Essence report speculates on the future of advertising in 2030

Essence, a global data and measure-driven agency under GroupM has released a report on the future of advertising.

The report spoke to nearly 50 advertising and marketing experts on how likely 15 different scenarios were to be true in the year 2030 and assess the implication of each for the future of advertising.

Kyoko Matsushita, Global CEO at Essence said, “As an industry, we have lots of insight into how technology is likely to evolve over time. We conducted this study to provide more clarity about what that evolution will mean for advertising and marketing, to identify issues in need of the most urgent attention, and to help companies prioritize their innovation and marketing transformation investment decisions.”

Here the key takeaways from the report:

• Experts were most confident about the impact of the environment on purchase decisions and the likelihood that bot-to-bot interaction will become a dominant component of marketing activity

• Biometric data is here to stay, as it represents the gold standard when it comes to identity proof.

• The experts interviewed for the report feel that in return for the use of data, customers would demand an ever-more personalized experience.

• Many people would still seek to avoid ads, it would be difficult to actually achieve this. More established physical media may even see a revival in popularity as the world divides into those who pay to avoid ads and those who remain easily reachable.

• The nature of social media will see rapid evolution—arguably just a continuation of the current trend—and it will take increased effort to keep up with this evolution and continue to exploit these channels for brand communications.

• There is general optimism that AI and automation would reduce the friction of transactions, take over tedious daily tasks, and yet not result in widespread joblessness or underemployment. Some respondents echoed a familiar refrain, saying that AI would create new jobs to replace those it made redundant.

• Consumers will expect more and more frictionless touchpoints with brands. Brands must enable customer journeys that take the onus off consumers when it comes to remembering to take an action, or initiating communication via phone or email.

• Experts don’t expect a consistent worldwide approach to privacy legislation. It is more likely that global corporations will tacitly, or overtly, collaborate among themselves to enact standards across payments, identity, or even additive manufacturing.

You can read the entire report here: