“The future depends on what we do in the present.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi.
{Insert an eye-catching statistic that makes you think about the future.}
The fact of the matter is that no one can say or predict the future. We can only gather data and plot a course of action based on the results. Just in case in the words of Ronan Keating, “If tomorrow never comes” the one thing that we believe will be constant and at the epicenter of everything advertising is CREATIVITY. In the present ecosystem, it’s at the forefront of everything that happens. Need to grab consumers’ attention? Creativity. Need to make videos go viral? Creativity. Need to keep customers happy while attracting new ones? You need creativity. This was evident in the past year more than ever, when the going got tough, companies understood that good ideas were what drove agency earnings.
The advertising world needs to go back to the ideology of not only giving their customer what they want but rather giving them what they need. This message along with other trends that have been identified, we think will shape the destiny of the advertising industry.
AI-powered advertising has evolved:
Let’s get down to the cold hard facts. eMarketer has estimated that more than 86% of display ads in the US will be purchased by automated channels and about 8 in 10 ads on mobile are already being shifted programmatically. So what exactly are these mean machines? These real-time sophisticated distribution systems interact and analyze consumer behavior and draw conclusions based on the data. They then use this information to understand how customers react to certain ad creatives in a campaign and by optimizing them achieve better results. How their split-second decision-making abilities help coordinate and place relevant ads in front of potential customers is mind-boggling.
These systems indeed help deliver ads at scale effectively, but they still lack adapting to the idea of personalization at scale in advertising…. or do they? With the emergence of AI-backed tools like Phrasee that help write Facebook and Instagram ads for you the possibilities are endless. This tool studies a brand’s identity and can produce machines written content in minutes, which helped a customer cut their cost per lead by 31%. Impressed much? Because same!
The days of cable TV are gone:
The year 2020 was the year that video had taken the market by the scruff of the neck. It will go down in history, for many as the year of wearing jammies to work, the bed-work chair-sofa-eat-repeat lifestyle. With that along came the emergence of the streaming giants releasing blockbusters on their platforms which we could enjoy from the comfort of our homes. What a time to be alive….With work from home and further restrictions set in place, the months that followed were streaming heavy. People allocated time they would have otherwise lost traveling and commuting towards catching up on their favorite movies and shows. Enter the revolution of the TV focussed advertising. eMarketer projected that more than 6 million U.S. homes canceled their tv subscriptions, leading to tv ad spending dropping 15%, the lowest since 2011. Cable is now looking like a thing of the past just like that clingy ex.
Global Tv revenue according to Statista is projected to increase from $173 billion in 2018 to $193 billion in 2022. With the fall of regular Tv, comes another opportunity for brands and agencies to refocus their abilities to influence targeted audiences across streaming media formats. The question that remains is not if but more a matter of when.
E-commerce advertising~winner winner chicken dinner:
The idea of buying something online from random websites before was like playing Russian roulette. What if you didn’t like the product? What if it was damaged? What if it didn’t fit? The idea at the time seemed nuts and this just goes to show how far the world has come. Everything under the sun is now readily available online. The level of convenience that we as consumers have is ridiculous, meaning the retail environment has forever changed and with good reason. The amount of revenue funneled through this industry will have you thinking it’s a game of monopoly. It was reported that Americans alone spent $791.7 billion on E-commerce in 2020 up a whopping 34% from 2019.
The increase in global B2C sales is expected to surge past $4 trillion this year. This balloon effect had advertisers licking their lips. Snap and Pinterest were some of the biggest winners be it either browsing their platforms looking for that spark or the introduction of virtual trial rooms for clothes and makeup during our uncertain times that instilled in people the hope that normal was around the corner. eMarketer estimated that marketers spent approximately $17 billion in advertising expenses in 2020, a 38% increase from 2019. Advertisers and marketers teaming up with influencers are one of the best ways to go with a report showing a 46% increase in sponsored posts year over especially around thanksgiving weekend sales bringing in the largest slice of the pie. This window of opportunity is only growing larger for advertisers to stake their claim and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
The time is now!
Good luck and Godspeed!
