NDA, in partnership with Xandr, is collecting the views of some of our industry’s leading figures for their predictions on 2022 and beyond. Next up is Lauren Ogúndèkó, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) & Co-Founder, Bicycle London.
What channels provide the most exciting opportunities for digital advertising in 2022?
The digitisation of more traditional media opens up a larger opportunity for digital specialists to widen their skillset. A/BVOD, AUDIO, DOOH are just some of the channels that brands will start to explore more. Due to loss of cookies, there has been a re-write of rules when it comes to targeting and scalability. Brands and marketers have had get back to basics in understanding customer engagement, loyalty and retention.
This has given more permission for brands (especially digital-first brands) to explore channels they have used performance measurement incorrectly to judge effectiveness. I also think new channels will surface once the metaverse starts to actualise itself. Think billboard space to replace basic in-game advertising and more real estate purchase in virtual environments. I’m also looking forward to seeing podcasts closing the loop on attribution.
How will the distinctions between brand and performance advertising evolve?
There has been a greater shift where digital-first brands have started to explore more broader non-internet based channels (which are coincidentally shifting into digital activation) due to the cost of growth in performance-based channels. More brands are starting to understand that to truly scale, you need a broader set of media to engage a wider audience; and that media doesn’t necessarily need to be measured the way performance channels are measured because it provides broader reach (that you simply can’t get in performance alone).
These brands understand that to just focus solely on performance channels mean increased cost and leaner ROAS, you’re effectively paying more for the acquisition because your brand hasn’t got the right reach. Therefore advertisers will push for brand and performance to work hand in hand to create the right blend. Advertisers will no longer tolerate a siloed approach to their media.
There are many tools and tech that now focus on aligning broadcast media with performance media in order to minimise marketing spend wastage and maximise reach, so there are no excuses for agencies to not be tighter with an integrated approach. The challenge we can’t ignore is media inflation. All media is more expensive despite the UK ad market predicted to grow by 7% so the balance to shift media whilst managing cost will need solid expertise, bravery and commitment.
How will the role of the creative agency evolve in 2022?
We are in the age where advertisers need faster quality creatives that are cost effective. Creative fatigue is happening quicker due to increased content consumption, so creative refreshes need to happen more often. Technology (such as DCO) has filled the gap here, and this will expand more with DCO for CTV/AVOD as well as standard display and social.
However creative people (directors, designers etc) are still very much needed. The creative agency that adopts technology and reinvents itself to be nimble, lean and cost effective will continue to thrive in this evolved digital world. There is a lot of room for high quality broadcast content which will continue to be in-demand, however digital advertising content will continue to evolve at break neck speed.
What technology or innovation are you most excited about for 2022?
Blockchain, cloud and AI present some very interesting opportunities for brand/advertisers and consumers. With the focus on privacy gaining more traction, consumers will inevitably look for ways to own more of their own data. The trade-off will be how they allow their data to be used for advertising purposes and how that can be transacted.
Blockchain has the ability to tackle some of these issues and allow consumers and advertisers to enter into an evolved way of communicating with each other that satisfies both parties. To maintain an open web, consumers must understand a trade-off needs to be made, owning and selling their own data themselves may be the way forward and I think we might see some interesting solutions start to launch from 2022.
Cloud has grown astonishingly over the last few years and will continue to grow. Amazon and its competitors have invested heavily in cloud services and infrastructure as demand has grown. This means advertisers who have adopted cloud infrastructure early on will have minimum friction in their organisational infrastructure, which will mean they can move quickly when it comes to innovation; for example – prepping for the metaverse.
AI will allow for more data intelligence harvesting and for smarter decision making as long as brands and agencies are willing to adopt and evolve.
