I’ve been to more tech events and launches than I can count in my decade-plus as a tech journalist, but Delta’s CES 2025 keynote is the only one that has blown me away, both literally and figuratively. That’s because the airline combined tech and storytelling to spark an emotional response that felt surprisingly personal and deeply affecting – and in doing so, made a canny link to one of the biggest possibilities in the coming year.
Delta harnessed the tech at the world’s largest spherical venue, the Las Vegas Sphere, which is a giant orb covered inside out in screens, for its centenary event. In honor of 100 years of history, the airline also pulled Viola Davis, Tom Brady and Lenny Kravitz out on stage to turn it into a proper party. But what was especially impressive was how Delta used every bit of immersive power the Sphere possessed to bring the wow factor to a CES that has sorely lacked standout moments to inspire some real excitement about how tech might transform our lives.
Viola Davis helped Delta tell its story to the audience.
In fact, by making full use of the power of the Sphere’s tech, it felt like Delta was showing the world how serious it is about technology in a way that many companies, established tech brands included, could learn from. The Sphere’s wraparound LED screen served as a canvas for epic storytelling about the airline’s past, present and future.
So often we’re promised by tech companies that their innovations are going to make us feel more connected and bring us more meaningful experiences. Rarely are they ever able to deliver on these promises in a way that feels satisfying to us, the people who end up using that technology. From social media, to VR, to conversational AI, there’s a gap between what we’re told we’ll feel and what we do feel about it.
Watch this: Las Vegas Sphere: Everything You Need to Know
The Sphere, on the other hand, is full of tech that delivers on its promise. It creates a sense of shared wonder that in this case helped me feel emotionally invested in the brand. Even as someone who has never flown Delta before (it’s not such a major airline where I live in the UK), I came away with a thorough understanding of the airline’s priorities, its people and its announcements, which incorporated an AI concierge and partnerships with Uber and YouTube.
Before Delta CEO Ed Bastian even took the stage, the audience was treated to a slow sunrise that stretched across the Sphere’s truly enormous 160,000-square-foot screen before a massive Delta plane drove straight towards us. My seat rumbled and I was blasted with a gust of wind that made me feel like I was genuinely being blown off an airport runway.
A mesmerizing fireworks display closed the show.
It was one of several moments during the keynote that Delta used the haptic technology built into every one of the Sphere’s 10,000 seats, combined with the visual and audio capabilities of the venue, to create a full-body multisensory experience. At one point, as the screen turned into a giant cockpit and we appeared to careen away from the ground, I felt my eyes cross and my stomach lurch – a feeling akin to the kind of travel sickness I’ve felt before in VR and on rollercoasters.
The 3D effect of a spinning globe gave the impression of it filling up the Sphere, while a closing firework display filled the sky with whizzes, pops and bangs that reverberated up through the seats. More intimate moments saw cameras zoom in on long-time Delta employees scattered through the audience, as Bastian paid tribute to their contributions over many years of flying.
Lenny Kravitz’s set also took advantage of the Sphere’s big screens.
Even before the keynote, which took Delta almost a full year to design and prepare for, this event was the hot ticket of CES – and as it turned out, rightly so. Perhaps regular Delta flyers might prefer it if the airline had invested that money in expanding legroom, but this often cynical journalist was impressed by the spectacle, which left me feeling more hopeful about technology than I otherwise have at this fairly lacklustre tech show.
There was a stark contrast between the stuffy, iterative announcements and the heartfelt presentations by actual Delta flight attendants, which paired with the multisensory nature of the event left me feeling enveloped in the world of a bold, iconic brand that isn’t afraid to steal the show.
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