Post on 20-Jun-2020
communications | consumer | D igital | HealtH
communicationstREnDs2016
contRibutoRs:
Trendspotters from
across North America
and Europe identified
the big shifts that are
changing communications,
healthcare, digital
experience, and consumer
expectations. In this report,
you’ll find the top eight
trends in communications,
each with clues into new
possibilities and examples of
brands that got there first.
Abigail Schmelzer
Alex Brock
Allison Pignatelli
Alyssa Kaden
Amanda Joly
Amanda Loban
Amardeep Lally
Andreas Reinbolz
Andrew Glenn
Ann Manousos
Brooke Glanzberg
Campbell Hooper
Chris Devine
Chris Iafolla
Christina Blosser
Christopher Callahan
Dan Smith
Dave Sonderman
Duncan Arbour
Ed Hammerton
Eduardo Menendez
Elizabeth Stelzer
Eric Davis
Eric Sabo
Francine Carrick
Ilya Tetelman
James Tomasino
Jason Sankey
Jeanine O’Kane
Jeffrey Giermek
Jennifer Fleishman
Jennifer Oleski
Joanna Voorhis
Joe Desalvo
John Mucha
Joy Hart
Juli Cavnar
Julie Saal
Kara Kinsey
Kevin Coleman
Kevin Nalty
Kristianne Shanker
Leigh Householder
Liana Federico
Logan Cooper
Maggie Janco
Marci Piasecki
Mark Jazvac
Mark Stechschulte
Matt Mizer
Matthew Bergen
Melissa Morrow
Michael Bonilla
Michelle Casciola
Naseem Allaf
Nate Lemke
Nicholas Capanear
Nick Bartlett
Nicole Sordell
Nina Bressau
Pat Etter
Patrick Richards
Rupert Dooley
Salvatore Cannizzaro
Sarah Brown
Scott Page
Stephanie Jones
Susan Perlbachs
Travis Rooke
Tom Callan
Tom Mullins
Tyler Sax
Vaneeta Verma
Vanessa Rivera
Zach Gerber
At the core of our agency’s approach to innovation is a simple idea:
Knowing how people’s expectations are changing lets us capture
new market opportunities, take smart risks and spur innovation.
We start by uncovering clues. Clues are data points, great stories,
quotes and pictures that shift our understanding of what people
want right now. We find them in practices around the world and in
the technologies, brands, and experiences that doctors and patients
encounter in their every day lives.
Over time, those clues combine and connect to reveal trends, a new
kind of inspiration for creating experiences in the moments before
our customers realize they need them, and, months and years before
our competitors realize the same thing.
trend noun
1. A change in expectations
2. The answer to the biggest question in all of marketing: What do people want right now?
WE’RE folloWing Eight tREnDs that shoW
impoRtant shifts foR maRkEtERs:
#1 PrOgrAmmATiC PredOminAnCeThe machines that united the fragmented digital advertising
space are adding new formats, new buying models and new
channels to become the darlings of the marketing suite
#2 exPerienCe iT Why see it when you can also touch it, try it and share it? in
2016, more marketing will take over physical spaces, creating
experiences people just won’t be able to walk away from
#3 dATA BeATs demOgrAPhiCssure, you could reach all Women 25-54, but why would you
want to when you could just talk to your most likely customers
instead?
#4 VerTiCAl WOrld As consumers the world over turn to their small screens first,
brands are reinventing their content, customer service touch-
points and shopping experiences to deliver inventive new
engagements in hand and on the go
#5 sTAnding WiTh YOuin 2015, we saw a huge swell of pride-vertising. in 2016, we’ll
see brands embrace more customer segments and critical issues
#6 BlOCKed!The new anxiety in the marketing suite? Promotions nabbed by
ad blockers sight unseen
#7 COnTexT mediAin 2016, content marketing is getting more sophisticated than ever
to meet audience demands for more relevant experiences
#8 rAdiCAl AuThenTiCiTY The brands that are earning the hearts and wallets of consum-
ers are creating a kind of intimacy that leaves shoppers feeling
like friends
in shoRt:The machines that united the
fragmented digital advertising
space are adding new formats,
new buying models and new
channels to become the
darlings of the marketing suite
SIMPLIFICATION OR SOPHISTICATION?
In this case it’s both. In its simplest definition,
programmatic advertising isn’t a particularly
revolutionary concept. It’s the automation of ad
buys. Or, how software replaced media phone
calls and insertion orders just like software replaced
meetings with travel agents, runs to the record
store or other pan-industry inconveniences.
