This is to synthesize the overarching themes floating in the marketing industry this year, so far as I’ve seen.
- The Increasing Value of Authenticity
- The Rise of Social Commerce
- The Human Longing for Experience
- The Effect of The Global Economy
The Increasing Value of Authenticity
Now, more than ever, authenticity becomes an important characteristic of a brand. In the midst of a time where information almost travels at the same rate as the speed of light, where automation and scale are more accessible than ever, and Generative AI attempts to write more than humanity has in the last decade, brands find themselves in an awkward situation: they are forced to step back and rethink how to approach nurturing their connection with their customers.
Take what we have seen, for example, with McDonald’s Taiwan’s “Kung Fries” campaign. They underscored the importance of retaining authenticity. They debated whether they should use Generative AI. They did not. They even made the effort to work with known experts in Kung Fu to truly capture the essence of their idea.
Authenticity has become an important element that brands today should treat with the utmost care and value highly. It could become the make-or-break of a brand.
The Rise of Social Commerce
Then you have influencer marketing. There’s an interesting observation: Nano influencers, in volume, create a very special momentum that macro and mega influencers cannot achieve. In fact, affiliate marketing and influencer marketing have, at some point, merged together with the rise of social commerce. The very benefit that nano influencers provide to brands is that brands can scale activity while retaining brand authenticity. Brands get to enjoy activating hundreds, if not thousands, of normal people to talk about the brand as authentically as possible, creating a unique momentum that drives mental availability at a given time.
The Longing for Experiential Activities
The demand for experiential marketing has become more pronounced. People don’t just go out and simply buy. People go out and enjoy the process of buying before actually buying. Novelty has taken on a more important role. Take Generation Z, my own generation. They have been observed to browse online and then go out to buy. They’re guilty of webrooming. I’m one of those Gen Zs. For the more mundane things, I leave it up to online marketplaces. But for a high-value item, or perhaps any item that has an expected branded experience that comes with the process of buying, Gen Zs are more than happy to look it up online but buy it outside.
In the Philippines, the rise of bazaars is an interesting case for this point. But make no mistake—you don’t simply put up a bazaar and call it a day. People need to connect with your “why,” and it has to be felt. The brand execution must be consistent and strong enough to be felt. Take a look at the recent Purveyr Fair. It was very successful, I would say.
The Effect of The Global Economy
This one is not very exciting. This goes beyond the confines of marketing, and for a very good reason: the economy drives and shapes customer behavior and preferences, and affects how brands operate. Whether brands are in B2C or B2B spaces, no one can run away from a looming economy, unless you’re a utility monopoly.
Over the past few months, I’ve seen a lot of movements not only within consumer brands, but also in the creative and media powerhouses.
First, consumer brands. Kraft Heinz finally goes for it: they’re breaking up after years of attempts at materializing the “synergy” they dreamt of. Why did it happen? If you ask me, it seems like they got too comfortable with marketing, and that includes the obsession with the consumer. Unilever has also recently recognized the new consumer order and has taken a refreshed look at how they’re going to stay relevant. Not to mention the send-off of their ice cream arm, the Magnum Ice Cream Company, like it’s your kid going to prep school and you’re happy about it because it makes peace in the house. But the silver lining is you’ve got Chobani, Owala, and Poppi weathering the outlook well, and Pepsi has also been trying to respond to that.
And then there are the marketing and advertising agencies. They’re not spared from the trouble. The Financial Times broke the news that Dentsu’s international business arm could be up for sale. Then there’s WPP Media—their valuation has slumped more relative to the competition. They’re attempting to come back up with their new CEO and their ambition for WPP Open Intelligence (positioning to be at the forefront of AI with their “Large Marketing Model”). But it seems like everyone’s valuation has relatively gone down. Clients need to protect themselves first, and agencies are easily becoming the top levers to cut losses and maintain health in the bottom line.
So, bottom line: it goes two ways—consumer brands are cutting back on spending and are trying to be smarter with their marketing dollars. In an environment like this, perhaps tipping the scale towards performance marketing is the way to go, with brand-building taking a small step back just to create certainty in marketing ROI.
There’s one piece of good news (or bad, depending on your experience): Big tech is trying to come to the rescue (but they still need money) by offering algorithmic, powered-by-AI ways to manage paid social and search campaigns, with the value proposition to “maximize” results for the advertiser (see Google’s Performance Max, Meta’s Advantage+, and TikTok’s MAX GMV). This empowers everyone to achieve better results in their performance marketing campaigns, but this might hurt agencies, especially when clients recognize this and bring their media plans back in-house.
To end
You’ve got all these things going around. People are more conscious about where they’re spending—it’s hurting McDonald’s. People feel that their lives aren’t getting any better. So as a consumer, why bother spending? But as a brand, the same question arises: why bother spending?
My take here is that the times we’re living in right now are also a golden opportunity for brands to maximize their marketing. There will be brands cutting back, but the smart ones will optimize and might even spend more. Top-of-mind awareness remains crucial (following the principles of mental availability), and consumers will always have to think about which brands could give the best value, given tighter purses. Brands need to continue reminding consumers that they exist and, perhaps, can offer a strong proposition amidst grey skies.