Social Media Strategist
The Artificial Intelligence Eclipse
In 2024, we predict that AI personas are set to redefine social media marketing, challenging the authenticity of digital interactions. This is evidenced by examples like Virgin Voyage’s JenAI and Meta’s ‘Your Sis Billie’ who are exploring virtual meets reality. These developments, along with platforms like Synthesia making AI avatars easily accessible, suggest a future where AI may eclipse human influencers.
This trend is reinforced by campaigns like Cadbury’s use of Shah Rukh Khan’s deepfakes, signalling a shift towards AI-driven hyper-personalised advertising. Levi’s use of AI fashion models to help ‘increase diversity’ has raised ethical questions, highlighting the need for enhancing real diversity in AI applications. These situations call for careful thought about genuine diversity and representation, ensuring AI doesn’t undermine real diversity but enhances it in a responsible, ethical manner.
Strategy Director
A 2023 Contradiction
Like so many years, 2023 was full of paradoxes for marketers:
- Be real and human, but perfect your AI prompt prowess first.
- Connect with people, not personas, but use a $bn network agency to find them.
- Create real experiences in our universe, without hurting the planet. Webinar anyone?
- Develop your UGC strategy but control every… little… thing they say and do.
- Don’t be a cookie creep. But do find a new way to target your audience.
- Stop preaching purpose. Start doing. But stay in your marketing box.
In 2024, the best marketers and strategists are going to ignore all the flash and stay the course. So don’t do what the bot-written blogs tell you. Be the custodian of your brand, not a slave to trends.
Design Director
Planet x Pocket
2024 will put an even greater focus on impactful and responsible work.
As creatives navigate the challenges of working within ever-constricting budgets and our climate continues to hit the headlines, we’re going to see a renewed focus on responsibility.
Every pixel meticulously weighed against the implications on the environment and the budget. The ink we use, the substrates we choose, does every piece of signage demand a complete overhaul after that rebrand? Can we reimagine creative and design solutions without contributing to unnecessary waste?
Each decision will need to add up to responsible creativity.
As creative custodians, there needs to be a more deliberate effort to guide production teams towards sustainable choices.
The essence of our work should align with responsible consumption. It’s a fusion of form and philosophy, where the narrative spun by design resonates with a consciousness of environmental impact.
You’re having a laugh!
Creative Director
2024 will see purpose out, and humour in.
Light-hearted, surreal, shocking, or just plain daft. Comedy in advertising will become a big part of the way we approach briefs. A new ‘Humour’ category will appear at this years’ Cannes Lions, as judges look for work that uses ‘wit and satire to provide amusement’.
Back in the day, they used to say the ads were better than the TV programmes… maybe 2024 will see the type of ads that get people sharing a laugh, providing us all with the escape we need. Even if it is for only 30 seconds at a time.
Now, let me tell you the one about three creatives changing a light bulb…
Senior Copywriter
Marketers ruin everything
Millennials are gonna continue to abandon social media through 2024 because most platforms have now completely jumped the shark. UX conditions have been on a downward spiral for a long time; riddled with ‘infleunca’ (influencer + influenza), fake news, and low-value marketing spam. The quality content people actually want to see in their feeds has been choked out by ads, misinformation, and general dross-posting.
Social media is curdling for an increasing pool of people who grew up with it. And that pool is only going to get deeper. Reckon we’re overdue a renaissance of irl marketing because (especially after the past few years) people are screaming for novel, real-life experiences.
Brand Manager
Breaking all some of the rules
2024 is going to be yet another year of disruption for brands.
Convention is something brands put on themselves. Unfortunately this means most of them end up almost indistinguishable from one another. Fragrance is guilty of this. Automotive is, too. Does the world really need another luxury EV slo-mo power sliding across the salt flats of Jupiter’s Io?
Meanwhile, category disruptors like Liquid Death have successfully created a cult following selling cans of water—a product they never, ever talk about.
Surreal cereal refuses to take themselves seriously—or anything, for that matter. Though they’re certainly comfortable in their own skin.
The made-up rules brands and brand managers (howdy 👋) set for themselves are the greatest barriers to differentiation. And while haphazardly swinging for the fences is an obvious mistake, those armed with proper data and insights will find there’s actually plenty of room in the middle.
This approach is nothing new of course, but this year I think we’re going to see more brands move beyond the self-imposed boundaries of their category, take more risks, and win as a result.
Head of PR
Embracing real life
Without doubt, in person events are going to be back with a bang this year and at the heart of many a marketing programme. From influencer to experiential events, industry exhibitions or product launches, an event can be worth its weight in gold acting as a public-facing extension of a brand – unsurpassed when it comes to fostering deeper connections with your audience.
People are ready to step out again and embrace “real” moments. In a world where we’re connected all the time, where AI continues to revolutionise brand-consumer interactions, nothing can beat the power you feel when connecting to other people in a physical space – the energy, the connection, the vibing – all that good stuff.
In 2024, I believe physical events will firmly establish their status as a vital part of the marketing jigsaw.
Head of Strategy
Shaking things up
I think 2024 will be a year a spring releases. Across politics, culture, conflict, tech, climate… there is so much pent-up frustration.
This will be the year where a lot of that energy is let loose, and I suspect a lot of change will come as a result economically.
This may result in an upturn in our industry. Just as marketing and brand spends tend to foreshadow economic slowdowns, they also can be a signal of a coming upturn.
Will it be a boom year? No. Will it be a year where much of the drift and stagnation of recent years is finally shook loose? Yes, I think so.
Immediate relief?
Senior Strategist
As NYC brought in the bells they put up Paul Anka to sing ‘My Way’, a song he wrote for Sinatra about how if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. The balance of resilience to tough situations and optimistic togetherness echoes the hope many have for 2024.
Unfortunately, much like poor Mr Anka’s performance, I fear that might fall a bit flat this year.
My prediction for 2024 is things… drag. It’s not fun, it’s not sexy. But it’s likely. Low growth and continued (but lower) inflation will meet new governments but perhaps not radical change.
There’s always cause for optimism, but the reality is improvement takes time, tough choices, and resolve.
2024 may not bring the immediate relief we’re all hoping for, but it will be a start—for people, for brands, and for businesses.
