2022 has made its exit as another trip around the sun kicks in and we head into the orbit of a New Year.
As part of a special series we’ve asked industry leaders to offer up their take on the year passed, and what they predict might come in the year ahead.
Next up is Jordan Bitterman – Chief Marketing Officer at TripleLift offering up his insights and reflections.
Looking Ahead – Three Trends I See for 2023:
1. Over the last ten years, digital media has been dominated by social platforms. Users flocked to these environments and advertisers followed. However, the industry has reached an inflection point where many of those companies, specifically their ability to attract digital ad spend, have become compromised due to concerns about data privacy, content moderation or antitrust efforts.
With all those unknowns, marketers need to find ways to rely on ease, stability, and performance in their media buys. In 2023, we’re going to see media spend shifting to venues where marketers can be certain those needs are met.
2. First-party data will become the new standard for advertisers to fuel a range of targeting methods. Many may wait to fully make the shift closer to when Google’s third-party cookie deprecation efforts go into effect, but we can expect movement beginning to happen in the first half of next year.
The reasons for this is advertisers will be focusing on more efficient buying, stronger accountability, better return on investment, while gaining greater understanding that a large part of the web is already incompatible with third-party cookies even at this moment.
3. Advertising leaders need to always focus on driving performance in their campaigns – no time more so than during challenging economic times. Spending cuts are a reality and budgets need to work harder. In 2023, marketers will prioritise ad experiences like in-feed Native to deliver high brand recall, awareness, and video views.
Looking Back on 2022
Your favorite trends:
I’ve found retail media – specifically the monetization of eCommerce sites – really compelling this year. While all of the infrastructure may not be in place yet, seeing how it continues to evolve has been exciting. Its future is certainly bright.
Your favorite campaign of 2022?
I’ve really enjoyed the Kimpton Hotel, part of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, campaign this season around its ‘social password’.
It’s in essence very simple. At check-in, guests say the password and get a surprise benefit in return, like free parking, drinks in the bar or popcorn sent up to their room. The interesting thing is the hotel chain communicated the password only once, via a single tweet on November 25th. Any traction they gain after this will be through social virality and press pickup.
I love it because it makes guests feel special and on the inside of a little secret. That kind of currency builds loyalty. Since the password itself is a bit cryptic, it would be great to see them put some paid media behind it with just the phrase and their logo – they wouldn’t have to tell the whole story, but in doing so they could build curiosity for the brand.
What was your 2022 New Year’s Resolution and did you keep it?
One of my resolutions was to spend less time on social media platforms. My two-hour-per-day Twitter habit (seriously) was a little out of control. To be honest, I did nothing to address it until the ownership change a few months ago. When that happened, I chose to step away.
I miss some of the reasons I was there, but the net-effect is a positive one. I’m reading more long form content – longer than 280 characters! – and I feel less twitchy with my phone.
