What's behind Google's biggest deal in a decade of crazy advertising in the "casino"?

Google's presence at CES this year is clearly much stronger than last year's "invisible". Behind Google's heavy-money marketing is actually "unease" about Alexa's growth rate.

The last time Google made a big show at CES, it probably dates back a decade to a keynote speech given at CES by its founder, Larry Page. For nearly two years, Google's official status has been almost absent from CES, the world's largest consumer electronics show.

Amazon, by contrast, is much stronger than Amazon, which became CES last yearThe brightest starBig to car, small to watch, it appeared in countless devices, set off a year-round whirlwind of smart voice products, the wind completely over the rival Google Assistant.

Some changes have taken place in CES this year. Alexa is still everywhere, but Google Assistant appeared more "obviously" in Las Vegas.

Google's LED billboards appear in the gold area of Las Vegas, with trains with the "Hey Google" running through the city's center. Technology enthusiasts can't ignore it even the average tourist.

From the "stealth" of CES 2017 to the ubiquity of CES 2018, what is driving google's dramatic transformation?

The ubiquitous "Hey Google"

As soon as I entered downtown Las Vegas, the Geek Park CES reporting team saw Google's ads. The big screen, originally used to promote various shows, was replaced by the prominent "Hey Google" campaign.

The little friends stop to take pictures and send circles of friends. But when we walked down the Las Vegas Strip and found one Google billboard after another, people didn't bother to hold up their cameras anymore.

The city centre is full of Google elements, not to mention the CES pavilion. Long banner ads, bright "sugar beans", are announcing Google's arrival.

To make matters worse, Google even bought a body ad for a monorail next to the CES pavilion, often with the slogan "Hey Google."

Google ads in the car

Google has placed the Pavilion outside the LVCC, CES's main venue, and it's hard to ignore its presence with its tall standing signs and eye-catching LED screens. In one episode, Google didn't seem to expect rain in Las Vegas, so the first day of work because of a lack of waterproof work the pavilion wasn't open to the public.

Google's pavilions need to be lined up, and the space is filled with Google-related hardware products, from products with built-in Google Assistant to Google's own hardware.

It's worth noting that on one wall of the smart home, Google codes are packed with products that are already visually crowded.

In the exhibition area, we also saw Google Assistant's new landing platform, Smart Displays, which you can think of as google's version of the Echo Show, which allows you to present more information than your voice on the screen, and now JBL, LG, Lenovo and Sony have launched their products.

Judging from our visit, Google is keen to send a message that we are open, that Google Assistant supports a lot of devices, and that Amazon has us!

A counterattack that belongs to Google

Before CES, Google and Amazon had been in the crossroads of smart voice many timesFriction.and even began using its own resources to crush its rival, Google, by blocking the Echo Show's YouTube interface, and Amazon to launch Google's products on the e-commerce platform.

Amazon Alexa has taken the lead, now has nearly 70% of the market share, Skills skills have passed the 20,000 mark, and this number is growing, coupled with a mature ecosystem and development platform, which has created a lot of competitive pressure on Google.

Over the past year, Google has extended an olive branch to developers, gathering more vendors around it. At Google I/O in May, Google announced that it had struck a partnership with more than 70 smart home vendors that allow users to control their smart products through Google Home and Andriod devices.

After gaining a foothold, Google launched a counterattack on Alexa's high-powered CES stage last year. More Google Assistant devices were clearly seen at CES this year, and even Google Assistant executives were frequent at partner events.

Another context that cannot be ignored is that Google has reached an all-time high for its "consumer electronics" business. Made by Google last October Conference.Google released several new hardware products in one go, including a new Pixel phone, Pixel Buds headset, PixelBook notebook, Clips camera and two new Google Home.

Google has rapidly expanded its hardware product line, and the next step is to "tell consumers" that it needs to use a platform to introduce its products to a wider audience, a job that is clearly appropriate for CES.

It will take time to verify how much competitive chips Google can add to such a heavy-money ad. But on a marketing level, at least, this year Google has made everyone forget about Alexa.