Page 20 - AeM_January_2019

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

2019 will be the “Year of Tipping Points"

becoming reality in marketing and proves to be a useful
tool this year.
Analytics tools bring more automation: In 2019,
businesses will have to deduce more and more actions
from data. For that purpose, most analytics tools
started to allow automated responses. The manual
handling of marketing campaigns will be replaced by
more automatisms within the next few years. So, if you
consider becoming an AdWords Manager in the future,
just keep in mind that this job profile will be for sure one
of the first to be replaced by algorithms.

The next year marks a turning point in the way
companies run their brand: companies are moving
away from static brand identities to a constantly
evolving agile branding that can adapt to consumer
preferences at any time, because consumers no longer
buy brands they cannot relate to, do not trust, or whose
values do not match theirs. Hence, successful CMOs
and marketing teams need to look at their brands as
transformable items that can constantly be adapted,
2019 will be the break through year of what has been depending on the expectations of the consumers.
predicted for years but hasn’t yet materialized to any
significant extent: big brands, advertising agencies, Voice next to touch: digital voice assistants, as well
retailers, and leading media will disappear into as smart speakers like Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot or
insignificance, creating space for new things and better Google Home, enjoy growing popularity. Experts
solutions besides new social- and value systems. The predict that the number of voice users will double over
trend towards something new and the challenges in the next three years. When Alexa, Cortana, Siri & Co.
digital marketing will simply increase even more: it are working more and more accurately, voice control
continues to be all about personalization, voice and the has great future potential and will change our consumer
increasing dominance of Instagram; Amazon will go behavior. It does not matter if we launch an on-demand
head to head with Google and Facebook in online video on the couch, look for the next hardware store in
advertising market share; and collaboration within the car or let the recipe for food be read in the kitchen,
agencies and agile brand management will keep on the marketing of the future must prepare for the voice
being important. search relationships with brands.

Without doubt, Amazon will dispute the positions of Personalization finally finds its way into SMEs -
Google and Facebook regarding market shares in even in traditional B2B industry companies, because
online advertising this year: with “Amazon the expectations of users in the digital world are simply
Console” (formerly AMS), the platform already offers one dominated by digital pioneers such as Google, Amazon
of the most impactful supports in the "lower sales funnel" and Co. Thanks to the integration of AI-based
and it will be most interesting to see the expansion of the programs, personalization has been getting easier than
re- & targeting options on the “Amazon DSP” (formerly ever before since it doesn’t require a complicated set of
AAP). Based on shopping behavior data, buyer tools or technical know-how to create personalized
segments can already be targeted on and off the websites and targeted user experiences. Ultimately, it
marketplace, and Amazon uses its re-targeting logic for is only necessary to realize that a significantly improved
its SEA product ‘Sponsored Products Ads’ and extends user experience through personalization helps
the campaigns to external websites. companies to be more successful.

AI becomes a living reality: technologies like artificial Prototyping for Communication: Scrum, Kanban,
intelligence (AI) are currently not only hotly discussed in Design Thinking, Prototyping and Collaboration are
marketing but already find their way into practice. That working methods that have their origins in product
goes for digital as well as traditional companies. The design and software development. In recent years, they
target group analysis becomes more and more accurate have found their way into the development of digital
through AI and creates added value for the entire media platforms, products and services. Now we are
strategy through detailed insights. Obviously, AI is experiencing how they are beginning to change the

20 January 2019 - Digital Business Trends Predictions