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WARC Talks: Three marketing trends for 2024

WARC’s David Tiltman, SVP Content, and Aditya Kishore, Insight Director unpack The Marketer’s Toolkit 2024.

• They discuss political polarisation, generative AI’s evolution into content creation, and masculinity in crisis.
• The Toolkit identifies trends that will disrupt existing global marketing practices and offers insights to help turn these disruptive areas into opportunities for growth.

Listen to the episode in full here 

Timestamps

02:15 – What is the Marketer’s Toolkit?

05:07 – Political, ideological and social divides are growing deeper.

11:03 – AI is evolving from processing to creating.

18:08 – Masculinity is in crisis.

Further reading

The Marketer's Toolkit 2024

What we know about marketing to men

Introducing The Marketer's Toolkit 2024

The Marketer’s Toolkit 2024 has now landed: the thirteenth edition of the report dives deep on five emerging trends for the coming year using a new proprietary methodology alongside an extensive global survey – here’s what you need to know. 

WARC members can read the full report right here.  

If you’re not yet a member, you can find a sample of the report here.

Why the Toolkit matters

Based on a survey of 1,400+ marketers, in-depth interviews with CMOs, and WARC’s GEISTE methodology for trendspotting, the Toolkit provides strategic support for planning and decision-making to understand the challenges and opportunities for the year ahead. 

Why it’s useful 

Not just another forward-facing trend report, the Toolkit identifies five major trends for the year ahead, exploring the quantitative and qualitative data that WARC analysts used to establish these ideas. 

We then put these in context by surfacing highly effective examples of a brand response to each trend, CMO viewpoints, and practical takeaways.

Five trends

1. Unlocking the potential of Gen AI: Nearly three-quarters (70%) of marketers plan to unlock the potential of AI in their marketing. 
2. Preparing for the age of polarisation: 13% of marketers said the best strategy is to “drop all ‘purpose’ driven strategies and political positions”.
3. Masculinity in crisis: Almost two out of three marketers (63%) agree that the way they communicate with young men needs to change. 
4. “Sportswashing” is a growing concern: 61% of marketers concur that it is “very important” for sports organisers and owners to avoid being politically divisive.
5. Sustainability should be locally relevant: Nearly two-fifths (38%) of marketers are investing in local communities.

Taking on economic uncertainty 

“Marketers globally continue to be concerned about the economic picture with 64% of survey respondents seeing it as the biggest factor in 2024 planning. But a majority (61%) of firms expect improved business performance next year, up 10% from last year,” explains Aditya Kishore, Insight Director, WARC, and principal author of the report. 

You can read Aditya’s introductory essay to the Toolkit, Capturing growth in the YOLO economy, on WARC Opinion. 

The evolution of marketing

The Marketer’s Toolkit 2024 is part of WARC Strategy’s The Evolution of Marketing program, offering a series of practical reports designed to help marketers address major industry shifts to drive marketing effectiveness in the coming year. Look out for a series of podcasts and a webinar on the Toolkit in the coming weeks.

WW isn't rebranding, says the CEO

WW, the wellness brand formerly known as Weight Watchers, has changed tack again, moving into the new area of prescription weight-loss drugs, but CEO Sima Sistani rejects the idea that it’s rebranding for the second time in five years.

“I think of it less as rebranding and more that we should be changing, we should be evolving,” she told CNN. “You can’t be around for 60 years and still be the same thing – our whole world has shifted.”

A reappraisal 

• Back in 2018, there was a definite rebrand as the company shifted from a diet-based business to a wellness-focused one and changed its name. 
• The current move seems similarly significant, not least since it comes with an apology for past mistakes: “contributing to the shame” that some members would have felt if they followed a WW program but found it didn't work for them.
• “For many who are living with obesity, it’s a chronic condition, and therefore it is not a choice,” said Sistani. “We got it wrong: in the past, we’ve been treating these medications like it’s a vanity, and it’s not – it’s lifesaving.”
  

Why WW? 

