It’s the New Year. We’ve woken up hung over from parties or jetlagged from travel. It’s the first week of work. There’s a whole new year to look forward to, at least once the hangover goes away and we’ve cleared off all this leftover champagne. Something’s always surreal about the first week.
Here are our tentative predictions for the industry this year:
- Conscious advertising: 2018, particularly the tail end of it, had a few self-owns that were completely avoidable. “Any press is good press” doesn’t work in 2019 — see what happened to Dolce & Gabbana when they pissed off the Chinese market with racist advertising. By diversifying the decision-making process and being more self-aware, the creative industry can avoid more pitfalls like this in the future. Hopefully.
- Ephemeral content: With the increasing popularity of brief content like Instagram Stories and Snapchat, it’s clear that in a noisy media environment short and punchy content spread out over a consistent period of time is more likely to resonate with a younger, more time-hungry crowd. Leverage influencers, whether in a traditional sense, or spread the budget over a series of ‘micro’ influencers — all this will help you reach a bigger audience at a faster rate.
- Authenticity: Native advertising has been on the rise for some time, and that’s unlikely to change. As an increasingly media savvy crowd loses interest with branded content, which has to contend with a ton of free content out there, for branded content to stand out it often has to be as unbranded as possible. Informative content that builds credibility is the way forward, especially as more and more people learn how to block ads. Advertising that seamlessly integrates into the audience’s media experience without being obnoxiously intrusive would work best.
- Environmental Stuff: Stay green, as much as you can. With the world supposedly burning down in 12 years, consumers increasingly appreciate any effort to stay green. Whether it’s a carbon offset, or better packaging, or using less water, there are a lot of options out there for any company.
- Stand for Something: Brands have to increasingly align with the lifestyle of their audiences, and audiences like to see their money apparently rewarding brands that support the things that they do.
- Digital over Traditional: While traditional advertising still has its uses, it’s often more effective nowadays to have a strategic digital campaign.
- Inclusive Content: Having an inclusive and respectful approach to advertising won’t just expand your target audience, it might strengthen the brand loyalty among your current customers.
Want to know more? Contact us.