What CES 2026 Revealed About the Future of PR: Community, Creativity and AI Work Together
CES 2026 made something obvious: communications wins when tech and humanity sit side by side. Across keynotes and panels, leaders from Reddit, Hello Sunshine, Yahoo, Tencent and Havas shared a clear direction-people want connection, communities want input and AI should support human judgment, not replace it.
For PR teams, that's both encouraging and demanding. Audiences are open to brand engagement when it's empathetic, transparent and two-way. Meanwhile, AI is changing how we plan, produce and measure. The job now is to blend these forces with intention.
1) Communities are more open to brands-if you show up right
Adam Collins, Chief Communications Officer at Reddit, highlighted a shift many of us feel every day. "According to a joint study done by Reddit and IPG Media, 81% of respondents said they like when brands have conversations with them on Reddit and the majority are likely to participate in conversations with brands."
That's permission, not a blank check. The upside is huge if you contribute value, listen and respond like a human.
- Pick 3-5 priority communities on Reddit and read for a week before posting.
- Partner with credible community members; avoid corporate tone and link dumping.
- Track sentiment shifts and comment-level feedback, not just impressions.
2) IRL is back: offline moments build real loyalty
Maureen Polo, CEO of Hello Sunshine, explained how Reese's Book Club helped the company learn who their audience is-by meeting in person at places like Barnes & Noble. Success there sparked Sunnie Reads for young women aged 15-18. A Gen Z advisory board validated a trend: younger audiences also want offline connection, not just DMs and streams.
- Anchor community around a recurring IRL ritual (book clubs, screenings, creator meetups).
- Create lightweight toolkits for hosts (discussion prompts, sign-up forms, photo guidance).
- Close the loop: pull insights from meetups into content calendars, product tweaks and pitches.
3) Build products with people, not for them
Tencent's Yong-yi Zhu laid out a straightforward model: involve fans, creators and players early and often. Open tests, closed tests and ongoing creator feedback shape hits like Warframe and Path of Exile. Platforms such as Twitch make it easier to see what works in real time-and what doesn't.
- Stand up a "creator council" and a "power-user panel" for recurring feedback.
- Use structured betas with 3-5 success metrics and a clear kill-or-iterate rule.
- Invite streamers to stress-test experiences and document friction points on video.
4) Put AI in the hands of your team-on purpose
At Yahoo, Chief Communications Officer Sona Iliffe-Moon helped the comms org build AI fluency with two initiatives: "Prompt & Prosper" and "Prompt & Progress." The first was a dedicated day to automate one recurring task, build a reusable asset and learn by doing. The second moved from individual tinkering to team concepts-R&D for PR: rethinking the press release, modeling news cycles, simulating interviews and pressure-testing crisis response.
- Block a quarterly "AI Sprint Day" for hands-on builds. One task automated. One asset shipped.
- Create a living prompt library and add usage notes (what worked, what failed, where it saved time).
- Move up the stack: prototype AI-assisted media lists, narrative testing and scenario drills.
- Upskill fast with focused resources: explore AI courses by job role to align training with comms workflows.
5) Tech should amplify your people
Yannick Bolloré, Havas CEO and Vivendi Chairman, kept the point simple: "At Havas, technology amplifies human creativity; it doesn't replace it." AI can accelerate briefs, research and iteration. Humans still drive judgment, taste and trust.
- Define "human only" zones (values, voice, final approvals) and "AI assist" zones (synthesis, drafts, formatting).
- Train managers to review AI outputs for bias, tone and accuracy. Make this a checklist, not a vibe.
- Reward experimentation. The goal is better ideas in less time-not more content for its own sake.
A 30-60-90 Day Plan for PR Leaders
Days 1-30: Foundations
- Audit community presence across Reddit, Discord, events and creator channels.
- Pick two communities and one IRL format to test.
- Run your first AI Sprint Day; publish a prompt and template library.
- Set risk guardrails for AI use (data handling, disclosures, review process).
Days 31-60: Experiments
- Launch two conversational pilots on Reddit with clear success criteria.
- Host one micro-IRL event and gather structured feedback.
- Prototype an AI-assisted workflow (media list generation, pitch variants, Q&A prep).
- Form a creator or fan advisory group with a monthly cadence.
Days 61-90: Scale What Works
- Roll out the winning community playbook to 3-5 additional groups.
- Institutionalize quarterly IRL touchpoints tied to content and product cycles.
- Stand up a small "Comms Ops + AI" squad to maintain prompts, templates and QA.
- Report outcomes to leadership using the metrics below.
Metrics That Matter
- Community: comment quality, saved posts, return participants, sentiment shift by topic.
- IRL: RSVPs vs. attendance, NPS, qualitative insights logged, content created per event.
- AI: hours saved per task, error rate, time-to-first-draft, reuse rate of assets.
- Business: share of voice in priority narratives, inbound media interest, conversion from community to owned channels.
Pitfalls to Avoid
- Posting without context. Lurk, learn, then speak.
- Treating IRL as a photo op. It's a listening lab-capture insights and act on them.
- Letting AI set the story. Use it to explore options; humans choose the narrative.
- Over-measuring vanity metrics. Tie efforts to behavior change and pipeline where possible.
The Bottom Line
CES 2026 confirmed what many PR pros already feel: the next wins come from smart blends-community before campaigns, IRL plus digital, AI plus human taste. Build the systems, give your team room to test and keep the feedback loop tight. That's how you stay relevant and deliver work that actually moves people.
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