As 2022 draws to an end, I think we will all be happy to see the back of it. Three Prime Ministers, the country an additional £30bn in debt, and a gloomy prediction for the future all mean the macro-economic outlook isn’t great. And the message is that every one of us is going to suffer as a result. So, what does that mean for us in marketing as we look to the new year?
The first thing I would say is that we shouldn’t be afraid. As an industry, we have been through a lot in the past few decades. This isn’t even our first major financial crisis! What we have to take from those experiences is that companies which help their brands create well managed, well targeted, direct to consumer campaigns should prosper in 2023.
This isn’t being mercenary, it’s just a fact of life. If you can measure it, you can manage it, and as budgets get tighter and come under further scrutiny, campaigns with easy to track measurement and previous proof of success are more likely to get investment.
However, there are a number of things we need to do better. For example, we have talked for a long time about truly integrated campaigns. But do we really see them happening? Agencies will try and sell us the examples of integration but in reality, these tend to be online campaigns with a bit of offline running alongside them.
While the departments in brands are still channel focused, the idea of true integration is going to be tough. And for many – perhaps even most – brands that is sadly still the case. But decreased investment often drives change and I suspect we will see this changing over the next 12 months. And that means the support services, such as agencies and data providers, need to be aligned and ready.
Finally, there needs to be a real identification and acknowledgement that a very large number of consumers are going to struggle next year. That doesn’t just mean considerate and sensitive marketing campaigns, although consumers will expect compassion from the brands they engage with, as they did and saw through Covid. It means having the ability to identify affordability and eligibility ahead of time for many campaigns and creating an overlay before campaigns are run.
Can we call ourselves direct marketers if we can’t stop offers going to consumers who can’t afford the product? Many financial services companies have solved this problem in the past for products like credit cards, and I think we will see the rise of pre-screening across a massive range of sectors, even down to charities who will need to assess whether people can afford to give. That creates a challenge for the data companies in creating these datasets and making them available, but a lot of work is ongoing in that area now.
Whatever happens, the main prediction should be not to really make predictions. If the last few years have taught us anything it is that we shouldn’t ever believe we know what is coming next. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine and Liz Truss have all been events that have firmly affected each of us, personally and professionally. Expect the unexpected!
Scott Logie is customer engagement director at data marketing and insight agency REaD Group, a Sagacity company
