5 Trends in Global Advertising

The advertising environment has been gradually shifting, holding great implications for advertisers and consumers within the next year.


These are some top advertising trends that will only get stronger in 2016:

1. Interactive Media.

More and more advertisers are throwing their budgets towards online ads instead of TV or print ads.  With higher internet speeds, brands also integrate high quality videos into their websites. The digital environment is becoming more dynamic as the technology is.

However, a reported tripling of anti-malware software prevents online ads from reaching potential customers. Apple said its upcoming operating system will make it easier for iPhone users to block ads in Safari browsers, according to Ad Age. This means that advertisers need to find more engaging ways to be present digitally. A transparent social media presence is a good start.

Is print dead?

Brands have found a way to merge the digital and the physical through interactive print ads.

A great example is Brazilian fashion retailer C&A who teamed up with Microsoft and Tim to make interactive magazine spreads with a working Facebook like button. Customers registered to receive the special Like ads on Facebook. They then received a magazine with their special Tim chip. As they went through the magazine they could indicate whether they liked a certain fashion by giving it a thumbs up or thumbs down, and the results would be indicated online.

2. Native Advertising

Native advertising is a term that has been thrown around the digital world to describe content that fits in with the platform that it is on. Brands try to make their banner ads, or sponsored posts relevant to the webpages they appear on. But social media engagement is a cheaper method and, if used correctly, perhaps a more effective method for creating engaging content.

In a sense they are trying to camouflage themselves in a consumer's digital world. They want to fit in and engage with those they are trying to sell to.

Oreo's Rainbow Cookie is an example of native content that successfully spread across the Facebook. The post coincides with the Supreme Court decision to legally recognize gay marriage in the United States. The post appealed to the audience and was relevant to what was going on in the world.

3. Data as Art

Can data drive creativity?

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world's biggest annual awards show and festival for professionals in the creative communications industry. The 2015 Cannes Lions created a new creative category: big data.

"The Lions Innovation Festival will highlight how data and technology can be powerful catalysts for creativity," said Cannes Lions CEO Phillip Thomas, according to Ad Age.

Winners of the Lions Innovation 2015 include Google Spotlight Stories, Nike's House of Mamba, and  BBDO's The Dancing Traffic Light.

4. Content Collaboration

Not only are advertising agencies working with their clients as if they were partners, customers have increasing ability to contribute to content creation. Brands delegate some of the brand-building responsibilities to the customer because the majority of millennials want to share their opinions about brands.

Starbucks White Cup Contest was a design contest where Starbucks invited customers to submit their art, photograph it and submit it through social media using #WhiteCupContest. Starbucks received almost 4,000 entries in just three weeks.

(Rita Lynn Thompson's 2015 winning design is on the right.)

Collaboration goes further as established companies work with each other to launch more compelling products and services. General Electric teamed up with Quirky to launch the app Wink, which is a way to control all the internet connected devices.

‰”With GE‰’s scale and Quirky‰’s speed, we have the ability to connect a lot of things super quickly,” said Ben Kaufman, Quirky's founder and CEO, according to VisionCritical.

5. Human Era Brands

There is a decline in trust between consumers and brands. To make longer lasting connections with consumers, brands are trying to relate to their consumers.

Brands are becoming personified. They are trying to talk to humans as humans, not as institutions. The traits they try to communicate through advertising and social media engagements show they are authentic, emotional, conversational, humorous and storytellers.

South African brand, Bell, has a pretty emotional television commercial (below). It shows all the elements of what Human Era brands represent.

Advertising is dependent on innovation and change for its success as a field. What will 10 years mean for advertising as a field?  It is an exciting world to me, because it has the ability to reflect the progress of the world as a whole.

Cheers!
Laura