It’s been a tough year and the coming months are likely to be even tougher. Rather than a challenge,we should see it as an opportunity. From the rise of experiential marketing, developments in artificial intelligence and more sophisticated data insights, there will be plenty of ways to develop our profession and stimulate growth next year. Here are 16 major trends everyone in the marketing services industry should be preparing for in 2016.
1. THE ECONOMIC SLUMP WILL CONTINUE:
This past year has been one of the worst years we’ve seen in the past two decades (not considering the crisis of 2008-2009 and the Gulf War), and 2016 won’t be any different. With oil prices lin- gering around the $50 mark, the ongoing regional con- flicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and a slowdown in China and Brazil, the local market conditions aren’t likely to change course any time soon. As a result of the economic and political pres- sure, the overall advertising investments in 2016 will decrease a little further by around 10 per cent.
2. DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR THE ‘PROMISE’ OF IRAN:
Those looking for a silver lining to the predicted eco- nomic gloom may be looking to the lifting of sanctions in Iran for a dose of optimism but I’d advise caution. While its prospects are promising, the country will need to develop significant business infrastructure before global companies truly reap the benefit of doing business in or with Iran. Nonetheless, any business serious about the Iranian opportunity will need to act now to make sure its foot is firmly in the door.
3. CLIENTS WILL SPEND LESS AND WANT MORE:
Given the political and eco- nomic forecast, brands will view 2016 advertising and marketing budgets with extreme hawkishness. Agencies will need to respond to this challenge with an agile entrepreneurial spirit by tap- ping into innovation in data and technology. Most importantly, agencies need to accept the fact that the effec- tiveness of interruptive advertising is on a downward spiral. Instead, they must find ways to tastefully and respect- fully take part in consumers’ conversations through the likes of branded content and experiential marketing.
4. DATA INSIGHTS WILL COME INTO THEIR OWN IN 2016: If experiential marketing is the name of the game next year, it will only be possible through extremely sophisticated data insights. Personalisation, through pre-planned and pre- dictive experiences and content, means brands need to extract the most unlikely trends and patterns to under- stand the context before serving the content. This is especially important for any company that actively asks cus- tomers for data. Millennials may be more inclined to share their data with companies but that comes with higher expec- tations of how that data is used.
5. CLIENTS WILL SHARPEN UP THEIR DATA SKILLS:
Understanding data has been the top priority for marketers for the past few years but the need has never been more pressing. The coming year will see clients work much closer with agencies to understand how to harness the richness of data insights for the benefit of the brand. On the flip side, agencies will need to enhance their clients’ data-savviness further by providing them with dash- boards and other infrastructure to manage data on a continuous basis to make faster and better business decisions.
6. DIGITAL INVESTMENTS WILL GROW BY 30 PER CENT:
Digital media investments will continue on their upward trajectory as more and more brands move budgets away from traditional paid media. I expect the share of digital investments to grow from 20 per cent to 26 per cent of total media investments in 2016. This growth is in line with the projection that digi- tal media investments will represent 54 per cent of all media investments by 2020. This trend has serious impli- cations for the structure of the agency of the future. Agencies must be properly equipped with the skill sets needed to operate in a more digital marketplace. Data sci- entists, content creators, social media, buyers and planners all need to work seamlessly together to pro- vide the optimal output.
7. NO MORE USING THE ‘D’ WORD AND THE ‘M’ WORD:
Next year, we will stop using two terms: ‘digital’ and ‘mil- lennial’. Let’s consider the former – in the post-digital marketing era should we still have ‘digital’ experts? The way agencies are structured will reflect this mindset as digital silos are broken down and ‘digital specialists’ are integrated to create a team of cross-channel marketing experts. Secondly, the all- encompassing term ‘millennial’ will be scrapped for its lack of precision.
Rather than describe people born in three different dec- ades, marketers will use more specific targeting terms like ‘centennials’.
8. PROGRAMMATIC WILL BE THE DEFAULT SETTING:
The development of techno- logical capabilities and the availability of premium pub- lisher inventory will increase display budgets invested through programmatic from 15 per cent to 25 per cent in 2016. While programmatic was primarily used to pur- chase low-cost display media for performance campaigns, the ecosystem has changed. Almost all forms of display media execution can now be addressed programmatically. With video and television jumping on the program- matic bandwagon in the long run, agencies need to ensure they are equipped to deal with the challenges it pre- sents, in particular the concerns around low viewa- bility and ad fraud.