• While weight-loss drugs can be obtained from a doctor, patients won’t get the sort of package that WW will be offering.
• “Many doctors don’t have training in nutrition, obesity care management, and nor do they have the support system to basically help throughout the journey,” said Sistani. 

Sourced from CNN

[Image: WW International]

Netflix gets serious about gaming with Grand Theft Auto

Netflix will bring one of the biggest gaming franchises to its subscribers in the form of three hugely popular Grand Theft Auto titles for mobile, a move indicating that the streaming giant is applying a similar theory of growth-driving IP as in its TV content. 

Why gaming matters

Netflix has been testing the water in gaming since 2021 and has just shy of 250m subscribers. The conversion of even a fraction of these to its gaming services would make it one of the world’s largest players outside of the console realm. Whether or not Netflix shows people ads, the cultural sway of gaming is colossal and the opportunities to engage are both broader and deeper than putting ads around content. 

What’s really interesting about this move is that its typical gaming output has typically centred on its own IP while the strength of its content library is deeply dependent on licensed content. 

By licensing one of gaming’s biggest and most narratively rich franchises, Netflix is expanding its theory of content to new and important markets. 

What’s going on

According to a press release from the company, “Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is coming to Netflix on December 14 for Netflix members on the App Store, Google Play, and in the Netflix mobile app.” As yet, games are only available to full subscribers rather than ad-supported users.

• This includes GTAs III, Vice City, and San Andreas, and will be available to Netflix members “without any ads, in-app purchases, or extra fees”. 
• So Netflix isn’t going to carry the most up-to-date version of the game, but it will bring its subscribers access to three cult gaming hits of the 2000s. 
• But with anticipation building toward the release of GTA 6, and a deeper transition toward live games that persist with add-ons over a number of years, Netflix is well placed to catch a wave of GTA interest.

In context

Netflix’s gaming activity began in earnest in 2021 – bolstered by the acquisition of a games studio in 2022 – so the opportunity for the service to seriously enter gaming, cloud-based or otherwise, has been clear. Some studies have found that those who have downloaded its games have been satisfied, even if they have remained a minority. 

“We’ve got ambitious plans [in gaming]”, explained Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters in a Q3 call with investors. “We want to really grow our engagement by many multiples of where it is today over the next handful of years.” 

This includes across devices, with the company announcing tests of games on connected TVs and computers back in August of this year, using phones as the controller.

Sourced from Netflix, WARC, Variety, Financial Times 

[Image: Netflix/Rockstar Games]

The importance of overlap: Sharp

Byron Sharp’s influential book How Brands Grow sets out how brands compete in terms of mental and physical availability, “but I didn't talk about the need to overlap those two”, the head of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute admitted recently. 

“There should have been a chapter on that,” he told Meta’s Business, Innovation & Technology Podcast.

Why mental and physical availability matters

• “Whenever you get physical availability, but you’re not in the minds of customers, you just don’t get seen and you get a terrible return on that physical availability investment,” Sharp explained. 
• Likewise, there’s little point in building mental availability of a brand if people then find it hard to actually buy it.
• “You’ve got to put the two together,” Sharp stressed. “Overlap is really crucial.” In particular, “it’s life or death for new brands”. 

What to do

• If the budget is there to get overlapping mental and physical availability nationally, then “go for it”, is Sharp’s advice.
• If that’s not possible, “select a geographical area, or a time, or what have you, because you have to get overlapping mental and physical availability. You can’t succeed without it.”
• Get properly creative – too many ads within categories are similar in look and style. And they’re boring. 

Sourced from Meta

[Image: Byron Sharp, Ehrenberg-Bass]

What sustainability marketing will mean in 2024

In 2024, more businesses will adopt sustainability as a key growth driver because it will materially affect profit centres, stakeholder management and market share – but it needs to be intrinsically embedded at the core of the business before being used as a marketing pillar. 

Why sustainability in marketing matters

Sustainability is not a short-term marketing trend, it should be a long-term commitment that starts in the boardroom and runs through every strand of the business. Those who get it right will see brand equity, profits, talent, and loyalty soar.

