Page 12 - AeM_January_2019

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Strategic priorities plus tech and media

challenges for the year ahead

WARC, the global authority on advertising and media learning can be used to drive relevance and
effectiveness, released Marketer's Toolkit 2019, an personalization in communications respectively.
annual report outlining companies’ priorities and the
challenges brands are facing in the year ahead. The Jalin Wu, Chief Marketing Officer, Uniqlo China,
report is centered on a survey of more than 800 senior explains it that way: "Always go back to understand the
marketing and advertising professionals from around the customer. The customer is our need. We are not just
world and takes an in-depth look at strategic priorities, presenting ourselves as apparel, we are presenting
technology and media challenges, besides covering ourselves as a solution for people to have a better life."
interviews with nine leading marketers, as well as
examples, best practice guidance and a round-up of Technology: voice and payment tech are
what this all means for brands, media owners and gaining traction, but there is less interest in
agencies. AR and VR
Major insights highlighted in WARC's Marketer's Toolkit Compared with the results of last year's toolkit survey,
2019 are: there is more interest among marketers in voice -
principally, voice search - and also more interest in
Strategic priorities: 'experience' will drive the payment technology as brands look to expand in e-
marketing agenda and shape tech investment commerce. There is less interest in areas such as
augmented and virtual reality (AR & VR), where
As already outlined in the December issue of Asian arguably there is still need for a 'killer' marketing
eMarketing, marketers see improved customer application.
experience - both online and offline - as key to kick-start
growth and restore trust in brands. According to WARC, According to WARC’s findings, 29% of brands named
61% of agencies and 52% of brands cited CX as the voice as a priority for 2019, up 12 percentage points
most important digital transformation for business in from last year's survey, and 23% named AR/VR, down
2019, although only 15% of brands say their CX is 13 points.
aligned across channels. Consequently, tech investment
must be focused on data and how data and machine Lisa Ronson, Chief Marketing Officer, Tourism

12 January 2019 - Digital Business Trends Predictions