CES has never been short on spectacle. What it has often lacked—especially in recent AI-heavy years—is clarity on execution. Monks believes CES 2026 is the moment the industry finally grows up.

The global, digital-first operating brand of S4 Capital plc is arriving in Las Vegas with a deliberately split presence and a pointed message: the era of “AI demos” is over. What matters now is how AI actually runs inside the enterprise. To make that case, Monks is anchoring itself at the newly launched CES Foundry, while maintaining its creative foothold at C Space—a dual-track strategy designed to connect futurism with function.

The goal is not to showcase shiny tools, but to position Monks as the operating partner for a converging C-suite, where CMOs, CIOs, and CTOs are increasingly accountable to the same outcome: profitable growth.

From AI novelty to AI maturity

Monks’ leadership is explicit about why CES 2026 matters. The company sees the industry moving beyond fascination with AI-generated outputs and toward something far more consequential: agentic workflows that rewire how organizations operate.

“The industry is moving out of the phase where ‘made with AI’ is enough to drive interest,” said Wesley ter Haar, Chief AI Officer at Monks. “2026 is about the maturity of the agentic workflow and the replacement of novelty with discernment.”

That framing cuts against much of the AI marketing still dominating trade shows. Rather than spotlighting isolated use cases, Monks is emphasizing systems—how data, automation, creativity, and infrastructure work together continuously, not experimentally.

Why CES Foundry is central to Monks’ strategy

The newly launched CES Foundry has quickly become a magnet for enterprise technology leaders focused on orchestration rather than gadgets. For Monks, it’s the right stage to explain the mechanics of an AI-native enterprise, not just its outputs.

By situating its primary demonstration hub at the Foundry—steps away from partners like NVIDIA—Monks is signaling that marketing transformation is now inseparable from core technology decisions. AI, in this framing, isn’t a layer added to marketing. It’s the operating system underneath it.

This is where Monks.Flow, the company’s AI-native operating layer, takes center stage. According to Monks, Flow applies AI to compress operational costs while expanding returns—effectively reframing marketing from a budget line item into a margin lever.

Marketing, redefined as a growth engine

Across CES, Monks’ message is consistent: the traditional separation between marketing creativity and technology execution no longer holds. That’s why the company is intentionally uniting its Marketing Services and Technology Services teams across every CES touchpoint.

“In 2026, we are rallying around three core pillars: Intelligence, Creation, and Orchestration,” said James Stephens, EVP and Head of Global Brand at Monks. “We’re moving from static demographics to real-time ‘culture graphics’ that align with how media platforms actually target today.”

That shift reflects a deeper change in how Monks views content itself. Every creative output becomes a data signal. Every interaction feeds the system. The result, Monks argues, is a brand engine that improves with use—rather than campaigns that decay the moment spend stops.

The converged C-suite problem Monks is solving

One of the most interesting subtexts of Monks’ CES presence is its focus on organizational design. As AI collapses the distance between marketing, IT, and data, executive roles are converging around shared KPIs.

“Monks is here to provide the steering wheel for the industry’s most powerful engines,” said Rick Eiserman, President and Global Executive Lead at Monks. “We’re showing how Monks.Flow moves marketing beyond pilot mode and into a high-velocity growth engine.”

This language reflects a reality many enterprises are facing: experimentation is no longer enough. Boards want scalable systems, not proofs of concept. Monks is betting that its operating-model-first approach resonates with leaders under pressure to deliver both efficiency and innovation.

Real-world AI, not CES theater

While the CES show floor leans toward futurism, Monks is intentionally positioning its presence as a counterweight—focused on application rather than aspiration.

“Through LiveVision and Monks.Flow, we’re taking intelligent automation to the edge of the broadcast pipeline,” said Nikki Gifford, Chief Operating Officer of Monks Technology Services. “We aren’t just showing what’s possible; we’re providing the blueprint for how brands can win in real time.”

That distinction matters. Many AI platforms promise automation. Far fewer demonstrate how it works under real-world constraints like latency, infrastructure cost, and labor efficiency—especially in high-volume media environments.

LiveVision and Flow: AI at operational scale

At the CES Foundry, Monks is consolidating its story into a single demonstration hub (Booth #FT-11), bringing together its technology and marketing capabilities.

A centerpiece is Monks LiveVision, a near real-time AI video understanding pipeline. Designed to operate at the edge of the broadcast workflow, LiveVision analyzes video content as it’s created and distributed—enabling faster creative decisioning, more efficient scaling, and reduced infrastructure overhead.

Alongside it is an interactive Monks.Flow demo, focused on how live cultural signals inform content creation. Rather than relying on historical insights, Flow uses real-time data to guide creative output dynamically—an approach that aligns more closely with how modern platforms and audiences behave.

On stage: cutting through AI noise

Monks’ thought leadership push is just as deliberate as its demos. Company leaders will appear on stage throughout CES, framing AI not as a creative threat, but as an economic and operational unlock.

Highlights include:

• AI Unleashed: Creativity That Inspires and Stays Human – A C Space session featuring Sir Martin Sorrell alongside leaders from Amazon Ads and Leonardo.Ai, focused on how technical infrastructure enables better storytelling.

• How to Transform the Economics of Advertising with AI – A deep-dive with executives from Adobe, T-Mobile, and Meta, outlining what Monks calls the “definitive playbook” for modern marketing economics.

• Inside the AI-Native Enterprise – A Foundry session with leaders from NVIDIA, AWS, and Leonardo.Ai, mapping the shift from AI pilots to fully operational creative systems.

• 25 Minutes of AI: Live from Las Vegas – The first live edition of Monks’ digital series, offering a grounded, case-driven take on AI developments, translated into more than 150 languages in real time.

Why Monks’ CES bet matters

CES 2026 arrives at a moment when AI fatigue is real—and skepticism is rising. Enterprises are no longer impressed by generative tricks; they want evidence of durable advantage.

Monks is betting that the next competitive divide won’t be about who uses AI, but who operationalizes it best. By centering its CES presence on systems, workflows, and economics, the company is making a broader claim: that AI’s real value lies not in creativity alone, but in how organizations are structured to deploy it at scale.

In a year where discernment may finally replace novelty, that message could resonate far beyond Las Vegas.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.