CMOs have powerful tools at their disposal to drive large-scale consumer behaviour change, normalising climate friendly products and making it easier for industries as a whole to adopt more eco-friendly ways of working. 

Takeaways

• Marketing can help increase demand for sustainable products and brands, and make it easier for brands to invest in fast-tracking their own sustainability ambitions.
• Collectively, the focus in 2024 and beyond must be on using marketing as a tool to progress conscious production and consumption from niche to normal. We need to increase adoption with mainstream consumers to reach the tipping point.
• Purpose-driven brands will experience higher growth over the long term. McKinsey reported earlier this year that sustainability-related claims helped products average 28% cumulative growth over the last five years. Products that made no ESG claims only grew 20%.

Key quote

“Those brands who find clever ways to align on values and value-driving will be rewarded with new customer acquisition who are more likely to become advocates and have increased loyalty and market share” – Nick Hoskin, Founder & ECD, Something™ and TMRRW.

Go deeper 

• For a library of WARC’s research and insight on sustainability in marketing, check out our Sustainability Hub.
• Explore the best practice on the topic through What we know about sustainability marketing.

[Image: Guillaume de Germain from Unsplash]

How marketers can achieve net zero

The latest climate report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finds that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are not decreasing fast enough; all industries need to minimise harm, but it isn’t easy and requires radical transformation. Here’s what you need to know. 

What is Ad Net Zero?

Ad Net Zero, a project that aims to achieve carbon net zero by 2030, launched in 2020. Backed by a coalition of UK advertising industry bodies, its mission is to bring about collective, industrywide action to cut carbon emissions associated with advertising. This is across the whole process of development, production, and media placement. Ad Net Zero launched in the US in February this year and plans to expand into other markets.

Why sustainability agendas matter

The climate emergency is the industry’s most important and urgent brief, and marketers and advertisers are well placed to respond. From using creativity to drive behavioural change and reducing the climate impact of advertising production, to ensuring ad investment does not support climate disinformation. The brief requires a radical rethink and means placing equal importance on environmental protection and financial growth.

For a library of WARC’s research and insight on sustainability in marketing, check out our Sustainability Hub.

Explore the best practice on the topic through What we know about sustainability marketing.

Takeaways

• Reduce the climate impact of advertising production. This means rethinking how adverts are made: can the ad be made locally, for instance?
• Decarbonise media plans. Advertisers should adopt a lean mindset as the demand for net zero media plans grows, including rethinking ad lengths – a 10-second ad will likely have less carbon impact than a 30-second ad. In this context, brands that can generate quick recall will have an advantage. Do less and do better.
• Drive behaviour change. The industry can use its renowned creativity to tell stories about the benefits of sustainable behaviour and lifestyles, and close consumers’ say-do intention gap,
• Incorporate climate impact metrics. In 2021 the purpose disruptors and econometrics agency Magic Numbers introduced a new metric, Advertised Emissions. The goal is to help the industry measure emissions to establish a baseline, and then track their performance in reducing them.
• Avoid greenwashing. It’s dangerous. As the number of companies setting net zero targets increases, brands must beware the perils of greenwashing, which will be called out by consumers, employees and regulators.
  

The WARC Guide to Net Zero Marketing provides a roadmap to help the industry achieve net zero targets, providing frameworks and strategies that can be adopted and applied.

How major brands are measuring their sustainability performance

Advertising can be effective beyond the ability to measure it, but that’s not going to win it any future support or make an investment case to do more of it; something similar is happening in sustainability, new research finds, with big increases in the use of widely accepted external standards. 

Why sustainability performance matters

A significant topic in the 2024 Marketer’s Toolkit, sustainability is becoming a serious consideration for businesses. Regulatory scrutiny and the recognition of sustainability’s importance means that performance measurement is no longer a nice-to-have. 

What’s going on

• According to WARC’s survey, nearly a third (29%) are working towards measurable objectives in conjunction with recognised external standards – an increase of 12pp from 17% last year.
• External standards allow brands to confidently stand out in a crowded marketplace by offering products and practices that meet widely accepted sustainability benchmarks.

