We are facing a constantly changing world. Every technological advancement seems to challenge the strategies companies use to win consumers, and only those that adapt to these circumstances will survive.
Want to know what will happen to advertising from 2017 onward?
1. Increasingly Interactive Content
Among the major challenges, you cannot overlook Content Marketing. Users will demand more creative and innovative content offering different ways to consume it.
In a medium overcrowded with messages and ads, brands will need to find ways to stand out through interactive and engaging actions.
One paradigm that has been gaining strong momentum since last year, and will continue to do so in the future, is content through augmented reality.
2. Big Data Will Serve Online Advertising
Marketers and advertisers will be hungry for data that allows them to improve their online strategies. Luckily for them, from 2017 onward, the amount of information they can gather from users will continue to surge. World data is doubling and refreshing in increasingly shorter spans of time.
However, simply accessing this data won't be enough; they will need to learn how to interpret and leverage it to create more effective and personalized messages.
This trend will also bring an information overload that can be detrimental to those who don't know how to handle it.
3. Facebook and Google Will Continue to Dominate
It is undeniable that today a large portion of online advertising runs through these two digital giants. This trend will intensify over the coming months to the point where they will hold over 60% of the advertising market.
Another interesting figure? In 2017, digital video ad spend will reach $23.78 billion, according to Magnaglobal.
Despite attempts by Instagram and Snapchat to play in the big leagues, the numbers will remain heavily in favor of Google and Facebook.
4. Mobile Advertising Will Play in the Big Leagues
According to a Zenith report, global mobile ad spending in 2017 will reach nearly $100 billion—an interesting increase over the $97 billion generated in 2016.
These figures make it clearer than ever that mobile will be the primary advertising platform and channel, overtaking devices like laptops and desktop computers.
The fierce pace at which mobile advertising is growing will undoubtedly pose a major challenge for companies and businesses that have not yet fully pivoted in that direction.
5. Advertising Agencies Will Diversify
All these advancements—and those yet to come—will highlight the need for more interdisciplinary teams in both consultancies and corporations. Businesses with small teams or no in-house advertising department will require expert collaboration if they want to avoid being left behind.
Every trend shaping 2017 and beyond will test companies, such as advertising agencies, and sweep away those that cannot ride the wave or fail to understand how to do so.
Today more than ever, the best advertising agencies will become key partners in advising companies and keeping them ahead of the curve. Even the agencies themselves will undergo transformation by hiring specialists across various disciplines (beyond digital advertising), such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Publishing, SEO, SEM, Content Marketing, Web and Mobile Development. Teams will be smaller, but far more specialized.
New Paradigms, Different Strategies
Without a doubt, 2017 will be a challenging year both for newcomers entering the market and for established brands in terms of advertising.
We leave you with the wise words of Philip Kotler, the father of modern marketing, which perfectly illustrate the challenge posed by these new trends:
"Poor companies ignore their competitors; average companies copy their competitors; winning companies lead their competitors."