Like every other online platform these days, LinkedIn is full of people talking complete and utter shite.

Still, amongst the rubble, you can find the odd piece of actual insight, like an article penned by marketing expert Shane O Leary (then again, everyone seems to be a marketing expert).

Widely shared on LinkedIn, his article, “Trendlines 2019 – 6 random marketing predictions that might *actually* happen next year“, offers a look at what brands might be doing this year to win us all over.

I’ll just hand over to Shane, then:

Trendline 1) Brands will continue to improve their recyclability, but also use it as a branding opportunity

…here is an issue that companies can quickly and authentically do something about and that people really care about. It’s a rare case where branding and ethical considerations align.

44% of consumers say they have recently become more concerned about single-use plastics, according to a study by Kantar Worldpanel, while 70% plan to change their behaviour in some way in response.

Trendline 2) Streaming complexity will push people back towards either piracy or simplicity

2018 was the year of increasingly skinny bundles and fat bills. While we’ll see a continued push towards streaming and monthly payments for on-demand services in 2019, my feeling is that the fragmentation is becoming too much for people. The explosion of choice has also led to enormous complexity and a spiralling cost to the consumer…

My prediction is that we’ll see increased piracy and a bit of a backlash against paying for so many TV/OTT services this year. If any sort of economic downturn comes, it will be these services that get hit first. People won’t have the budget for multiple subscriptions.

Or you could get Showmax for free with DStv, or pay R99 a month. Simple.

Trendline 3) We’ll start to see brands spend more in media that supplements linear TV

I think 2018 was the year that most marketers, no matter how digitally biased, accepted that TV wasn’t dead. There’s two sides to this one though.

…it’s also slowly declining particularly amongst younger audiences. People are simply spending slightly more time elsewhere and watching less live, linear TV. If, as expected, this continues over 2019, brands will need to find media channels and other platforms that allow them to create fame and get themselves noticed.

I think a couple of areas will see increased spend as a result in 2019.

Trendline 4) Gambling adverts come under severe pressure

Alcohol sponsorship and advertising has been a big topic of discussion in Ireland this year.

But I believe there’s an even bigger discussion bubbling under about gambling advertising and its ethics. I think we’ll look back at the current state of this market in 10 years time and marvel at how we let it become so unregulated…

Given the money at stake and the disincentives that media or the clubs have to drive change, it will rely on government (unlikely) or consumers (more likely) to amp up the pressure.

Trendline 5) Voice has very little impact on shopping

Throughout 2018 we’ve had experts telling us that voice will kill brands. We’re seeing predictions that spend on voice will grow to billions by 2020. Personally I think it’s massively overhyped…

I think the error that a lot of analysts are making is presuming that growth in number of Echo and similar units in homes will automatically lead to people buying ‘commodity’ goods through these devices. This *may* happen, but isn’t happening at the moment.

It’s a huge leap from asking Alexa to play music to asking it to buy something. Look at online grocery shopping and how slow that has been to gain critical mass.

Trendline 6) Retail turns even more experiential

2018 was the year when brands turned started realising that in order for high street retail to survive in the long term, they need to start upping their game now. This trend is also an attempt from big brands to own more of the relationship with customers and to fight off Amazon’s relentless march in efficient e-commerce.

Numerous brands turned to ‘Instagrammable’ in-store activation, ‘innovation labs’, pop-ups and experiential activity to drive PR, word of mouth and draw younger shoppers in store.

The good news is that the end result of the above might be more opportunities to laugh at influencers.

The bad news is that you’ll find thousands of predictions from thousands of experts, so exercise caution out there.

Thanks, Rick

[source:linkedin]