The digital advertising business is in a rut. Digital ad spend has been growing at a CAGR of 8% for the last five years, but it’s still only about 10% of total media spend. What is the future of advertising?
Where will advertisers turn next? We’ve spent two years researching this question and have identified seven emerging trends that we believe will define the future of online advertising. This report outlines these trends and gives you actionable takeaways to help your business succeed in this new era of digital marketing.
The future of advertising is digital.
In the next few years, digital advertising will account for 75% of all advertising. Digital ad spending is projected to grow by about 17 percent each year through 2020.
Digital ads are more measurable and trackable than printed or broadcast ads. So they provide a greater understanding of an advertiser’s Return On Investment (ROI).
The attraction of digital advertising is its ability to gather data, although issues like privacy make collecting this data without consumer consent an issue. When consumers sign up for some services, advertisers get access to personal information. And while some people appreciate targeted offers, others find these intrusive or simply want their privacy respected.
In the 21st century, marketing is moving away from traditional techniques and into digital age. In a world where consumers can choose exactly what they want to watch, how they want it, and when, TV commercials are losing their luster as content providers search for new ways to hold their audience’s attention long enough to convince them of a product’s value.
The Internet has become the preferred medium for advertising due to its interactive features and ease of use. Consumers can go online to research a product before making a purchase decision. It takes only seconds to access an online directory or search engine from any location with an Internet connection. The advertisers’ challenge will be shaping messages that weave through all these different platforms without being intrusive or annoying.
With more businesses discovering online marketing, the competition has risen exponentially. Consequently, marketers have to find new ways to reach their target audience by creating innovative ads that are visible in the digital space.
Online advertising is an umbrella term for advertisement that appear on websites or social media sites. There are many forms including banner ads, pay per click advertisements and web email advertisements. Online advertising reaches nearly every type of device accessible today including computers, mobile phones, tablets etc., allowing advertisers to remain visible in front of their target audiences wherever they may be located worldwide.
The proliferation of digital technology has given rise to a wide choice of platforms where advertisers can place their messages across all regions and demographic profiles. The key benefit is reaching every consumer irrespective of geographic location who work with industries such as BFSI, Manufacturing and Retail.
Digital advertising is when ads are placed online on websites and apps. Ads can be in the form of banners, videos, images, pop-up boxes or text links that people see while browsing the internet.
Companies pay for digital ads because they want to reach potential customers who might visit their website or use their app in future.
Digital advertisement companies can help generate more traffic to a business’s website through paid advertisements, helping companies gain even more new customers and improve sales.
Digital marketing is made up of many different types of advertisements and techniques used online including: Paid/Sponsored Content (online publishers allowing advertisers to pitch their content), Search Engine Marketing (using keywords related to your product or service to drive traffic to your website), Social Media Advertising (placing ads on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube), Display Advertising (banners on webpages, email newsletters etc.), Mobile Marketing (advertising on mobile devices).
Online advertising can work well with other forms of marketing. For example many consumer surveys show that offline promotions are still effective when used in conjunction with online advertisements. Using both allows companies to target specific groups of consumers more effectively.
While digital marketing is effective for increasing brand awareness, traditional suggestions like print or television advertisement can also benefit businesses which are looking for customers in a particular geographic area.
Interactive marketing makes use of Internet-based technologies such as e-mail, phones including SMS/MMS messaging, video, audio streaming and online chat. This type of marketing allows the recipient to interact with the brand through social media sites or other technologies that are specific to a company or product.
The opportunities for interactive marketing are vast. Interactive marketing has become an extension of the sales process allowing marketers to increase engagement by upselling/cross-selling based on consumer’s profile, preferences and past activities.
Each time a customer interacts with your business across multiple touch points is an opportunity for enhanced messaging, personalized content or offers, up-sells and more. Many companies utilize this form of contact center automation via outbound calling systems (IVR), inbound braches (call centers) and challenge response systems (texting).
The future of advertisement – what it will look like and how it will change your life.
Advertising agencies have obviously not stopped at just online advertising, otherwise there would be no need for them. The future will see the development of an even more advanced form of advertisement that goes beyond what is possible with mere technology . It’s called biomimicry – imitating nature to solve complex problems.
For example, advertisers are already making use of sound waves in water to imitate branding underwater, or using sounds in the sky that will resonate in people’s skulls and stay there long after they’ve left the area where it was used. This truly marks a turning point in how we view advertisement.
They’re able to change our moods in order to make us feel good about specific products, when in fact we’re not even in the same room as them anymore. This is just one of many ways that they will attempt to influence us in the future. The industry will no longer be about making money- it’ll be about gaining power over people, often without their knowledge.
Advertising will be more targeted and personalized in the future.
Most people believe advertising works by planting ideas or images inside consumers minds, but neuroscience shows something else entirely – which is what advertisers are now capitalizing on. They make use of the five senses (sight, sounds, touch etc.) to communicate messages directly into our brains .
This is done via neural pathways , which are like discreet highways inside your head that inform your brain how to react and feel towards certain things. Each time you come across a specific type of advertisement it triggers different neural pathways in your brain depending on what you see, hear and so on.
Using this information they can plant triggers inside your life to make you feel a specific way about a product or service before you even decide to ‘buy’ it. This is not a conspiracy theory , but just the way certain aspects of our brains work.