But as programmatic evolves and grows from a line
item on a media plan to the way an entire media
plan is procured, it’s also becoming a much more
sophisticated tool. Marketers are able to personalize
mass reach, unite fragmented inventory, and target
more precisely than ever before.
In 2016, programmatic will take big leaps
forward in becoming the global standard for
digital as well as TV and radio ads. Look for
more integrated solutions that bring together
self-service real-time bidding on dashboards that
show integrated ROI.
Programmatic by the numbers:
85% of advertisers use programmatic buying strategies. 91% expect to over the next two years
—IAB, 2015
Programmatic sales are projected to spike from $15 billion in 2015 to $32 billion by the end of 2017.
—Magna Global, 2015
Decoding the jargon
Real time bidding (Rtb)
Buying digital, TV and radio ads in
blind auctions based on the people
(or person) who will see the ad, not
the place where the ad will appear.
programmatic direct
Set-priced purchases (not RTB) that
take advantage of the automation of
programmatic platforms while also
showing a buyer exactly where that
ad will appear.
private auctions
is an invitation-only RTB auction
where one publisher or a select
number of publishers invite a select
number of buyers to bid on its inven-
tory. Inventory purchased is transpar-
ent – the buyer knows exactly which
site the ad will run on.
2015: $15 B 2017: $32 b
Among the favorite buzz words going into
2016 are mobile, native and programmatic.
In late 2015, Google delivered all three by
letting publishers expose native ad inventory
in their mobile apps via the DoubleClick Ad
Exchange. In early 2016, the native inventory
will be available on both open and private
exchanges for mobile and desktop. The
move is expected to bring a flood of new
advertising dollars, particularly by helping
big brands move beyond Facebook and
Twitter to a full range of native placements.
Automating placements in display has
been easier because it simply required
standardizing ad sizes. Marketers could
send in any creative that fit that box. Native
was much more challenging – with endless
templates and publisher requirements
to make the advertising content work
seamlessly with the editorial content.
To make it possible to automate native
placements, Google gave publishers two
standard native templates to customize to
the look and feel of their properties: one
for content-driven marketing and one for
app install ads. Marketers then upload a
collection of ad assets: champion image,
headline, body copy and so on. Google
assembles the native ads on the fly and
serves the ad according to the publisher’s
user experience.
GIVING SCALE TO NATIVE
PROGRAMMATIC PREDOMINANCE01
An overview of the six different types of native ads
paid search units
Premium paid placement on search engines that
places the ad in a format and layout similar to organic
search results.
Recommendation Widgets
Widgets that typically appear at the end of a piece
of content and are often presented with the pretext
of “suggested reading.”
promoted listings
Paid-for premium placement of certain vendors,
products, etc on the publisher’s domain.
in-ad (With native Elements) units
Standard display ad unit that contains content with
contextual relevancy to the publisher.
in-feed units
Ad unit designed to exist directly within the
publishers ordinary content.
custom/“can’t be contained”
Any ad unit that is clearly a native ad, but is in a
unique format for a specific publisher and fails to fit
within the other 5 pre-determined categories.
1
2
3
4
5
6
BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO BANNERS?
Now that native has gone templated, could the most creative, engaging work in advertising in
2016 be on a humble banner ad?
Pummeled by ad blindness, ad blockers, and creative apathy, those rectangle reminders haven’t
been the powerhouses of the media plan in recent years. But, ad tech may change that when
programmatic buying expands to true programmatic creative platforms. Those platforms let teams
automatically customize ad experiences by everything the technology knows about an individual
user from location and gender to browsing habits or affinities.
Paired with retargeting and more high-profile ad units, creatives can radically evolve banners
from the static 90s product pitches to interactive, engaging experiences that will earn attention
through their utility. Some are even predicting a cross-screen future where clever advertisers can
deliver synched content experiences to audiences on their televisions and mobile devices using
banners that act a lot more like mini apps.
Why go native?
pEoplE sEE thEm
Consumers look at native ads 53% more frequently than display ads
ViEWED as EDitoRial
Consumers looked at native ads 2% more than editorial content and spent the same number of seconds viewing
puRchasE DRiVERs
Native ads registered 18% higher lift in purchase intent than banner ads
—Sharethrough/IPG Media labs survey of 4,770 consumers and eye-tracking technology study of 200 consumers
in shoRt:Why see it when you can also
touch it, try it and share it? In
2016, more marketing will take
over physical spaces, creating
experiences people just won’t
be able to walk away from.
