2014 is going to be an exciting and challenging year in the world of branding, marketing and advertising. To kick-start my series of blogs for the new year, I thought I’d compile my top 10 predictions for what we can expect in the next 11 and a half months.
1. Online TV will continue to expand as an advertising channel
Media consumption reports tell us that consumers of media are spending more time on multiple devices simultaneously. This is not good news for TV advertisers. When the ads are on, the mute button is on, and the focus is on the mobile device (tablet, laptop or smartphone).
In addition, more and more of us are becoming “time shifters” which means we are recording our favourite shows on personal video recorder (PVR) devices like Foxtel IQ, or TiVo. The cold fact is, more than half of TV viewers in the US currently use a PVR and fast-forward through the advertising.
Online TV like YouTube, vimeo, and “catch-up” TV websites owned by TV networks will go from strength to strength in 2014. Have you noticed how much more “pre-roll” advertising you are seeing on sites like YouTube? A pre-roll ad is a TV ad that is shown ahead of a YouTube video. You can sometimes skip the ad after a few seconds, and advertisers typically pay the network for every view of at least 30 seconds.
This form of advertising will continue to expand in 2014. Not just because we’re watching more video content online, but also because the media channel owners like YouTube are learning more and more about our internet browsing habits.
They provide advertisers with an opportunity to hyper-target their audiences through the data you freely provide. Even if you’re not signed in to YouTube, you can expect better-targeted ads on Online TV based on the type of video content you’re searching for online.
2. Brand extensions
Is it just me or are big brands becoming more and more flexible with their brand identities? In Australia, Telstra was one of the first to do this, introducing a diverse colour palette to their corporate identity, which led to squeals of delight and shudders of horror in equal measure from brand boffins nation-wide.
More recently, big players like KFC and Commonwealth Bank have entirely changed the colour palette of their brand identities (for a cause – cricket). KFC went from its familiar red to green and gold, even going as far as re-painting some of its key stores in green and gold, and replacing signage and livery with green and gold versions. This is a bold (and expensive) strategy. Similarly, the Commonwealth Bank went pink through its sponsorship arrangement with the cricket and the McGrath Foundation (a breast cancer charity). Not just at the grounds, also on social media.
Now that the big guys have managed to loosen up a bit, you can expect more big brands to follow suit in 2014, primarily in the context of a charity event, sponsorship, or co-brand agreement.
3. Corporate Social Responsibility will stay high on the radar
Consumers are becoming more and more demanding of big corporates. Corporate greed and profiteering is out and having a conscience is cool. We want to know that the pork we are eating is from pigs that are not farmed in cruel stalls. Making breakfast for your friends at home with cage eggs? Either hide the carton in the bin before they arrive or expect pursed lips and disapproving looks.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been around for ages but expect things to ramp up this year. 2014 will bring:
- more corporate-charity partnerships
- more environmentally and ethically responsible decisions and marketing from big supermarkets
- more guilt marketing of products and services with environmental or social credentials
- more aggressive marketing from charities
- a strong focus on environmentally friendly packaging, and
- more effortless and cost-less “feel good” consumer fundraisers (for example, EFTPOS asks us to press “cheque or savings” and each time we do this at the checkout they will donate money to a charity).
4. Advertising content optimised for mobile devices
We love our mobile devices and PCs are so 2004. Digital advertising will continue to be optimised for mobile devices. We can expect more hyper-targeted Facebook promoted posts as the social network learns more about us (and what we like). More, better quality, and alarmingly targeted ads on free apps like games or tools. Better quality interactive ads for tablet users. Basically, just more and more advertising on your mobile devices, because that’s where our eyeballs are all squarely focused.
5. Less URLs, more hashtags, search engine keywords, Facebook
www.whatwasthatURLohwellIcantremember.com URLs are so boring and hard to remember. 2014 will see the continuation of the trend of advertisers using Twitter hashtags, Facebook pages, and search engine keywords as ‘calls to action’ in advertising and ditching their URLs. Advertisers that continue to force consumers to remember their URL are going to continue to miss out on leads. This, of course, makes Google, Twitter, and Facebook very, very happy.
6. Images will be the king of content
Image sharing sites like Pinterest and Instagram will shift in to advertising overdrive in 2014. Image-rich content is king as we are reading fewer words and looking more at pretty pictures. It’s a numbers game: people are embracing these sites more and more, advertisers are playing catch-up in terms of creating their own accounts, and advertising agencies are waiting with bated breath for the advertising models to be released.
7. Brand clean-ups
Big brands with messy or confusing brand architecture will need to do a spring clean in 2014. Logos that don’t work as a Twitter avatar will be dumped and replaced. We’ll continue to see better alignment between master brands and the product brands they represent. Consumers are demanding more transparency and clear information about who owns what. Corporate websites will be tidied up and ‘cowboy’ product / brand social media profiles that someone in the marketing department devised in 2010 will be deleted and followers migrated to the master brand or at least a better looking brand fan page that the social media team controls.
8. Better use of data helps marketers hyper-target campaigns and eDMs
Big data will bring more hyper-targeted direct marketing in 2014. Remember how you thought you’d try something new and bought a Mexican fajita kit at Coles last month and then scanned your FlyBuys card? Expect a ‘fiesta’ of product suggestions from Coles in your inbox.
The data miners are using the data we freely provide big corporates in a smarter way. Tailored deals via email (electronic Direct Mail or eDMs); promotions that really really appeal to you on supermarket smart phone apps; and music suggestions from iTunes that really seem to hit the high note.
9. Emotion replaces price
Brands will get all emotional this year. Expect to see more advertising that appeals to your sensitive side in 2014. Not just tear-jerkers from charities or ads for toilet paper featuring fluffy puppies, but ads that really connect with your emotional sensibilities. Why is this happening? Basically, the brand decision-making process is becoming harder and harder for consumers with prices becoming more similar and products and services all essentially delivering high quality goods and services for consumers.
In 2014, successful brands will identify the emotional values in their brand (even if minor), and use these values as a foundation for meaningful differentiation in their brand positioning and advertising.
10. Internet radio will give commercial radio a run for its money
Internet radio stations like Pandora and Spotify will take off in a big way in 2014. In Australia, as data bandwidth speeds (slowly) increase, and our tolerance for irritating commercial radio advertising decreases, more and more music lovers will switch off commercial radio and turn to internet stations like Pandora.
The beauty of these stations for the media owners and advertisers is that by telling them what kind of music you like, you are providing data that can be used to cleverly target advertising best suited to your demographics down the airwaves. That is, of course, unless you upgrade to an advertising-free service. Either way, internet radio station owners are all going to be getting new shiny cars in 2014.
What do you think about what’s on the radar for 2014? Tweet me @brandstanding or let me know your comments below.