Our New Year Predictions – Three Trends in Marketing for 2022
Every new year brings new challenges for marketers in any industry. Consumer demands change and there are always new trends to keep up with or even create ! SO, the team at PromoVeritas, thought that we’d help you out, we would be your Sage, your special source of insight, your best friend for all things ‘promotional’ and by so doing, we would give you one less thing to worry about 😉.
So, we sat down with a few of our clients to discuss what 2022 would look like for them and following is a summary of some anticipated trends. As you will read, it is tricky, yet extremely exciting time to get involved with promotion activations and we are here to help.
Trend #1 – Bigger
We’re starting off simple as this comes as no real surprise to anyone. The demand to outshine last year means that brands, especially those that had a bit of the ‘Covid bounce’ in 2021, will have to up their game in order hit targets and beat their competitors. We will start to see bigger and better prizes with more advertising support and impact.
What does this mean?
Mixed. Bigger does not always mean better, and certainly not the most creative, but it will please consumers. They like lots of high value prizes. And the bigger the project is, the more complicated it can become and the bigger the financial risks. But that is where we can help – achieving your business objectives whilst keeping you safe and secure.
Trend #2 – Innovation
How are you going to stand out in 2022? Innovate. With fierce competition in most industries these days, brands are being forced to win over consumers in smarter ways and this links to promotional activation. We anticipate seeing more ‘widget’ promotions, talking packs, those that light up or sing at you, plus even more use of social media interaction.
What does this mean?
Make sure that it is creativity with a purpose. Standing out is one thing, but it has to appeal to consumers and sell more of your product. But good on you if you think that you have promotional dynamite idea that would blow the roof off the industry. Just take care that it is legal and compliant. With our expert knowledge of the law and logistics we can get you one step closer to making a real statement.
Trend #3 – Major Event Embedding
As well as going bigger, we will need to make our campaigns more relevant to the consumer. So a growing trend in 2022 will be to link promotions with major events throughout the year. It might be the old favourites of Valentine’s Day or Halloween, but there is also World Pizza Day, the Queen’s Jubilee, the Winter Olympics and the World Cup. Or make your own.
What does this mean?
As a brand/ agency you need to really understand which events are going to be most relevant to your target market. Linking up with the wrong ones could result in not hitting the result you were expecting. Plus if you are not an official partner to the event, be aware of the rules on ‘ambush marketing’. And be aware, there is still the need to stand out. As many event sponsors have found out to their cost, just paying big bucks to stick an event logo on your packs is rarely a route to success. You need to really own it.
Where do we come in?
Of course, we cannot predict the plan for Covid, but regardless, marketers have an incredibly exciting time ahead and we are excited to see what creativity comes from the challenges of 2022. With each new ground-breaking campaign comes obstacles. Well we are here to remove them.