WAIT ‘TIL yOu SEE THIS
Last summer in London, underground riders
had to mind the gap…and the dinosaurs. To
promote Jurassic World, universal Pictures
transformed the Waterloo station into the
legendary Jurassic theme park. Static and
digital visuals of dinosaurs and park scenes
were paired with ambient sounds of the
prehistoric world to surround commuters with
the movie. Audio tours, a museum and even a
popup store let fans explore even more.
The dinosaur invasion is just one example of how brands are investing in creating experiences –
not mediated by screens – that consumers can share, explore and make their own.
The Apple Store was the first to make the investment in creating a browsable space where
purchasing was secondary to experimenting. Now, marketers the world over are creating
experiences for customers to explore, from a Turner Classic Movies popup museum with
movie-set walls and memorabilia to Absolut’s inflatable igloo bars to Etsy shops that bring
the digital collections into physical space.
One of our favorites is Seatview from Virgin Atlantic. At interactive bus shelters, users can
stroll the Airbus A320 using an interface like Google Streetview. The perspective makes the
cabin seem decidedly roomy… especially because the only place a commuter might find less
comfortable than an overseas flight has to be a bus shelter.
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ExPERIENCE IT 02
At Victoria Secret, women are encouraged to leave the store with lists (not bags) of their favorite bras.
At Best Buy, customers are free to browse without pressure because, commission doesn’t incentivize
the sales teams. At Sephora, top customers are sitting for makeovers, no purchase necessary.
This is a new era of in-store experiences designed for browsing. Retailers are increasingly focused on
making shopping more fun with experiences designed to delight customers and – ideally – give them
something to instagram back to their friends and networks as well.
A few years ago, this trend was driven by consumers. It was called “showrooming” and declared as
the #1 threat to retail. Consumers were shopping in store and price comparing on their phones to
try to get a better deal (with free shipping, of course) online. In 2016, retailers are flipping the trend
and making it their goal to earn preference among customers and better integrate their online and
offline investments.
SHOP IT, DON’T Buy IT
What’s driving the “reverse showrooming” phenomenon?
in-sTOre PiCK-uP
Of Online Orders
in-sTOre Wifi
exPerT sAles sTAff
BeACOn-POWered
exPerienCes & disCOunTs
TABleTs & mOBile
PhOnes used As regisTer
sYsTems
digiTAllY-enhAnCed dressing
rOOms
SERVICE AND STAFF:
CONNECTED IN-STORE ExPERIENCES:
THE BIG TEASE
2016 will be a big year for teaser campaigns. Look for lots of symbols and hints that encourage
people to ask: What is that??
Why? Consumers who dig in and find out more become invested in the story. Their own research
has let them in on a secret worth sharing. Often these teasers are custom made for brand-fans; so,
they’re “in” on the story from the first sighting.
In Germany, Airbnb dropped its name and simply used its
familiar-to-fans symbol with the “belong anywhere promise.”
In Canada, Drake went a lot farther with the most viral billboard
of 2015. The enigmatic 30-by-60-foot sign in his hometown of
Toronto simply read “The 6 God is Watching.” Photos were posted
on Twitter and Drake himself added a cryptic post on Instagram.
The billboard was a sly promo for an
upcoming album, bringing together
lots of in-the-know clues; “6 God”
and its accompanying iconography
are symbols for Drake’s brand,
the “6” is a nickname for Toronto
derived from its area codes (416 and
647), the praying hands reference
the prayer hands emoji, and God is
apparently an all-too-humble allusion
to Drake himself. Drake is watching,
people. And, watch out, he thinks
he’s a god.
Earned media impressions resulting from Drake’s ads totaled a whopping
86 million, not counting broadcast coverage. Online outlets that featured
the billboard included MTV, Time, GQ, Pitchfork and Complex.
in shoRt:Sure, you could reach all
Women 25-54, but why
would you want to when you
could just talk to your most
likely customers instead?
My DATA ‘S yOuR DATA
Marketers are actively migrating from relying on third-party data to mining their own.
That first-party data can include anything from website engagements to subscription
data to interactions with specific campaigns. Those first-hand observed behaviors point
to comparable attributes that go much deeper than demographics. Together they
reveal preferences that third-party data can match to, uncovering many other targets
who are searching for similar experiences or products.
Advances in machine learning are the tipping point that’s making first-party data more
valuable in 2016 than ever before. Searching through those reams of data manually
would have been prohibitive, but now algorithms can quickly identify non-intuitive links
by simply comparing one behavior to a long list of other attributes.
