Google and future-gazers predict 2017 key trends at Intermarketing Agency’s ‘The Tap’ event
Marketers could be tackling a brand bypass in 2017 as the rise of virtual assistant tech, private online communities and programmatic marketing increasingly cut brand engagement out of the conversation altogether. That’s according to Google, trends analysts and senior marketers gathered for Intermarketing Agency’s recent 2017 future-gazing event.
Speakers including Adam Sparrow, industry manager for retail at Google, Bonnie Richardson, consumer insight specialist at Foresight Factory, and Darren Jones, head of social media at The Post Office discussed the key consumer trends impacting on brand interaction in the year ahead, in front of an audience of 40 senior marketers at The Green in Clerkenwell.
Richardson’s key advice to marketers for 2017 was “don’t become an invisible brand”, in reference to virtual assistant products such as Amazon Echo and Google Home putting millions of products just a voice command away and cutting brands out of the conversation altogether.
The panel agreed that brands need to create a channel to the consumer and nurture it, and quickly, before the intermediaries steal a march.
Programmatic marketing was discussed as another challenge to creative brand engagement opportunity over the year ahead. Google’s Adam Sparrow said: “80% of online marketing spend will be on programmatic by 2020…that’s the next big wave to get on.” Targeting ‘big buckets’ of potential customers through automation is a key opportunity for brands in the future. This is, however, tempered with the increasing truth that it takes smart humans to make tech smart enough to work to its potential.
Human intervention was also a critical factor for Darren Jones, who reported an uplift in customers choosing to communicate with the Post Office via Facebook Messenger - reflecting the trend for consumers wanting private conversations with brands. This emphasises the need for people with the skills to hold those instant, one-to-one conversations.
Not treating customers like numbers is “key”, commented Intermarketing Agency group managing partner Steve Sowden, who compered the event, which also marked the launch of the agency’s new events and thought leadership brand, The Tap. Sowden also emphasised the need to look beyond the numbers when it came to big data, predicting that 2017 would see an even greater need to ditch the telescope for a more focused, microscope view of behavioral analysis.
Sowden added: “2016 has been a year of a massive challenge and change for society, consumers and our culture. Exploring the impact on brand engagement and the trends, pitfalls and opportunities facing marketers in the year ahead has made for an inspiring and insightful session. And with it, we’ve also launched The Tap, offering marketers and the creative community the chance to turn on free-flowing, mind-watering insight, inspiration and expertise in the form of great content and regular events from the agency.”
Content created with:
IMA
Hello. We’re IMA-HOME. A fully connected global marketing agency that lives and works in the real world. We create real world solutions for real business challenges,...
Find out more