The laptop maker showcased what AI can become, but for Emily Ketchen, the real marketing story goes beyond the spectacle to how AI is reshaping culture and creativity, from Gen Z now to Gen Alpha next, as it readies for a future where AI is built into everything.
Emily Ketchen, SVP & CMO of Intelligent Devices Group & International Markets at Lenovo
CES has always been about possibility and, this year, that possibility is accelerating fast. From inside Las Vegas’ Sphere, Lenovo opened CES 2026 with an ambitious vision of where AI is heading next: more powerful, yes, but also more personal; not locked into single devices, but flowing across ecosystems, moments and experiences.
Led by Lenovo’s chief executive officer Yuanqing Yang, with guest speakers from global tech leaders at Intel, Microsoft and Nvidia, it was a keynote heavy on integration, partnerships and scale – a clear signal that AI is no longer an add-on, but infrastructure designed to sit closer to people, their devices and their everyday moments.
Much of that vision centered on AI that is increasingly perceptive, able to understand context, move across devices and respond to people in real-time, pointing toward a future where intelligence is both generated and experienced. On stage, that future was crystallized through the launch of Lenovo and Motorola Qira, a personal AI super agent designed to work seamlessly across devices and moments. And for Lenovo’s senior vice-president and chief marketing officer of Intelligent Devices Group & International Markets, Emily Ketchen, that shift is exactly where its next chapter for marketing begins.
She tells The Drum: “I think we’re now at a time where a lot of people will be asking the question, ‘what does the AI actually mean to me?’”
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Lenovo’s answer increasingly sits at the intersection of technology and culture, particularly through sport. Its work with Formula 1 has become a case study in how cultural relevance and technical credibility can reinforce one another. Since the partnership began, the F1 fanbase has grown from around half a million to 850 million fans, with that growth driven largely by Gen Z audiences and women.
For Ketchen, that matters because sport offers something brands are actively searching for in a fragmented world: shared experience. “It’s really important in today’s landscape for brands to connect with culture. And for us, that intersection between technology and culture is really around sports and how that is coming together.”
F1’s relentless global calendar creates constant conversation, while its extreme performance demands push Lenovo’s technology in real-world conditions.
That same logic underpins Lenovo’s growing partnership with Fifa, as football moves toward its first expanded World Cup across the US, Mexico and Canada. “Fifa has never had a technology partner, ever, so this is a great opportunity for us to be able to work with it out of the gates,” says Ketchen. Technology becomes the invisible layer, enabling emotion, fandom and connection at scale.
Where Lenovo’s marketing strategy starts to look distinctly future-facing is in how it listens. Rather than treating Gen Z as a demographic to decode from afar, Lenovo has established a formal Gen Z advisory board, bringing creators and cultural thinkers directly into its decision-making.
“It’s not ‘what are Gen Z thinking and talking about?’ so much as they’re actually our advisors now,” Ketchen says. Those advisors have been brought to CES this year to experience the show alongside Lenovo’s leadership, offering a different lens on brand behavior, storytelling and technology, with the aim of pressure-testing assumptions and keep improving.
“I’m really asking those advisors to take a look at all of the work that is out there, to think about the stories that brands are telling, the stories we’re telling, and help us to formulate even better stories. You should always be improving your work. You should always be listening to what’s next.”
If Gen Z represents the present, Gen Alpha represents something more profound. Ketchen is already thinking about what it means to build brands for a generation that will never remember life without AI. “Gen Alpha will be the first ever generation where AI is built into everything that they use.”
At CES, that future was already taking shape, with AI designed to sense, remember and adapt, blurring the line between device, platform and experience.
That reality is now shaping Lenovo’s long-term marketing and product thinking. The company has first-party research underway with Gen Alpha and their families, focused on understanding expectations, values and how technology fits into daily life when AI is no longer novel, but assumed.
For marketers, the implications go far beyond new formats or channels. As Ketchen sees it, this is about designing experiences for people whose baseline relationship with technology is intelligent, responsive and personalized by default.
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That future-facing optimism isn’t limited to external storytelling. Inside Lenovo, AI is already reshaping how marketing operates.
More than a year ago, the company established an AI governance council within its marketing organization, focused on transparency, values and responsible use. From there came a major push on education to upskill marketers through structured training, so AI literacy wasn’t confined to specialists.
The payoff has been practical. In its Formula 1 marketing, Lenovo has used AI to improve contextual targeting, helping the brand reach senior technology decision-makers at the right moments, resulting in a 55% increase in efficiency.
Ketchen believes that AI is something marketers need to understand deeply if they’re going to use it well and talk about it credibly.
The Sphere may be one of the most visually arresting stages in the world, but Lenovo’s bigger bet lies beyond the lights.
CES 2026 offered a glimpse of what AI is becoming: more integrated, more human and more ambitious. Lenovo’s marketing strategy suggests the real opportunity now lies in matching that technological momentum with cultural understanding and in preparing for generations whose expectations will be shaped by AI from the start.
What’s new is AI. Who’s next is Gen Alpha. And judging by the announcements made this week, that future looks less daunting and far more exciting for marketers than ever.
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