Mo Moubayed, co-founder of Veridooh.
This year has been mixed for the adtech sector. For one thing, we’ve had our first year without significant COVID-related lockdowns or restrictions, which has given many businesses breathing space to get back to “normal” and start operating at their full potential.
On the other hand, the second half of the year was quite hectic, with layoffs at major tech companies and local startups, unfortunately affecting many talented people.
As we head into the new year, a level of economic uncertainty will persist for at least the first quarter. Business leaders will be cautious about growth to protect their staff, and investors will be reluctant to invest in new ideas.
This will make it more difficult for innovative ideas to emerge and only those who are savvy and able to adapt quickly and prove the value of their product will thrive.
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Back to long-term brand building
The mood of uncertainty usually drives marketers to focus on performance marketing, but I think when everyone else zigzags, it could pay off in zag.
Next year we’ll see bold marketers focus on building long-term brands so that when consumers are ready to spend again, they’ll be prioritized. Performance marketing will always be important, but marketers have already turned to brand building to achieve lasting results.
For example, Airbnb reduced its reliance on performance marketing and instead focused on brand building, launching its first large-scale brand marketing campaign in five years. This will benefit one-to-many advertising channels, such as outdoor advertising (OOH) and radio, so adtech companies in these spaces will also benefit.
Top marketers will be able to merge their brand building and performance marketing into one, simultaneously delivering the ROI their CFOs demand and keeping the brand top of mind when consumers are ready to buy in the near future. .
Value-Based Decision Making
The rise of the conscious consumer has pushed brands to ensure that their activities align with the values โโof their target audience. We saw it with Elon Musk’s dramatic takeover of Twitter, which reportedly saw half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers stop spending on the platform due to brand safety concerns.
Next year we will see strong pressure from businesses to operate in an environmentally sustainable way to meet consumer expectations. Consumers won’t want to hear brands talk about sustainability or launch one-off sustainability initiatives, but rather they’ll want to see it integrated into business strategies.
For brands, this will mean a strong focus on reducing the carbon footprint of their ad campaigns across all channels. Outdoor Display has recently launched several excellent solutions in this area and customers will accelerate their adoption in the new year.
Experience is king
With locks almost in the rearview mirror, brands know that ads on an iPhone are only pixels deep. While there’s been a lot of talk about the potential of the Metaverse to create unique experiences for audiences, I don’t think that will happen next year with Mark Zuckerberg stating that the Metaverse will be a long-term project.
Instead, I think the exciting developments will come from the technology that we’ve already really matured in 2023. Brands will create more billboards for audiences to interact with and experience, instead of just consuming. For instance, Adidas’ billboard that people can swim in and Riot Games campaign in Dubai featuring two 3D billboards that interact with each other.
Mo Moubayed is the co-founder of Veridooh, a company whose mission is to develop outdoor advertising through transparency.
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