In healthcare, a pivot to first-party data could mean a major revolution in
segmentation. No longer will physician identification rely on deciles of prescribing
(a blunt instrument that can’t account for emerging adopters or saturated practices).
Instead, it can look for prescribers and other influencers whose behaviors and
attributes look most like our best customers and deliver them contextually relevant
marketing at the just-right moment.
Marketers’ plans for data in 2016
INCREASING uSE OF 1ST PARTy DATA
oooooh yeah!!! yep! eh.
49% strongly agree 33% agree 18% are neutral
—Econsultancy and Signal, 2015
DATA BEATSDEMOGRAPHICS03
THE POWER OF PuRCHASE INTENT
In 2016, marketers are talking a lot more about intent than identity. They’re responding to a wealth
of mobile and online data that has revealed that demographics may not have been the powerful
proxy for product interest that we had hoped. Recent research at Google, for example, revealed that
brands using demographics may be missing more than 70% of potential mobile buyers. The issue:
demographics don’t help us understand what customers are looking for at any given moment or
what resources they might be using to find it.
The new goal in marketing suites: connect with people in that moment they’re actually looking for
something. Age, loyalty, affinity? None of it means nearly as much as being in the market to buy.
Mobile behavior is a big determinant of that intent.
Whether a consumer is looking for a spot for dinner or tips on how to deep fry a turkey or advice on
how to start insulin, those mobile searches are the best opportunity marketers have to connect with
them at the exact moment they’re ready to make a purchase – or, ready to have a great experience
with a new product. Paid search, native placements, and video content are letting brands be there in
those first critical moments. In fact, many are calling youTube, particularly, both the ultimate buyers
guide and fast-start new-owner’s manual.
Who are you missing?
onlY 31% of mobile searchers for video games are men aged 18 - 34
68% of skin and body care influencers in the past 6 months were men
56% of sporting goods searchers on mobile are female
40% of baby product purchasers live in households without children
—Mobile search & video behavior analysis, Millward Brown Digital, U.S., January-June 2015
JuST-FOR-yOu TV
2016 is the year that addressable advertising moves from an experiment by advertisers and providers alike
to a core way television and cross-screen marketing is targeted. Instead of buying segments or programs,
advertisers will be able to invest in very specific audiences, ones identified at the individual household level.
The main sources of addressable advertising in 2016—on either live or on-demand programming—are
enabled devices, such as connected TVs and set-top boxes from a cable or satellite provider. But leaders
like AT&T are quickly moving to push that farther with better targeting solutions that combine set-top box
data with real-time audience profile data across devices. Brands are able to target anything that might be in
a household profile, like young children in the household, or cross-match third-party data, like households
with an expiring auto lease.
Experts and early adopters are calling addressable the most
effective model for optimizing viewer engagement because
it enables advertisers to deliver relevant messages to best-fit
audiences, while eliminating excess inventory buys and
reducing viewer burnout. The convergence with programmatic
buying is also making it easier for media companies to run
algorithms to determine when and where it’s financially
beneficial to break flat-rate ad blocks into addressable segments.
The market for connected-TV
viewers is expected to reach 75.2%
(93 million) of uS households by 2018
—eMarketer
How To Get 48 Million Views
Home Depot was one of the first to figure out that DIYers
were using their phones as quick guides for everything
from installing backsplashes to mulching. So, they decided
to focus their content marketing strategy on those I’m-
ready moments with Youtube how-to videos. Their library
has hundreds of videos. The top 10 have over one million
views each and the full set has 48 million and counting.
in shoRt:As consumers the world over turn
to their small screens first, brands
are reinventing their content,
customer service touchpoints and
shopping experiences to deliver
inventive new engagements in
hand and on the go
WILL IM REPLACE THE BROWSER?
In 2016, many brands are migrating their
mobile-first strategies to chat-first strategies.
We’re returning to a simpler time in
interactions. Left behind are the playful user
interfaces and the dream of the Next Great
App. Instead, we’re finding a return to text in
chat interfaces that are taking over everything
from customer service to casual shopping.
Chat services break down barriers of time and
location between brands and their customers.
Nordstrom’s TextStyle messaging service lets
customers make purchases via text based on
a recommendations sent over the phone by a
favorite salesperson or personal shopper. The
Magic service goes even farther. It promises to
deliver any (legal) item anywhere in the u.S. in
under an hour. users just text their request to
83489, effectively aggregating services they
would have once received from groceries, travel
agents, office supply stores, and more, in one chat.
