CES Coverage
Thanks for visiting my Consumer Electronics Show (CES) page!
If you are here because of an email I sent you – THANK YOU!
I’m Jared Bendis, and I wear many hats! I’m the Creative New Media Officer for Case Western Reserve University, Associate Professor and Chair of the Game Design Program at the Cleveland Institute of Art, owner of ATBOSH Media (a book publisher and app development company), an artist, travel adventurer, gadgeteer, and the on-air tech-guru from some local radio and TV stations in Cleveland, Ohio. And of course, very active on social media with TikTok being my primary platform.
I have been attending CES since 2014, In 2016 I reported via Facebook photo galleries, and in 2018 transitioned into short format video on Instagram and now TikTok.
There are hundreds of clips and hours of footage! You can view and search them from the links below.
2024 marks my 11th show! And this year I was even one of the Innovation Award Judges!
A big shout-out to Ideastream for continuing having me be their on-air “tech guru”.
Companies often ask why I prefer TikTok over Instagram, and while I do repost most videos to Instagram, the conversation and the community is really happening over on TikTok. The comments on TikTok turn into actual conversations and dialogue (on Instagram it’s mostly SPAM) and mostly importantly, unlike Instagram, you can view TikTok videos from a desktop without being logged in!
A message to companies looking for coverage:
I am getting inundated with requests for meetings and coverage.
I am the king of the short(ish) format promo video. I look at your product/service and pitch it back to my audience in a way they can relate to. If you’ve exhibited at CES, I might already have made a video (or two) about you!
Event wise I will be attending Showstoppers and Unveiled (NOT Pepcom), and of course I will be on the show floor. Setting up individual meetings is rare because of time and mobility. But I want to know more!
If your stuff is cutting edge and has a wow factory, I am probably already going to stop by. I rarely cover B2B, unless the core technology is just so WOW it has to be discussed. I also generally don’t cover Kickstarters or crowd funding projects as it feels that I am promoting a risky venture for my viewers (unless I have an actual demo unit).
Since time is limited I have to ask – do you have a product on the market that my viewers can actually purchase (or is imminent)? Are you sending out review units? Because I also make videos after the show that do more dedicated review/promotion content.
If you have a product that you want featured or reviewed in a video please send to:
Jared Bendis
2473 E124 Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44120
216-288-6349
If you want a copy of a video I made about your company or product it is usually proper form to just link to my post/report. But if you would like a copy of the original video or are a member of the media looking for a copy of a video, please email me (jaredx2@gmail.com) and I can provide it for you directly.
If you want a custom video of me demonstrating or pitching your product, please email me for details.
And I can’t believe I have to add this, but please let me know if you are sending me product. That ovulation tracker looked very high tech and expensive, those fitness bars sounded yummy but contained things I am allergic too, and that men’s sexual wellness device was awkwardly opened in a room full of people!
And now for some free advice/consulting:
Get your social media handles together! TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X… know who you are “@” on ALL those sites. When I go to post my videos, that’s the information I need, and way too often when I go to tag your company the people at the booth don’t have that information at the ready (or worse yet tell me to email someone). Your social media handles (all of them) are the thing that allows you to leverage this coverage, we don’t post URLs (generally we can’t) and your handles lead people to your account (which should have your URL). This is the ONLY way to leverage this kind of content, and while not every video goes viral, I have seen posts with 500k+ views that didn’t get tagged anywhere and that’s tragic.
The excuse is: we don’t use TikTok or X or social media or… You don’t need to! You don’t need to post. All you need to do is have an account setup, with your name, your logo, and a link back to your website and let the people who are posting drive the traffic TO YOU. Make it easy for our coverage of you to be effective: have those handles in writing with the name of your company. This also allows you to be alerted that you have coverage out there. Remember, You might not post to TikTok, but you want to know what is being said about you there! And your PR person handing me a card with the name of THEIR firm doesn’t do me any good when I try to figure out what company they are representing! I get sad when I watch these companies spend all this money on these booths and then drop the ball when it comes to what is actually going on in them!
One last VERY important note: I’ve been doing this for YEARS, and the lack of follow through from PR and Marketing firms and departments is astounding. Everyone loves when I make my videos (thank you) but 9 times out of 10 the people who tell me they are going to send me product to review just ghost me. I cover a wide variety of topics from gaming to kitchen, VR to exercise, home to health, you would be shocked at the diversity of products I can and do cover. I am always honest though, if I don’t think it’s a fit, I will tell you, I don’t do baby tech, rarely car tech, and as I am male there is some tech that just doesn’t biologically apply. Lastly, I don’t do “bad” videos, my videos might be cynical or ask questions, but if a product is bad, I just won’t cover it. So please, check out the coverage, see if we are a match, and let me know.
Archive of Coverage
TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook (old galleries)
Link: CES Coverage (Tabs for each year 2016-2023)
Radio & TV Appearances
The Sound of Ideas WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 12, 2023
The Sound of Ideas WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 20, 2022
The Sound of Ideas WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 19, 2021
The Sound of Ideas WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 25, 2020
The Sound of Ideas WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 22, 2019
The Sound of Ideas WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 17, 2018
Ideas TV – WVIZ – Local PBS Cleveland – January 17, 2018
The Sound of Applause WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 16, 2017
The Sound of Applause WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – February 9, 2016
The Sound of Applause WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 20, 2015
The Sound of Applause WCPN – Local NPR Cleveland – January 23, 2014
