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If you’ve read our final briefing of 2023, then you’ll already be up to speed on the major marketing trends of last year. To kick off the New Year, we’ve once again asked industry insiders to predict what they think will dominate marketing this coming year.
“While of course, “someone will predict the death of ‘traditional advertising’ [sic] for the 25th year in a row,” said Lachlan Badenoch, chief strategy officer at Carmichael Lynch, the predictions for 2024 focused on cultural shifts and potential third-party cookie fallout. (We already covered AI in the previous briefing so we’ve skipped that here but yes that will continue to be a major factor next year.)
See what marketers and agency executives are predicting will be the big trends of 2024.
Control (or lack thereof) of brand narrative
Marketers are used to having control over their brands, but in 2024 they will have to get used to giving up some of it if they want to be a part of culture. They are starting to recognize that they’re having to change tactics to influence how their brands are talked about online.
“In 2023, we witnessed the growing abdication of brand control, spurred on by deepening audience and creator control over messaging and brand meaning,” said Tom Krell, cultural connections planning director at EP+Co, in an email.
“Some of the year’s biggest and best social trends, including the rise of ‘deinfluencers’ and brands learning how to involve culture in product storytelling (like we saw with the Grimace Shake trend), contributed to this.” Krell continued: “In 2024, culture will take control of brands. The brands that handle the loss of control most gracefully, by co-creating their identity and messaging alongside and within communities will win big.”
Listening to what consumers want and responding
Brands will need to find ways to become part of communities and respond quickly when their brand is talked about online. They will have to make investments in influencer marketing and put processes in place to keep up with the ever-changing speed of culture.
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