Last week Propel ran its Predictions in 2013 event at the Mayfair Hotel in London attended by a selection of agencies and brands interested in hearing what the year holds for the marketing industry.
One of the speakers, Henry Rowe, founder of media consultancy FaR, gave his thoughts on what he believed would be witnessed this year. The Drum has chosen to share 10 of the critical issues he chose to highlight.
2012 was all about agency trading desks, technology, product development, content distribution and laying the foundations for 2013 which will be about building a premium future for those foundations. He also predicted for 2013 Smarter data management, better platform integration, more content deals, more innovations and a resurgence of media brands.'
Themes for 2013 - it will be the year of agency consolidation, the rise of central services within agencies and the rise of business and planning agencies, all of which will use first party client data to help their clients shape their strategies.'
This year will be about small data, not just big data. Media owners will make smarter use of vertical, first party and audience extensions to stage a premium fight back in programmatic. It will also be about single customer views.
Ecommerce giants are coming into the media world such as Amazon and eBay. Expect commercially driven display advertising, better use if e-commerce data win media will be hugely motivational for marketers. Expect a big push for budget in 2013.
The rise of commercial content. Agencies will be more committed to digital brand spend by creating and trading content. They will use content as an advertising channel.
The surprise for video is how small it is, not how well it's growing. It should be miles better. This year p, we will see a renewed desire for incremental reach but also a further fragmentation with things like smart TVs, XBox, Apple TV, etc...
Mobile intakes up 10 per cent of our time but only one per cent of media spend. Yields are much lower on mobile, with only Facebook having a high yield on mobile. Expect a lot of responsive design and more location services.
The emergence for the media non-owners such as Tumblr, Reddit, buzzfeed - this world is growing. Tumblr has only just started it advertising proposition. Expect greater collaboration between this world and tradition media owners.
More personalisation and automation.
Data and partnerships will help create more tailored content and commercial solutions. Companies like Absolute Radio and Channel 4 are already active in this space.