Go deeper

• For a library of WARC’s research and insight on sustainability in marketing, check out our Sustainability Hub.
• Explore the best practice on the topic through What we know about sustainability marketing.

Industry snapshot: Five trends shaping B2B marketing in 2024

The latest WARC industry snapshot report examines key macro B2B drivers, identifying five trends that will shape marketing strategies in 2024, including: influencer marketing, B2B’s transition to hybrid sales, AI-driven personalisation, marketing’s efficiency drive, and ESG as a catalyst for value creation. 

Why the snapshot matters

Based on WARC’s GEISTE methodology, the snapshot reviews the macro drivers expected to impact marketing across six pillars: government, economy, industry, society, technology, and environment. 

The report, which WARC members can read here, combines the analysis of these factors with sector-specific research to generate a comprehensive picture of the trends shaping the B2B industry and charts how marketers can respond. It also contains a series of hypothetical scenarios to help businesses plan and prepare themselves for different potential futures. 

Five B2B trends

1. Doubling down on influencer marketing: Businesses are amplifying their influencer marketing campaigns as customers increasingly turn to third-party sources to inform purchasing decisions.
2. B2B sales are increasingly hybrid: B2B selling will continue to transition to a hybrid model, combining online and offline interactions to meet changing customer behaviours and preferences.
3. Enhancing personalisation with AI: Customers increasingly expect to receive personalised experiences, and businesses are utilising AI in an attempt to meet this demand.
4. B2B marketing’s focus on efficiency: Mirroring a wider trend in the marketing industry of stalling budgets and rising costs, B2B marketers face growing pressure to achieve more with less.
5. ESG as a catalyst for value creation: Businesses are taking a more proactive approach to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) as they link these practices to long-term value creation.

Key statistics

1. Three-quarters of B2B marketers are currently utilising influencers, and 93% of CMOs plan to use influencers more frequently.
2. B2B buyers spend roughly two-thirds of their time engaging with suppliers online – either through digital self-service or remote human interactions. The remaining one-third of interactions occur via traditional channels such as face-to-face meetings or direct mail. 
3. A majority (93%) of B2B executives plan to increase their investment in generative AI within the next 12 months.
4. Less than half (47%) of SaaS licenses are actively used, and roughly three in five (61%) B2B marketers think their current martech stack is too complex.
5. Nearly half (46%) of B2B decision-makers think that ESG has become more important as a consideration in procurement decisions over the past two years. 

Go deeper

• WARC members can read the full report here. 
• See all other reports in the Industry Snapshot series here.

China woos foreign tourists

A political thaw, more visa-free travel and new marketing campaigns are expected to boost inbound tourism to China.

What’s happening

• Earlier this month, Presidents Xi and Biden agreed on the need to improve air connectivity between China and the US and to hold “a high-level dialogue on tourism”. 
• Following a recent visit to China by Australia PM Anthony Albanese – the first such visit in seven years – travel agencies in Australia are offering huge discounts on package tours to China, the South China Morning Post reports. 
• Passport holders from more than 50 nations can now stay in most parts of China for up to six days visa-free as transit visitors. 
• Trip.com, China’s biggest online travel firm, is investing in marketing and product integration over the next three years, and is teaming up with the government-affiliated programme ‘Nihao China’ (Hello China) which features promotional videos and digital communications.

Why Chinese tourism matters

Foreign tourism spending will be a welcome boost to the local economy: before Covid-19, overseas tourists were spending $130bn a year. 

“The Chinese inbound travel market has substantial growth opportunities, as it currently accounts for 0.3 per cent of China’s GDP,” said Trip.com in a statement. “This leaves ample room for expansion, which will ultimately boost various sectors such as hospitality, transport, retail and entertainment, leading to an increase in our business growth in the future.”

Sourced from South China Morning Post, Skift

Towards a new sponsorship agenda

Brands can make more use of sponsorship to drive sustainability and social equity, according to the WFA.