Chat-style communications are making everything
from journaling to healthcare easier to fit into
people’s lives. The Emojiary gives users a custom
set of emotive icons to log their daily feelings
and experiences. Talkspace lets users share
even more of their feelings in 1:1 IMs with
certified therapists.
Nordstrom’s TextStyle service
98% of SMS communications in the u.S. are open and read.
(By comparison: a 22% open rate is considered very good for email
and a 12% read rate is considered very good for Facebook posts)
—Pew Research, 2015
52% prefer texting customer support more than any other method of communication
—eWeek, 2015
VERTICAL WORLD 04
It started with a challenge from the podium at
Cannes: Think Vertically. Snapchat’s 20-something
CEO told the audience that the first brands to test-
drive marketing on the Snapchat Discover app saw
nine times more engagement when their ads were
vertically oriented. He and many other social, mobile
and video players were recognizing the simple fact
that people just don’t rotate their phones.
Now, Mashable, Periscope, Meerkat and others have
made vertical video a primary form of new content
creation. Even filmmakers are making the switch,
creating short films designed for long screens.
Advertisers are being swayed to vertical both by
the new platforms and the missed opportunities.
Barton F. Graf 9000 recently created a fun hack for
Little Caesars Pizza to show just how much space
creatives are missing out on. The initiative allows
users to connect their Twitter account to a “Bacon
Timeline,” which then pumps out 42 image tweets
of bacon in one long, vertical row to replicate the
amount of bacon Little Ceasers uses in their pizza.
VERTICAL VIDEO GETS LEGIT
Got bacon?In order to spare your
Twitter feed we’ve provided
a taste of what the “Bacon
Timeline” looks like
SOLVE IT
When trouble arises, consumers turn to their
phones first. Flat tire? Static cling? Ache that just
won’t quit? The solution is likely in their pockets.
In 2016, we’ll see more brands be white knights
with mobile-ready solutions to right-now problems.
One of the favorites of this often-traveling trend
team is Red Roof Inn’s stranded program. It monitors
flight delays in real time and triggers search ads
for Red Roof Inn’s near airports when significant
numbers of travelers are stuck at the gate. The
“Stranded at the airport? Come stay with us!” ads
increased bookings across non-branded search
campaigns by a whopping 60%.
Esurance took another approach. When current or
potential customers are searching for help on their
phones, it serves click-to-call ads to help consumers
engage in whatever way they choose. In just a year,
they saw both an increase in traffic to their mobile
site and tripled customer acquisition in the channel.
90% of smartphone users say they’ve used their phone to make progress towards a long-term goal or multi-step process while “out and about”
— Google, 2015
in shoRt:In 2015, we saw a huge swell
of pride-vertising. In 2016,
we’ll see brands embrace
more customer segments
and critical issues
TAKE A STAND, BRAND!
Brands are increasingly using their megaphones and media to celebrate the diversity of
their customers. In part, because those consumers expect them to. In 2015, that meant
messages of inclusion, equality, and diversity from brands big and small.
Burger King showed its proud support of customers on Pride Week with a limited
edition Whopper at a flagship store.
Cameras rolled to capture reaction to the Proud Whopper and the video quickly earned
7 million views. The accompanying ad reached 20% of the u.S. population, and young
millennials over-indexed by 4.8x.
Hundreds more brands nearly exploded with pride after the u.S. Supreme Court
legalized same-sex marriage across America.
Many, like Honeymaid, were already actively
including messages of inclusion and pride in their
advertising. Honeymaid’s “This Is Wholesome”
campaign has made portraying the many faces
of the changing American family a key focus for
the brand.
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Long after green gave way to greenwashing, ethics became the new sustainability for
business. Today’s strong brands take stands on social issues to make a positive impact for
their communities of customers.
Those stands can be unique to the category. In 2015, even business hours became an
important stand with stores earning significant positive feedback for keeping their doors
closed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday in order to encourage employees and customers
to enjoy valuable time with family, and some restaurants, including Chick-fil-A, receiving
renewed praise from not opening on Sundays.
One thing all brand stands share is a focus on a specific kind of customer. These programs
show who a brand believes is its base – and who it doesn’t. That creates affinity and loyalty
that are difficult to engender in other ways.
In 2016, look for brands to bring empathy and opinion to economic disparities,
refugee crises and caregiving.