In the future adverts will likely utilize all five senses simultaneously to gain maximum impact with consumers- rather than just one at a time . In doing so, brands will create an entire experience for people that makes them react in specific ways to different types of advertisement- without realizing it’s happening.
For example ads could include scents (like cleaning solution) and sounds (such as buzzing bees) to trigger memories and emotions, while someone is looking at a specific ad in the newspaper. Not only that, but they could use more advanced technology to make an advertisement ‘come alive’ when it’s on screen or held in your hands- almost like what will happen with holograms .
Advertising agencies are already buying up patents for new types of advertisement, which you can see here . Though some are not so obvious until you read further into them. For instance one firm owns the patent for 3D printing adverts on human skin , while another has won a patent for inserting advertisements inside music without anyone noticing (and also using songs to influence mood).
The future of advertising lies beyond billboards and TV spots- this much is clear. Where it goes from there depends on how much money companies are willing to spend on it.
Advertising will be more targeted and personalized in the future.
They will also use this technology in more covert ways, such as influencing people’s moods while they’re out shopping or waiting for buses/trains. For instance stores could become ‘branded’ – so that their products appear to have the scent of your favorite brands- without them being there at all.
This falls under what is known as ‘ cross modal correspondences ‘, which means things that look like other things (and influence our emotions in doing so).
This has massive implications when it comes to politics and society in general- because such advertising techniques can be widely used to sway public opinion, often with little awareness from citizens themselves . fact we’ve already seen an example of this with the ‘Hillary Clinton’ and ‘Sadiq Kahn’ adverts that were shown during this year’s election campaigns. Both were emotionally charged visual images that people could not avoid seeing, because they were everywhere- which was exactly the point.
Advertisers will need to create ads that are interactive with the consumer’s preferences.
The way the consumer will accept the ad, whether they realize it or not. This emerging trend can be done by creating ads that are ‘self aware’, using neural networks that collect data to personalize itself. Also there is a possibility that advertisers will use sensors in smartphones and wearables, which would allow them to create similar types of advertisement through targeted stimuli.
For example someone getting off the bus could come across an advertisement for a certain product- but this time with scents, sounds and images all relevant to their previous interests.
This is all dependent on how much time they have also, since the majority of people are literally struggling to keep up with their work- let alone seeing what advertisers are trying to get them to see.
Future adverts will take into account everything about a person’s interests, including where they’re geographically located, what they’re feeling at the moment, whether they’re in the city or country and anything else that can be used for personalization.
This technology has already been patented by IBM , which allows it to precisely tailor advertisements according to human behavior. The main aim here is to make ads more relevant- rather than ‘spammy’, which many companies still try regardless (even though this normally doesn’t work).
Plus IBM predicts that all of this could lead to a 2% increase in revenue for companies that spend money on advertising.
However there are many dangers involved here as well, especially when it comes to data protection and privacy . In the future promotional messages could be sent straight to people’s watches or phones- bypassing any possible attempts at ignoring them completely.
Also there is always a chance of hackers getting their hands on personal information through this technology as well, which would make it easier for criminals to infiltrate even more areas of our life.
An interesting prospect though, and one that has not been researched enough yet: how will we deal with these types of adverts? The ethical implications of such techniques must also be investigated before they can become publicly available.
In order for an ad campaign to be successful, it needs to stand out.
This is why it seems that almost every advert shown now contains some sort of dynamic motion- whether it’s the product itself, someone moving towards it or even just a background changing. Anything to catch attention is key here.
This has been noticed in China for example with people walking through an archway, which distorts as they pass through it with their smart watches . A simple enough idea, but one that instantly catches your eye and therefore helps to make the ad more effective. Plus this action also sets up expectation within the consumer’s mind, with them watching out for something else later on (which could be another interesting ad).
The future of advertising involves personalized messages sent straight into people’s homes via their televisions.
This technique might be used in the near future in order to ensure that house owners are more responsive to ads, with them being tailored to their age, income and interests.
Of course though there is always potential danger associated with new technologies like these (especially when privacy is concerned). Plus the idea of having adverts sent straight to your home could also be a massive turn-off for many people. In order for this type of advertising to become popular, companies will need to make ads which are not only interesting and relevant but respectful as well.
There is always going to be a place in the future for traditional adverts though: especially on billboards or during TV shows.
For example some people might want a billboard outside their house advertising a new fast food restaurant, but these same individuals may find it intrusive for those same types of advertisements popping up on their computer screens . This means that there is still room for both promotional techniques before one eventually supersedes the other (although that time seems almost inevitable at this stage).
In the future advertising could be targeted at individual’s shopping carts which will then allow companies to push deals that might interest them. One example of this is Tesco , which has recently been testing out such a device in their stores (which interacts with customers’ mobile phones and monitors their purchases through codes on special offers).
There will always be a place for traditional forms of advertising as well as new ones.
For example, the experiential ad is far more interesting than just a simple billboard with an advertisement on it. This is because this technique actually involves people going to a specific location and interacting with whatever is being advertised there (in real life).
Virtual reality ads are of course not possible at this stage but augmented reality would be a great substitute here, allowing people to see whatever product they wanted in their current surroundings without having to go anywhere.
In conclusion it can be seen that advertising will continue to evolve over the years, with new technologies gradually taking over from traditional forms of promotion . This could benefit companies looking for ways to get more interest from customers while also ensuring that consumers don’t get frustrated by too many advertisements popping up all over the place.