What happening

The WFA’s Evolution of Sponsorship* report found that: 

• Around half of brands surveyed (49%) say they are using sponsorship to promote sustainability or social equity.
• Four in ten (42%) are not yet using their sponsorships to advance and demonstrate their sustainability and/or social equity agendas; 9% don’t know what, if any, use is being made of sponsorship to drive values. 

Why sponsorship agendas matter

There’s a gap between values and engagement, a space brands can inhabit to demonstrate how they can be a force for good. 

Further, as traditional consumer connections splinter, it has grown more challenging for brands to reach particular audiences, such as the younger Generations Z and Alpha. Sponsorship is an opportunity to establish an emotional connection with audiences by engaging with their passions and enhancing their experiences.

Key quote

“Sponsorship offers brands a unique chance to connect with consumers while they’re doing what they like the most … It’s a great opportunity for brands to pave the way for a better world, live up to their purpose, and lead positive change rebalancing inequalities” – Laura Forcetti, Director of Global Marketing Sourcing at WFA. 

 * The report is based on responses from 34 multinational companies with a total global advertising spend of US$51.3bn. 

Sourced from WFA

Children take to Gen AI

Teenagers and children in the UK are far more likely than adults to have embraced generative AI, according to a new study from regulator Ofcom.

Online Nation 2023 looks at all aspects of the nation’s online lives and finds that: 

• four in five (79%) online teenagers aged 13-17 now use generative AI tools and services;
• a significant minority (40%) of younger children aged 7-12 are also adopting the technology. 

Why generative AI trends matters 

Generative AI provokes a combination of curiosity (the most common reason for using it is simply to explore the technology: 48% of 16+ internet users) and fear (58% are concerned about its future impact on society). Brands may need to address these differing views when using AI in their marketing strategy. 

Interestingly, the most prolific users of generative AI among this broader group – the online 16-24-year-olds – are also most likely to be worried about its societal implications (67%).

Takeaways

• Adult internet users aged 16 and above are more reluctant users of generative AI (31%). 
• Among those who have never used this technology (69%), nearly one in four have no idea what it is (24%).
• Snapchat My AI is the most popular generative AI tool among children and teens, used by half (51%) of online 7-17-year-olds; online teenage girls are its most avid users (75%). 
• ChatGPT is the most widely used generative AI service among internet users aged 16 and above (23%). Among online youngsters aged 7-17, boys are keener users of ChatGPT than girls (34% versus 14%).

Sourced from Ofcom

The missed sponsorship opportunity for brands

Sponsorship accounts for a significant chunk of the marketing budgets of multinational brands, but this activity remains relatively unmanaged and unmeasured for many, according to new research from the WFA. 

The WFA Evolution of Sponsorship study, produced in partnership with Lumency, notes that global sponsorship spending is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% from 2022-30 and reports that sponsorship accounts for, on average, 11% of a brand’s marketing budget. 

Why sponsorship ROI matters

That level of spending is second only to media spend for many brands, yet just 5% of brands surveyed* said they feel “very confident” that the investments in their sponsorship portfolio are addressing the right audience, with the right assets and for the right spend. 

But while most brands said measuring ROI of their sponsorship is their most significant challenge related to sponsorship activity, they are spending on average 1% or less of their sponsorship budget on post-evaluation/impact measurement (a fifth of brands spend nothing). Clearly, there is a lot of work to be done in this area.

Takeaways

• Brands need to measure outcomes (eg improved consumer awareness) rather than outputs (eg the number of attendees at an event).
• Brands need a model or framework to determine the commercial value of the rights and entitlements they secure with their sponsorships (31% say they have such a framework, 38% are developing one, 31% have no plans in this regard).
• Activation is a missed opportunity: two in five brands surveyed (43%) say they do not know what they are spending on the activation of sponsorships. Almost the same proportion (39%) are spending less on activation than on rights fees.
• Procurement teams can bring structure and add value to the organisation’s sponsorship activity, well beyond negotiation of rights and contracting. 

*The report is based on responses from 34 multinational companies, with total global advertising spend of US$51.3bn. 

Sourced from WFA