THE NEW SuSTAINABILITy
STANDING WITH yOu05
20% of 26-35 year olds
are more likely to shop
at companies whose
social-political stance
mirrors their own
56% of Americans now
believe corporations
should engage in dialogue
surrounding controversial
social-political issues
Opinions matter
—Global Strategy Group, 2015 —Qualtrics study, 2015
READy WITH A PLANAs more brands get involved in social issues, we’re also seeing more planning put in place to guard
against potential pitfalls.
These campaigns enter the market with the expectation of attracting naysayers. So, brands are
developing preparedness strategies that include proactive content marketing and response tactics.
Campaigns are often previewed with influencers so that they can enter the market with instant
advocates who can both spread the good word and take on negative comments. They also come with
an integrated paid and earned media strategy to tell the story around the brand commitment. From
launch, the brands are actively listening for feedback and have responses and spokespeople ready to
support the cause when it’s needed most.
Honeymaid is again a great example. Although response to the “This is Wholesome” campaign was
overwhelmingly positive, Honeymaid took the negative responses and did something positive with
them. They created a video showing two artists using printouts of all the negative tweets and emails
about the spot to build the word “Love.” Together the spot and videos earned more than 12 million
views on youtube.
Honeymaid’s creative response to negative comments was to turn them into a work of art
in shoRt:The new anxiety in the
marketing suite?
Promotions nabbed by
ad blockers sight unseen
ExTERMINATING ADS
For today’s digitally empowered consumers, removing ads from their online lives is
as easy as a simple download. The number of people who use ad-blocking software
jumped from 21 million to 198 million in just 5 years. (Adobe) It’s projected to grow
even faster in the year ahead, in part because of new iOS software that makes it easy for
iPhone users to block ads on their handhelds.
Why all the ad ducking? The #1 complaint is about the ads themselves, but they’re
definitely not the only culprits. Roughly 1:2 ad blockers blame the disruption of ads,
particularly the auto-play videos and banners that expand without warning. They say
they would be less likely to use ad blocking software if brand messages did not impinge
on their experience. Another 36% believe too many ads are shown. (IAB UK and
YouGov, 2015)
Other issues are speed and security. People worry about viruses, information capture
and simple load time. 40% of ad blocker users saw the software just make their devices
work faster. A New York Times analysis substantiates the claim: They found that the
news site The Verge, as an example, includes 1.4 MB of content and 85 MB of ads and
Boston.com drops from 19.4MB to 4MB on mobile when ad blocking software is used,
reducing its load time from 39 to 8 seconds.
The buck stops here
CANADA 16%
2015:$21.8 billion
2016:$41.4 billion
Pagefair and Adobe have
estimated that $21.8 billion in
ad revenues will be lost globally
to ad blockers in 2015, rising
to $41.4 billion in 2016
FRANCE 30%
Page views impacted
by ad-blocking:
GERMANy 28%
—Sourcepoint and comScore
06
After years of hawking subscriptions and piloting pay walls, many publishers are left
with the simple truth that advertising is the funding formula. To continue to serve their
impressions, they’re taking on the ad blockers visit by visit.
The Washington Post uses occasional notifications to woo readers into white listing their
site. yahoo tested a little more muscle by preventing people using ad blockers from seeing
their mail with this message, “uh oh … We are unable to display yahoo Mail. Please disable
Ad Blocker to continue using yahoo Mail”.
The German newspaper Bild laid the financial argument
out a little more clearly by requiring that its users either
pay $2.99 per month or disable their ad blockers.
PuBLISHERS BLOCK BACK
BLOCKED!
CuSTOMIZED AD ExPERIENCES
In 2016, we’ll start to see publishers experiment with more tailored responses to ad
blocking that require more input from both advertiser and customer. Look for new
tools that let readers report problem ads and new ways for them to whitelist “good
for me” content.
Sites with large loyal audiences (like Gawker) may give readers control over their
ads, selecting topics or even brands they want to hear from. Publishers that rely
on significant ad revenue (like CNN or the New York Times) may move to their own
ad tech instead of third party ad serving, to make it more difficult for blockers to
distinguish between editorial and marketing assets.
Media journalist Jeff Jarvis believes this could be the tipping point for a new era
of “consensual advertising.” One where ads are “less irritating, more useful,
more relevant [and] more respectful” and brands have permission to partner
with publishers and web services to create and commit to quality standards that
automatically whitelist their ads from the start.
“ Imagine what such a system of customer control would do for
the quality of advertising — if customers themselves fire bad
advertisers and reward good ones with their consent and perhaps
attention and business. Advertisers will be motivated to improve
their quality and they will also know who is willing to connect with
them. Media could enable that.”
