What 2015 holds for agencies and the advertising industry

Programmatic

Owen Sagness, general manager, Microsoft Advertising
Programmatic (the automatic, customised delivery of ads and marketing campaigns) is undoubtedly changing the industry. Excitement about its potential is justified. But that’s not to say it’s perfect; concerns have been raised about the quality of the service delivered. Specific complaints focus on the use of bots and fraud, with impressions being allocated junk inventory or even failing to show up. This year we’ll see the industry take the situation in hand, implementing initiatives to tackle the problem. The Internet Advertising Bureau, for example, is developing cross-industry accountability programmes to address fraud and transparency, and the ability of measurement tools to accurately assess inventory quality is improving all the time.

Customer experience

Julie Noiman, managing director, digital, Spring Studios
A growing trend in 2015 will be a critical eye on the customer experience and providing meaningful and relevant connections whenever the customer wants to engage. Customer experience crosses all brand touch points, be it a campaign, product, purchase, customer service or content. With the availability of data and insights, the consumer has a growing expectation of a curated brand experience.

A focus in customer experience will undoubtedly influence an agency’s organisational structure and talent. When mapping the customer journey, a crossover exists between brand storytelling, point of sale and operational functions. Agencies that are able to address all parts of a brand’s business will be better positioned to help brands deliver a standout experience and win.

Payment

Julia Ayling, head of intelligence, Mindshare
Cash use in the UK has dropped by 14% in the past five years. Technology is now revolutionising payment systems and solutions. From high-street banks through to big name payment solutions such as PayPal, a range of technology is now in place, turning your phone into a mobile e-wallet. The announcement in 2014 of Apple Pay has progressed the trend again. With 800m credit cards on file via iTunes, Apple can potentially leapfrog many of the more established mobile wallet offerings with an intuitive and convenient service.

Although mobile payment is getting smoother as a process, wearable technology potentially offers an more seamless method of payment. The vision is that consumers will simply be able to hold up their Apple Watch, or issue an instruction to their Google Glass, to transmit the payment request. Similarly, smart wristbands are also being explored as an option on a more transient level, with the Disney MagicBand already offering visitors to its parks a solution for quick contactless payments.

Biometrics is also being explored as a route to improve payment security. Fingerprints in particular have been the most commonly adopted route, with the iPhone 6 requiring fingerprint scans for every purchase. Vein patterns, iris scans, voice prints and facial maps are also being tested as a solutions by a range of other companies. So far, adoption of these types of payment services appear to have been driven by millennials, who are significantly more open to this type of transactional tech, and willing to see the benefits of it. Any brands trying to appeal to this audience would be smart to think about how they are set up to react to this trend.

Two things agencies must change

Jono Holt, founder, Otherway
First, don’t always blame the client. One of the reasons your clients are not buying your great ideas could be that they don’t fully trust you with their business. Marketing directors deserve more respect than they get. The fact that they are willing to engage with agencies and commit lots of money to the growth of their brand is brave in itself.

Second, work faster. There are now few companies using advertising agencies on a daily basis. Instead it’s often about planning the monthly or quarterly campaigns of the future. Agencies tend to ask for extra time to craft an idea when there is less and less time available. Consumers today demand ideas on a daily basis from businesses, so agility is vital.

Digital transformation

Daniel Harvey, director of experience design, SapientNitro
Digital transformation will drive 2015. From the 1990s to early 2000s, agencies and companies digitised brands and businesses. The baby-steps task was digitising industries like banking and retail. Today it’s about recreating these sectors from the ground-up for a digital world. That’s much harder graft.

For brands, that means creating ecosystems of complementary products and services, which will improve their ability to engage, attract and transact with their customers – be that on the web, via mobile, wearables or whatever’s next. These new experiences should drive the core business and generate new opportunities. The possibilities are borne out of meeting the unmet needs of today’s always-on consumer.

The same holds true for agencies as well. More are moving beyond their core client service offerings, releasing their own products, services and, in some cases, even acting as incubators. It’s a classic case of the cobbler’s children needing new shoes – we’ve got to recreate our own sector for the digital world.

SapientNitro is a member of the Marketing Agencies Association

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