The product line, set to debut at CES, is currently under embargo, but Jim Brady, senior manager of PR for Cisco, hinted that “what we’re showcasing at CES are new technologies that leverage [an] Internet-based network as the platform of a new age of connecting consumers. . . The consumer electronics landscape [is] very much a device centric environment, what Cisco’s aim is to enable a new connected life, by more visual and social [components].”
Brady emphasized the importance of CES as a way for media, analysts, and key influencers to “experience” these products and discuss Cisco’s plans for the consumer electronics space.
Currently, the company’s consumer-facing business is less than 10%, according to Brady, but the company has plans for expansion.
“Before the greater part of the 1990s, Cisco established itself and really transformed the enterprise sector. And, over the course of the last seven or eight years, [the company began] the same thing within the telecommunications service provider market. We, too, believe that talking about [these] products will begin the same transformation in the consumer space,” said Brady.
Leading up to CES, Cisco’s PR tactics have included media outreach and briefings with analysts. For PR, Cisco currently works with Text 100.