2024 MARKETING PREDICTIONS
OUR 8 MOST AUSPICIOUS, NON-APOCALYPTIC PROGNOSTICATIONS FOR THE YEAR(S) AHEAD.
WELCOME TO A BRAND NEW AGE.
Contributing Hahn experts include: Joe Stanfa, Michael Griebe, Vicki Ford, David Gibbs, Leslie Sopko, and Tim Weinheimer.
Marketing is an arms race. The more attention one brand gets, the more the others innovate or emulate to regain attention. And right now, there are massive waves churning the seas across industries, technologies and disciplines.
As a predictive marketing firm, we work to identify which waves to ride, which to avoid and which to make in order to help our clients connect with their people on deeper levels.
From a hybridization of art and science in data and an irreversible blending of artificial and natural intelligence to the re-emergence of really real reality and a new wild interwebiverse, we wanted to shed some light on what we believe (and hope) are some of the most important trends that will be making waves and shifting industry paradigms in the year (or more) to come.
Hope you have some fun. We sure are.
1. The martech onslaught finally fizzles.
More and more marketing tools will prove to be less and less effective as new drives toward quality over quantity and horizon-peeking estimation over rearview measurement confirm that less is more.
2. Creativity infiltrates the nerdery.
With the burgeoning emphasis on foresight over hindsight, a new class of “data-creatives” will emerge as the kinetic power of imagination becomes necessary to mine the untapped potential buried in virgin mountains of marketing data.
3. AI demand for human touch soars.
While generative AI will make many things easier, it will also make many things messier. A new impetus and value will be placed on NI (Natural Intelligence) filters on either end. Consumers, and therefore brands, will command a new standard of quality control and carbon-based customization.
4. Marketing bling takes on new forms.
As GenAI makes production cheaper and faster – and the quality and quantity of mediocrity explodes – traditionally expensive and/or showy tactics will require deeper levels of effort to signify value to consumers.
5. The new World-Wild Web takes off.
AI will assist and accelerate the decentralization of the Internet to begin putting its power back into the hands of the people, reviving the dream of Web1. The landscape of the Web2 empire will quake forcing the monoliths to shift paradigms and think smaller.
6. Real reality becomes the new unobtainium.
As perfection fatigue grows alongside the saturation of average, a new premium and luxury status on really real experiences, creative crafted by hands in the real world, and an obsession and value on craft and process – not just output – will skyrocket.
7. The sacrificial altar of SEO will crumble.
As brands like “Thai Restaurant Near Me” and “Best Burger Walkable” begin to franchise and fail, SEO will finally begin to die as a cheap signal of desperation, allowing for a renaissance in brand creativity.
8. SURPRISE! Fun destroys boring in the pursuit of profits.
With the help of both AI and an explosion in computing power, humankind will finally prove to businesskind that “fun” provides more ROI for brands than “boring,” “safe” or “lead-gen.”
