The Future Foundation, in consultation with the IPA, agencies and clients, has undertaken a new 10-year trend study to prepare the market for the future.
The first phase of findings, launched on Tuesday at Ad Week, identifies four scenarios for consumer marketing and engagement to 2025 – revealing a “challenging future” for brands and agencies unless they learn to adapt.
The most radical future scenario, called iControl, paints a “potentially alarming picture” for today’s established brands and agencies.
Anticipating a future world of “tech-empowered, self-sufficient consumers who create tools, services and even products”, the scenario could see brands drastically lose influence, the report finds.
“Whilst many of today’s big brands appear to have the upper hand, consumers are constantly evolving,” said Melanie Howard, chair of the Future Foundation.
“The aim of this study is to therefore question what the role of marketing communications should be in the always-on, constantly moving and seamless world of interaction and content creation and crucially how brands and agencies can keep pace with consumers.”
The other three scenarios anticipated in the study include:
Best Buy Brands: brands play a wholly functional role and consumers rely on them to deliver best-in-class products and services. Innovation and performance are prioritised by brands and emotional marketing takes a back seat.
Brand Me-Q: brands have become genuine partners for consumers. Deep emotional engagement and lifestyle management are delivered via advice and entertainment, unlocking creativity and delivering surprise and delight.
Me and the Brand Next Door: self-sufficient consumers see their relationship with brands as friendships. Brands take a back seat, but provide consumers with platforms and opportunities to achieve and fulfil individual potential. Emotional engagement with brands can be high, if less overt than with Brand Me-Q.
“This new study builds on the success of the first in the series: providing alternative scenarios and a future vision against which agencies and clients can debate their strategic path,” said Janet Hull OBE, director of marketing Strategy, IPA.