— Jeff Jarvis
in shoRt:In 2016, content marketing is
getting more sophisticated
than ever to meet audience
demands for more relevant
experiences
THE RIGHT ANSWER
Today’s buying questions are more likely to start with “how to” than “how much”.
Consumers expect to be able to learn in the moment with instant answers to questions
from “what’s this symptom” to “how can I childproof my house” to “can I really make
kimchi?” They gravitate to brands that help them uncover those answers. In fact, 69%
of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from brands that make it easy to find
answers to their questions (Google, 2015).
The effectiveness of content marketing has led to something of an explosion of free
content. Research estimates that the amount available online is doubling every 9 to
24 months, while our ability to consume it remains relatively stagnant. Mark Schaefer
dubbed the trend “content shock.”
the result: High expectations. Consumers are increasingly choosy about what content
they spend time with, showing big preferences for expert, original content and video or
images over text.
—Mark Schaefer, adapted from http://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/01/06/content-shock
TODAy
2020Content shock—the changing economics of content
Conservative estimate of content production
Content consumtion
Forget the go-tos. Leave the evergreen behind. Today’s brands are creating content that’s of the
moment, native to its location, and ready to be replaced. In 2016, that content will increasingly have
an expiration date because it will be designed to continually position a brand as a relevant part of the
changing conversation.
Brands from Target to Hallmark are launching new campaigns with robust content strategies that
include distinct experiences on Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Each is integrated with topics already
trending on the platforms.
unilever is using the search graph to anticipate and
create content in the moments before consumers
demand it. They’re tracking early trends on Google to
anticipate new hair care behaviors and trends. Then,
their content marketing team creates videos for the
brand’s “All Things Hair” youTube channel and quickly
attracts the growing search traffic. All Things Hair
became the #1 hair brand channel in just 10 weeks
and has earned 50 million views and counting.
THE RIGHT MOMENT
CONTExT MEDIA07
“All Things Hair” leverages international beauty
vloggers to produce authentic and organic content.
The vloggers are nimble enough to respond quickly to
rising search terms, as well as trending topics, such as
celebs’ hair at awards ceremonies or holiday seasons.
THE RIGHT VOICE
Global content marketing strategies will bring new opportunities and new challenges to brands in
2016. As more and more work to scale their content investments across regions and languages, we’ll
see new approaches to both cross-border collaboration and localization.
Look for more brands to leverage Intel’s planning cycle approach that brings key global voices
together to establish shared annual investments and identify the content areas best-served by local
responsiveness and agility.
Also, look for more accountability in 2016. Many brands have already followed GE’s example by
creating global dashboards that track content utilization by geography and track both KPIs and
specific business metrics.
1,000 CONTENT CREATORS
30 GLOBAL BRANDS
OVER 20 MARKETS ACROSS THE GLOBE
To help ensure brand consistency and create
effective content at the regional and global
level, Unilever leverages a dashboard to
optimize content being created by teams all
around the world
Mission control
in shoRt:The brands that are earning
the hearts and wallets of
consumers are creating a
kind of intimacy that leaves
shoppers feeling like friends
JuST BE STRAIGHT WITH ME
Call it the Pope Francis Effect. In 2016, people just want brands that are genuine, and
are what they say they are. Brands that walk away from the edifice of know-it-all power
and speak simply about making things better – whether that “thing” is the world or just
a really great cup of coffee, are igniting a new era of authentic brands.
In marketing, that authenticity is all about the story and the consumer’s ability to see
their own life in the it: forget perfection, embrace what’s real.
In 2016, there is still a role for commercials with
super star athletes, but there’s an even bigger one
for campaigns with every day athletes. One of our
favorites from 2015 was This Girl Can, featuring the
unforgettable line “I jiggle therefore I am.” Sport
England launched the series in response to research
that found that 75% of women want to be more active
but aren’t due to “a fear of judgment… worries about
being judged for being the wrong size, not fit enough
and not skilled.” Each one shows the real struggle and
real encouragement that gets people off the couch.
RADICAL AuTHENTICITy08
Price is no longer the #1 driver of preference. Today’s buyers want to know more about
quality, manufacturing and impact. The new consumer preference lexicon is all about the
source of products.
As manufacturing has grown more opaque, with far-flung factories and difficult-to-pronounce
ingredients, consumers have started to show a preference for sources they can more easily
understand. While terms like “artisan” are fading away, the desire for goods created by
people (not faceless corporations) continues to grow.