9. SNAPCHAT WILL BECOME PART OF THE STANDARD MARKETER’S TOOL KIT:
Despite (or thanks to) its gimmicky light-hearted nature, the platform is gain- ing in followers and popularity both globally and regionally. In fact, Saudi Arabia tops the world in terms of Snapchat usage. Snapchat is any marketer’s dream for several reasons: snaps are short, engaging and have an expiry date. Most importantly, it isn’t an inter- ruptive medium. This means brands can get consumers to proactively engage with their exclusive, real-time, time- sensitive personal content before it disappears. While a few have experimented with Snapchat, brands in the region haven’t taken the plat- form seriously yet but that will change in 2016.
10. THE RISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL CHANGE SEO:
In the past, creators of online content needed to think very seriously about search engine optimisation or advertising to ensure their offering could be easily discovered by those searching for it. However, the popularity of virtual per- sonal assistants will add another layer of sophistica- tion to the optimisation of content. Brands will need to take steps to ensure that the likes of Siri, Google Voice or Samsung’s S-Voice can find details about their product or service when they need to.
11. THE HEYDAYS OF TELEVISION ARE OFFICIALLY OVER:
Television advertising budgets have been reducing and will continue to do so in the months to come. The reasons for this are two-fold: the eco- nomic recession is in part to blame but the ongoing trans- formation of the industry has been fuelling the waning of TV’s status. The decline may be caused by the former in the short term, but it will con- tinue because of the latter. Advertisers are getting increasingly frustrated by the diminishing effectiveness of television, further exacerbated by the global shift of consum- ers from traditional TV to on-demand alternatives and the increased proliferation of video offerings by social media platforms. We need to respond to these changes by thinking of TV not as a standalone platform but a crucial piece of a comprehensive video plan.
12. MEDIA AND CREATIVE AGENCY LINES WILL CONTINUE TO BE BLURRED:
As the likes of content, social and experiential marketing become increasingly complex and data-driven, media agencies will step up to the challenge of providing more creative, integrated 360 degrees solutions to clients. Brands will increasingly want to consolidate their market- ing investments and agencies need to be in a position to respond. In the long run, we’re going to see holding companies try to find oppor- tunities for synergy between their agencies and eventually potential consolidation.
13. END OF THE REIGN OF MARKETING PROCURE- MENT DEPARTMENTS:
PepsiCo’s decision last month to scrap its marketing procurement department is a sign of things to come. The motive for the move (to be ‘more effi- cient and effective’) signals a shift in the global attitude towards marketing being more than a mere cost, rather an investment. We’ll see more companies follow PepsiCo’s footsteps as the complexity of marketing increases with the need to have addressable mes- sages on different platforms that are dynamic, in real-time and always-on.
14. TALENT NETS NEED TO BE CAST WIDER:
As the marketing needs of businesses develop, agencies will increasingly require an extremely diverse talent pool with varied skills. Agencies will need to hire not just ‘digital’ native types but more data scientists, analysts, data visualisation specialists, coders and engineers. Having such a wide-ranging work- force will help inject a much-needed dose of disrup- tive innovation into the agency model and increase their importance to clients.
15. EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES TO BECOME YOUR NUMBER ONE BRAND AMBASSADOR: As more graduates join the workforce, we need to come to terms with the fact that this generation is always on social media, creating a digital foot- print that represents your company (one way or the other). Rather than fight a losing battle of censorship, entities should empower and inspire team members to voice their professional opinions in the digital sphere. You may not be able to control what they say but you can provide them with the support and infra- structure they need to ensure their message is consistent with your corporate goals.
16. IF YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY START WITH PURPOSE: One of the defining features of the current generation is their desire to be associated with a company that has a larger purpose than improv- ing profit margins. If you want to attract and retain your top talent and clients, you will need to ensure your business is sustainable. The key is to realise that sustainability isn’t about recycling a few plastic bottles. Companies will need to ensure they have the right infrastructure to operate responsibly and ethically in all aspects of the business.
While some of the above trends may make some feel anxious, the future excites me. We’re sitting on the cusp of an industry-wide revolution and we need to embrace the spirit of disruption in order to har- ness the potential of the changes we will all experience.
Elie Khouri is the CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA
