Road to 2020: 4 consequential digital trends by Mark McDonald

From creativity playing an important role to redefining brand purpose, Mark McDonald from Digitas India shares how digital marketing will evolve with important trends.

Mark McDonald, Head Of Creative, Digitas India shares some crucial factors to not miss when looking at digital trends in this new year. Take a look at some of the consequential digital marketing trends 2020.

Creativity will take center-stage again – it’ll just be a different stage

With everyone trying to be more ‘customer-centric’, using pretty much the same technology platforms and designing for the same mobile real-estate - most experiences have started looking and sounding the same. Food apps look and behave the same way, fashion experiences look the same, and every airline app allows you to check-in and to pick your seat.

So how do consumers tell one brand from another? Creativity will be the differentiator. And 2020 will see the pendulum start to swing the other direction. While the stages will change – Voice, AI, VR, etc., creativity as a core ingredient and competency will be back.

It's not about always on, it’s about always relevant  

Seduced by the ability to constantly create and publish content on social media, brands have tied themselves up in knots trying to latch on to every little trend and occasion there is, mistaking fleeting visibility for relevance.

This aspect will start to change. The brands and communications that win, will be the ones that firmly establish relevance, rather than just presence.

Also read: Road to 2020: Where is Influencer Marketing heading?

Missions and Means 

Brands that have a well-defined purpose or mission will continue to outperform brands that don’t. People will increasingly start to gravitate towards brands whose purpose is aligned with theirs. But more than that, it will be the brands that give consumers the means to take action - whether it’s solving a problem, or providing the tools to improve your life - that will thrive. Acts, not Ads is what will win minds and hearts. 

Going Regional

Millions of smartphone users now have the option of using a language of their choice, not just on their smartphones, but on social media platforms as well. For example - Facebook has over a dozen Indian languages.

This simply means that the days of just dual language (English/Hindi) communication on digital will soon be over. But it isn’t just a change of language, it’s a change of nuance and insights. Unless you’re really tapped into how your audience speaks, their context and what moves them, chances are, you’ll fail to connect.