This week we had the pleasure of talking with Jessica Jacobs, Incubeta’s EU Strategy Director. With over 7 years of experience at Incubeta, Jessica expanded on her previous experience working in Software Development and elaborated on her predictions regarding dynamic creative solutions versus the traditional static approach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM6wLhtvnVw

Dynamic Creative

Moving into 2021, Jessica discusses how we’ll likely see a shift in the market as an increasing number of advertisers will adjust their marketing strategy to incorporate dynamic creative content.

It’s not an old topic, but dynamic creative has received a lot of positive attention in the last 12 months as consumers have been homebound and reliant on the internet. The benefits have been brought to the forefront of the industry, and moving forwards we can expect to see brands focusing on, and implementing dynamic creative strategies throughout 2021. 

Marketing Budget

The industry has always seen a siloed approach to budgets with funds being assigned to specific channels as independents; media, creative, technology etc. Dynamic creative is the first time where there is a visual representation of where media, creative and technology have to work together as one. Moving forward it won’t be a case of who gets what percentage of budget, they’ll come together as a cohesive strategy. One budget, one goal. 

Although we’ve seen different verticals taking different approaches to budget optimisation, in 2021 we’ll see the vast majority of advertisers shifting their budget from physical (OOH) advertising, and putting it into their digital strategy. If brands didn’t realise the value of digital marketing before, then they certainly do now, and this will be reflected in their ad spend.

Trends 

While no one could’ve predicted the outcomes of this year, advertisers have developed a better understanding of their customers and customer needs as a result of Covid-19. The shift to digital meant that advertisers were having to extract information from consumers online, rather than in-store. Throughout Q4 Jessica noted a huge trend in advertisers reaching out to agencies in a bid to handle this change, and make their brand relevant across the globe. Throughout 2021 we’re going to see more and more brands implementing a global strategy with a local narrative to support the rise in customer centricity and awareness. 

Technology

As Jessica mentions, the biggest challenge in the digital space is the sheer volume of technologies and technological advancements available to us. And as advertisers, we need to find a solution that works for all of them. 

Technology has the ability to run five steps ahead, leaving even the specialists in the dark around new updates and platform capabilities. Using cloud based technologies, and implementing easy UI’s is an easy way to bridge this gap between the known and unknown. And, moving forward, we’ll undoubtedly see an increase in this in the coming years as advertisers want to make marketers more empowered.

Ad personalisation

Ad personalisation is definitely a topic that’s been on everyone’s mind. It’s a curve that’s undoubtedly coming, and there’s two ways to approach it:

1. Capitalise as much as possible now, while we still have access to first-party data and audiences – be more relevant, get the consumers that convert and make them your first party audience 
2. Further down the line, implement a contextual advertising strategy that will protect you as a brand in the new cookie-less era. Machine learning and AI will play a big part in the future of ad personalisation

2021

Whilst we can’t predict the future, looking forward to 2021 it’s going to be interesting to see the type of advertisers that come to us, as an agency, throughout the year. Jessica elaborated saying that as a strategy director, she is most looking forward to seeing the depth to her clients’ business – in terms of data and strategy. Taking on a host of new and exciting clients, while working on a number of innovative projects and approaches that will finally take center stage in the ‘new norm’.

In terms of awareness, as marketers we should be focusing on our present marketing strategy – optimising and adapting to fit in with the current times and situation.  We’ve witnessed a huge transition in the day to day running of life, which will continue to shift as the economic situation reverts back to some form of it’s pre-covid existence. Advertisers need to continue with their digital-heavy strategies, not losing sight of the impact it has to the industry.

Click here to watch the full episode of Incubeta Ignite: Digital Predictions with Jessica Jacobs