Leading tech and electronics firms are turning to celebrities to help hype their upcoming products at the 2013 International CES trade show in Las Vegas, with Hollywood icons, rappers, rock stars, authors and reality TV stars all appearing at the event.
Guest appearances by hip hop stars are set to be a common sight amongst the bling on display from electronics firms hoping for a little street cred, with 50 Cent hyping SMS Audio, will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas promoting Beats by Dre headphones, LL Cool J discussing the Liquid Connect MyStudio app, Ludacris throwing an after-party event for SOUL Electronics, DJ Ruckus and Run DMC’s Rev. Run signing autographs at the Jabra booth and Lil Wayne protégé Lil Twist appearing as the hype man for Nikura.
A number of rock stars are also set to appear or perform at the show, with Maroon 5 appearing at the Qualcomm keynote, Travis Barker appearing at the Pioneer Electronics booth, I Fight Dragons performing for Bém Wireless, Frankie Moreno and B-Side playing for Gibson Guitars and Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead inspecting the metal on display at the Krusell International stand.
Reality TV fans won’t feel left out either, with Snooki from Jersey Shore set to make an appearance promoting the new line-up from Zeikos.
However, perhaps the biggest name to appear at the show is Danny DeVito, who will make a promotional appearance on behalf of consumer electronics giant Panasonic.
There are also a number of keynote speeches set to be delivered by celebrities at CES, including Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons, Heroes creator Tim Kring, FeldmanFilms founder Josh Feldman, Oprah Winfrey show guest Dr Oz and author Arianna Huffington.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
