MEC unveils 4th annual Review Preview – 2014 edition identifies eight trends for year ahead

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MEC-logo.jpgMEC has released its fourth edition of Review Preview, a collection of global essays recapping the most significant takeaways and innovations from the past year, and setting the trends for 2014 and beyond, distilling for marketers the impact on the evolving marketing landscape.

The contributions, written by some of MEC’s most senior staff from across its international network, offer a truly global perspective on the industry.

The eight key trends identified by MEC’s leading thinkers are:

1.          The second age of digital advertising – from ugly duckling to graceful swan: The first waves of digital advertising left a lot to be desired in aesthetics, but with the growth of touchscreen devices, ubiquitous fast connections in many countries, and the evolution of digital design, we’re at the beginning of the next age of digital advertising. Imagination, image and video-led ‘Cards’, ‘Pins’ and ‘Devils’ are providing a new creative canvas and interactivity for brands to leverage to their advantage.

2.          Mind the gap: As the importance of accountability and ROI has risen, so has the desire to close the gap between digital marketing and physical ‘retail’ sales. Various technology and media companies are working on fine-tuning techniques to be able to assign foot traffic and sales to digital marketing exposure, with mobile technology and data analysis at the heart of it.

 

3.          TV has never been better: Not only are we able to watch more great content on more platforms and with more control, but the quality, breadth and depth of TV content is better than ever.

 

4.         Brands are built by links and tweets: Brands need to recognise the importance of storytelling, in both long and short form. This brings consumers in on an emotional level, while simultaneously living in the diverse places and spaces where they are experiencing new content, provoking them to want more and to dig deeper.

 

5.          The era of open source marketing: One of the lasting impacts of digital technology is how it has allowed for disruption and disintermediation in so many industries, and the same has become true in the marketing and advertising industry, with the ability to not only access media inventory directly through tech platforms, but also to build on top of what others have built and use it to your advantage.

 

6.         Data and marketing – growing up and finding its place in the world: Data has come a long way this year, as have the ways brands have gone about protecting consumer data. The result is improved ways of protecting data, as well as improvement around brand understanding on how to best leverage specific data streams to guide both the creative and strategic process.

 

7.          Programmatic media buying – an approach for all seasons: As technology has improved, and the industry’s use of it becomes more sophisticated, many believe that programmatic media buying can and will be applied to more and more sources of media and for a wider range of objectives – all helping get the right message to the right person, at the right time and at the right cost.

 

8.         From connected devices to connected living: As the notion of wearable technology becomes increasingly commonplace, people are turning towards the notion of connected living, moving beyond their smartphones towards a variety of lifestyle devices and technologies that leverage the power of digital connectivity to help them live the best life possible.

 

Says Peter Vogel, MEC Australia CEO: “It is clear from this year’s Review Preview essays, written by the greatest thinkers within MEC’s global network, that we are well and truly in the digital age of advertising where technology is at the heart of marketing strategies. Today’s marketers and their agencies must look beyond advertising and behave more like software developers. Welcome to the era of open source marketing.”