At CES 2026, Adobe showcased how the next generation of personalization and content intelligence capabilities will be built - not on unchecked data access, but on trust by design. Across live demos, Adobe highlighted how Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) and Real-Time CDP enable brands to activate real-time, cross-channel personalization while embedding consent, governance, and transparency directly into the system. Rather than treating privacy as a downstream constraint, Adobe positioned it as foundational infrastructure - something that shapes experiences from the start. Equally notable was Adobe's focus on GenStudio and Firefly for Enterprise, showing how generative AI can accelerate content creation without sacrificing brand integrity, IP protection, or customer confidence. AI wasn't framed as a creative shortcut, but as a multiplier, enabling speed and scale within clear human and organizational boundaries. What made Adobe's CES presence resonate was its realism. In a market racing toward hyper-personalization, Adobe acknowledged the tension many marketers feel - relevance without permission erodes belief. The company's message was clear - personalization is no longer a tactic, it's a relationship. This year's CES made that philosophy tangible, demonstrating how AI-driven relevance and ethical design can, and must, coexist. Adobe's approach recognizes a critical truth: people don't just want experiences tailored to them - they want experiences they can believe in. And in B2B, where relationships span years and reputations compound over time, that belief is a decisive advantage. # SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC - FROM MANDATES TO MEANING Schneider Electric used CES 2026 to expand on its Net Zero ecosystem, showcasing how digital platforms can transform sustainability from a corporate mandate into a shared, participatory experience. At CES, Schneider demonstrated how enterprises, suppliers, and partners can collectively track emissions, optimize energy usage, and measure progress across complex value chains. The demos emphasized visibility and action, showing how data flows across organizations and how decisions at one node impact the broader system. What made Schneider's CES presence compelling was its shift away from abstraction. Sustainability was no longer framed as a distant target or reporting requirement. It was shown as something people could actively engage with, monitor, influence, and improve together. Progress became visible. Accountability became shared - through technology designed to empower ecosystems, not just individual enterprises. From a Total Person perspective, this matters deeply. People don't rally around metrics alone. They rally around purpose they can participate in. By making sustainability participatory, measurable, and collective, Schneider transforms compliance into belief - a critical advantage in complex B2B networks where alignment and trust drive long-term success. 66 BELIEF IS THE GROWTH MULTIPLIER IN MODERN B2B. WHEN BRANDS DESIGN FOR THE TOTAL PERSON, COMPLEX ENTERPRISE OFFERINGS TRANSFORM FROM ABSTRACT TO TRUSTED. SONYA LOMBARDI EVP, B2B Strategy Lead dentsu # NVIDIA - MAKING AI UNDERSTANDABLE IS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE At CES 2026, NVIDIA expanded its portfolio of AI platforms and digital twin technologies, reinforcing a powerful idea - clarity is now a competitive advantage. NVIDIA's showcase delivered one of the most concrete demonstrations of how experiential clarity accelerates enterprise adoption of AI. Their expanded AI platforms and digital twin technologies allow organizations to simulate factories, infrastructure, and operational environments in real time. These demos illustrated how AI can model scenarios, predict outcomes, and optimize decisions before changes are ever deployed in the real world. What made NVIDIA's showcase stand out was accessibility. Rather than overwhelming audiences with technical specifications, the company focused on outcomes - letting engineers, operators, and executives see how AI improves performance, reduces risk, and enables faster decision-making. Complexity was present, but it was never intimidating. CEO Jensen Huang has said, "AI is the most powerful technology force of our time, but its value is only realized when people can apply it." CES 2026 made that application tangible. Digital twins and simulations turned AI from a theoretical promise into a practical tool people could understand, trust, and advocate for internally. For B2B marketers, the takeaway is powerful: belief forms when complexity moves to clarity. Leverage technology to transform whitepapers from PDFs to practical experiences. Because experience doesn't just educate, it builds confidence. And confidence is what moves buying groups from curiosity to commitment. # WHAT (B2B) BRANDS SHOULD DO: DESIGN FOR BELIEF, NOT JUST CONVERSION Move beyond transactional metrics and ask where confidence is formed before a buying signal appears. Early belief carries disproportionate influence across extended buying cycles and increasingly fluid enterprise decision-making groups. # EARN TRUST AS A STRATEGIC ASSET Treat transparency, data ethics, and governance as core brand signals, not compliance checkboxes. In modern B2B marketing, trust determines whether personalization strengthens relationships or quietly erodes them. # CREATE PARTICIPATION, NOT SPECTATORSHIP Design ecosystems where customers, partners, and employees actively engage with your brand's mission, turning purpose and sustainability into shared progress rather than one-way corporate messaging. # TRANSFORM ABSTRACT COMPLEXITY INTO HUMAN EXPERIENCE Translate sophisticated enterprise offerings into lived experiences people can see, feel, and explain to others - because clarity and confidence, not novelty, drive sustainable adoption and advocacy. # MEASURE IMPACT BEYOND THE MOMENT Track how experiences influence belief, advocacy, and pipeline velocity over time - because the most powerful B2B outcomes rarely occur in a single touchpoint. # KEY TAKEAWAYS # 01 MAKING IT REAL: AGENTIC AI'S SOPHOMORE PHASE - Design for 'supervising AI,' not just using it Make your data agent-ready Rewrite roles and KPIs Guardrails for brand and risk # 02 LET'S GET PHYSICAL: ENHANCING IRL EXPERIENCES Think beyond the screen - Prototype 'experiential utility' Design for multimodal UX - New data ethics questions # 03 CREATORS WITHOUT BORDERS: WHERE CULTURE GETS MADE - Invest in fewer, deeper creator relationships - Define your 'personality-led' layer - Plan for micro-moments, not just hero assets # 04 LESS IS MORE: THE RESILIENCE OF 'MINIMALIST' SOLUTIONS Think 'path of least resistance' - Partner with naturally adjacent offerings Make choosing easier for end users # 05 FROM BUYERS TO BELIEVERS: THE RISE OF THE TOTAL PERSON EXPERIENCE IN B2B - Design for belief, not just conversion - Earn trust as a strategic asset - Create participation, not spectatorship - Transform abstract complexity into human experience Measure impact beyond the moment # SOURCES 1. Generative Realities: Dentsu Creative 2026 Trends Report (Dentsu Creative). 2. Dentsu Consumer Navigator US Edition - Show/Business: Retail & Shopping 2026 (dentsu). 3. Generative Realities: Dentsu Creative 2026 Trends Report (Dentsu Creative). 4. Global data averaged from US, EMEA, and APAC reports in the series. 5. Dentsu Consumer Navigator US Edition - Almost Famous: Influencers' Growing Impact on U.S. Consumer Habits (dentsu). # THANK YOU # OUR CONTRIBUTORS Jack Boitani VP, Content dentsu Sarah Stringer Global Chief of Innovation, Media dentsu Sonya Lombardi EVP, B2B Strategy Lead dentsu Whitney Fishman EVP, Futures & Insights, Americas dentsu # ABOUT DENTSU Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world's leading organizations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and now present in over 145 countries and regions, it has a proven track record of nurturing and developing innovations, combining the talents of its global network of leadership brands to develop impactful and integrated growth solutions for clients. Dentsu delivers end-to-end experience transformation (EX) by integrating its services across Media, CXM and Creative, while its business transformation (BX) mindset pushes the boundaries of transformation and sustainable growth for brands, people and society. Dentsu, innovating to impact. https://www.dentsu.com/group.dentsu.com/en/dentsu.com