DDB Chicago, Upshot, Carat USA and others discuss what marking and advertising has in store for summer 2015

Industry leaders discussed their thoughts on what consumers can expect from marketers and advertisers this summer.

Azher Ahmed, director of digital operations, DDB Chicago

People love to get out and move around during the warm summer weather and marketers will amp up their mobile focus to stay with them. Along with an increased spend in mobile display, I expect to see deeper native integrations including live streaming elements. This past SXSW gave us a sneak-peek of how infectious Meerkat or Periscope can be.

Event-based and OOH creative should also benefit from more robust proximity and location targeting capabilities to take sponsorships to another level. Expect some surprise and delight if you're willing to go along for the ride.

Finally it's too early for wearables but given the tremendous popularity of Apple's Watch, I wouldn't rule out an early adopter brand from making a splash this summer.

Blake Crist, strategy associate, Geometry Global

As this is an off year for major sporting events with the FIFA World Cup behind us and the Rio Olympics ahead, brands will need to win with everyday summer experiences.

For most consumers, summer is marked by balancing high energy get-togethers with long periods of relaxation. While these may seem at odds with one another, marketers and brands will find common ground by being purveyors of different experiences.

Instead of focusing on the functional elements of a backyard BBQ, they’ll emphasize how those experiences can lead to greater social connectivity. As music festivals kick into full swing, brands will play a key role in making that experience accessible to anyone regardless of physical location. As retailers house the ingredients to empower many summer experiences, they will fuel shoppers with both what they need to keep moving at full speed or to lounge by the pool.

John Dutton, partner at MCD Partners

This summer, finding ways to integrate creative marketing into the connected digital customer journey will be the winning game. Moving on from big idea messages and campaigns to more contextual experiences, smart marketing will be a carefully planned part of the entire customer journey.

We know millennials have very low brand loyalty and with summer approaching, marketers will need to address how they consume and use technology for everything. With increasing hyper-personalization, the traditional planning around segmentation and targeting changes completely, and is already opening up big opportunities for connecting traditional CRM marketing programs with the bigger digital service experience. This will be important for brands in the beverage and snack space, as they will definitely see a spike in sales during the summer months.

We'll see a lot of attention paid to mobile marketing, ways to use the sharing economy, harnessing tech for IoT marketing, and of course plenty more snackable content creation in social channels!

Kristopher Boron, senior vice president of account management, Upshot

Marketers and brands are looking to create lasting connections with consumers this summer. Authenticity and activation around key events and occasions takes priority. We've recently launched campaigns in the beverage and food categories that help affirm the role these brands play in the season. Consumers will see them come to life across multiple touch points and through key retailers in ways that fit seamlessly into their lives – whether that’s at an event, picnic, holiday celebration, concert, social gathering or any combination thereof. The brands that add value and accent these experiences are going to come out as winners with consumers well beyond the summer season.

Andrew Speyer, executive director of strategic planning, The Community

During the summer, there's pressure to have fun. FOMO may be a cliché, but lots of brands will still try to use the idea that summer is short and if you don’t make the most of it you’re a sad loser. Top categories will be domestic beer, cruise lines, airlines and maybe Greyhound Bus.

Brands will capitalize off the promise of youth. They will tell us we should feel like kids again. More youthful, more carefree, and definitely more sexy. Top categories will be domestic beer, ED meds, razor/depilatories/laser hair removal (for women and men) and sunscreen.

The truth is, at the community we think that summer time is the time of year when it’s okay to be kind of lazy, and lots of brands seem to think so too. We are looking forward to seeing those brands that do more with summer, and bring it to us in unexpected and fresh ways. Let’s talk in the fall.

Sarah Baehr, managing director of digital strategy, Carat USA

Marketing in the summer is not as much about different as it is more of some things and less of others.

Mobile will be important as people begin to spend more time out of home, thus OOH is a bigger opportunity, and the ability to interact with the mobile phone. Digital audio becomes more prominent particularly given the ubiquity of the mobile phone and the ease of accessing audio owned definitely, but via services like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Radio etc. The Blue Tooth Speaker Plus phone is the new “boom box”.

Summer is typically lighter on traditional TV and the opportunity for video will largely be in mobile video options. We’re likely to see more experimentation with the likes of Periscope, Meerkat, Twitter + video and Facebook + video for pure scale.