A favorite choice: local. It may have started with the resurgence of farmers markets, but
today nearly everything local is imbued with greater authenticity than those things boxed
and trucked in. For brands that aren’t local, the key elements of a trusted providence are
heritage, high quality and transparency.
PROVIDENCE MATTERS
foR EXamplE: SHINOLA
shinola has built a rapidly growing watch and lifestyle brand largely by putting
their manufacturing story at the heart of everything they do. Their communications,
from online video to the actual packaging, provide a transparent look-in at the
craftsmanship behind the watch assembly, the location of the plants, and portraits
of the individuals who built them.
By utilizing this source story strategy, the brand went from small startup to $80
million in revenue in just 18 months. last year they sold 170,000 watches, which
was triple the previous year. They’ve made purchasing their products feel like
buying the revival of a great American manufacturing city, not just the product.
THE ROLE OF EMPATHy
The first role of authenticity: know your audience. In 2016 the way more and more brands are
accomplishing that is empathy.
Creative professionals have long sought empathy with their “audiences” – living with the products
they are trying to sell, touring the factory floor, walking miles in their shoes. In creativity, empathy
leads to audience insights and more relevant creative solutions.
Now, in the business suite, empathy is leading to a new kind of authenticity. Rita McGrath, a Professor
at Columbia Business School, suggests that it’s part of the evolution we’re seeing in business.
Companies existed in an Execution Era to create scale and in the Expertise Era to provide advanced
services. Today, she says, in the Empathy Era, many are looking to organizations to create complete
and meaningful experiences.
Being considered an empathetic company is becoming increasingly important as social media
feeds demand for transparency and authentic interaction, and holds companies accountable
during controversy. However, empathy may prove to be critical for more than just avoiding social
media backlash or learning how to respond to complaints in 2016. Putting empathy at the heart of
brand innovation, design thinking, and even running meetings, may be the difference between a
memorable, loyalty-inducing brand experience and a forgettable one.
Take American Girl for example. In early 2016, American
Girl released a memorable, empathetic health-related
collaboration. They created a Diabetes Care Kit for their
dolls, equipped with a blood-sugar monitor, insulin pump,
and lancing device, in order to help girls with Type 1 feel
more comfortable with their condition. Empathy-centered
initiatives like this are a glowing example of how the
healthcare industry can thrive in this new Empathy Era.
American Girl’s Diabetes Care Kit accessory
2015 Trend uPdATe
amuse me, Dear advertiser
–sTill GrOWinG
The line between entertainment and
advertising continues to blur.
*poof* – instant advertising
–sTill GrOWinG
The surge of social advertising
hubs like snapchat and
facebook has made of-the-
moment brand content more
important than ever.
focus group adjourned
–sTill GrOWinG
Brands continue to look for
new, more powerful ways
to test ideas, including
everything from sophisticated
split testing to mri tracking.
local, now more local
–sTill GrOWinG
Providence is big in our radical
Authenticity trend.
content isn’t king, it’s the kingdom
–GrOWinG FAsT
see our update in Context media.
humble brands
–sHiFTinG
in 2016, we’ll see brands take
big stands on issue that are key
to their unique consumers.
teaming up
–sTill GrOWinG
What strange bed fellows will
2016 bring?
Right-sized Video
–sHiFTinG
This year it’s right-shaped video.
see our update in Vertical World.
u S I N G T R E N D S T O u N C O V E R N E W I D E A S
it all starts with asking What could be?
Our 6-week What Could Be programs use trends to discover
innovation opportunities unique to a brand and customer.
After a kickoff and briefing, the process includes three
engaging, creative meetings:
Know what’s changing: Collaboratively identify specific
trends that are shifting your customers’ expectations
Think broadly about the possibilities: use proven innovation
thinking exercises that combine brand strategies and market
trends to uncover specific, actionable ideas
focus on the best-fit opportunities for innovation: Review
descriptions, demos and prototypes that bring the ideas
to life. Score each on three critical criteria: value to your
customers, relevance to your strategy, and feasibility within
current plans and resources.
The result is 3–5 high-impact opportunities for innovation
that give your brand new, more relevant ways to connect
with customers.
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Our annual series of trends reports includes insights into the
big shifts that are changing communications, healthcare, digital
experience, and consumer expectations.
To discuss this report live, request another trend book, or schedule
a presentation of trends, please contact leigh householder at
614-543-6496 or leigh.householder@inventivhealth.com