Following in the footsteps of HPE Discover, Delta became the second brand to ever leverage Sphere for a keynote experience, and the first to do so as part of the CES lineup in Las Vegas. The much-anticipated livestreamed event, hosted Jan. 7, was open to some 18,000 trade show attendees and Delta employees, and featured Ed Bastian, Delta ceo, as well as a cast of partners and employees, all helping to explore the apex of customer service and innovation in aviation.
In the experiential marketing industry, the scale of an event should relate to the scale of the product and its importance to the brand’s goals. Delta’s 100-year anniversary certainly fit the bill. Bastian announced an array of new partnerships with Airbus, Uber, Joby and NFL great Tom Brady. Brady, along with Academy Award-winner Viola Davis, narrator for Delta ad spots, made appearances, while rockstar Lenny Kravitz closed out the show.
Attendees arrived at Sphere more than an hour ahead of showtime, and mixed and mingled, and visited a glowing activation (resembling a fuselage) Delta hosted that featured a gallery, a VR simulator and a virtual paper airplane customizer (this was simple, but really fun). Then there was the line to the Delta Gift Shop giveaways, that snaked through every level of the venue (the anniversary sweatshirts were a hot ticket item, apparently). And hanging in the atrium of the massive Sphere was a holographic display of Delta planes through the years.
Taking off at Sphere:
It’s not easy to connect with, and command the attention of, an audience of this size and within such extraordinary seating arrangements. Attendees are looking up and around and not necessarily hanging on to your every word—which makes carefully producing “announcement” moments and figuring out when to dial back the content for those moments, critical. Delta worked hard to strike that balance.
Overall, we found attendees applauding the immersive qualities of the content that took advantage of the venue, like that incredible simulated takeoff and landing, the celebratory 100-year “fireworks display” at the end (complete with rumbling seats), and of course, flying away with Kravitz.
More CES 2025 Coverage:
- CES 2025: Booth Designs, Insights and Happenings from Day One
- CES 2025: Harnessing AI for More Human Brand Experiences
- Chief Marketer: CMOs Dish on AI, Content Creation and Brand Building at CES
Scenes from in and around the keynote:
