Our top trends and predictions
What will 2016 bring? World peace? Self-driving cars? Frank Ocean’s long-awaited album? Leo’s first Oscar? While we can’t know for certain, we can make educated guesses about the future of advertising, branding and marketing. But Frank, if you’re reading this, 1–I’m sorry to assume we’re on a first-name basis and 2–please grace us with more music. Please.
But back to the field that we know more about. Here are our top industry trends of 2016.
Wanna go steady?
2016 is the year relationship marketing will take full effect. Now, a brand’s goal is (or should be) to build loyalty and long-term engagement instead of pushing purchasing 24/7. This makes sense, especially when you consider the weight of word-of-mouth. According to a study by Ogilvy, Google and TNS, 74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision [Ogilvy/Google/TNS]. When brands can create meaningful connections and conversations, their reach goes further, into the friend group of that one person and beyond.
Automation nation.
Smarter, better, faster is the mantra of 2016. (Not to be confused with the mantra of 2007: Better, faster, stronger.) From segmenting to scheduling, marketing automation provides the luxuries of planning ahead and cost savings that marketers love.
Content forever.
This isn’t a new trend in 2016, but content marketing will continue to rise as more ad blockers pop up (get it?) on the digital scene. According to Digiday, over 198 million people globally run ad blockers each month. If you need me, I’ll be standing in Times Square with a “THE END IS NEAR” sign. Just kidding. Advertisers and marketers simply need to evolve to meet the needs of their audiences, and the people have spoken. Traditional marketing is easy to overlook. Useful, engaging content is where we need to go to establish the kind of loyalty that encourages repeat purchases (See #1 above).
If you’re more of a list person, check out what’s in and out according to the Swim Team.
SO IN
- Livestreaming
- 90s Saved by the Bell aesthetics
- Pastels (Including Pantone’s Rose Quartz & Serenity)
- Brand Experience and Interaction
- Motion and animation become fundamental components of brand identity as everything moves to screens
- Animated GIFs
- Content Marketing/Serialized Content
- Pizza
- Color
- The Solo Jazz pattern
- More wearables
- Brand Authenticity
SO OUT
- Traditional marketing
- The minimalist pixie dream girl aesthetic
- Too much white space
- Brush script
- Chalkboard walls
- Spinning wheel of death (we hope)
What are your predictions for 2016?
Who said white space was out?