Olivia Harry, Author at Nelson Bostock

2024 is all about brand building

2023 was a year defined by economic uncertainty, ChatGPT and the iconic Barbenheimer.

That was in no small part due to the efforts of marketers. They jumped on the hype in a way we haven’t seen before – I mean, a real life Barbie Dream House – wow?!

But even as marketers look to 2024, the ripple effect of these trends is far from over. The rapid evolution of Generative AI coupled with economic and geopolitical instability will shape the year ahead, as we’ve outlined in our 2024 Trends Report.

For marketers, it means an ever-changing landscape – one that’s becoming increasingly hard to plan for over the long term, and here’s why…

Gen AI is transforming the internet

Since the stratospheric rise of ChatGPT at the back end of 2022, which saw it reach 100 million users just two months after launch, businesses have been dedicated to testing the capabilities of this technology, resulting in a surge of ‘synthetic content’ in 2023.

(Synthetic content is anything that is either partially or completely created by AI.)

As we move on from the test phase, we’ll see Generative AI embedded into business solutions en masse. It won’t be long before Microsoft’s CoPilot technology transforms how we all use Office tools, enabling the creation of synthetic content at unprecedented speeds by users of all stripes. In fact, Nina Shick, author of Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse predicts that by 2025, 90% of online content will be created using AI.

But, the unification of AI in search will shape how we navigate the web as much as what we see. It’s no longer a transactional relationship, but a hyper-personalised experience serving web users with carefully cultivated responses.

Brands and consumers are clashing

The last couple of years have been financially challenging for businesses. Economic headwinds and inflation have stunted growth, forcing brands to deprioritise the customer.

Despite nearly a decade of customer-first strategies, the tides are turning. Shrinkflation, skimpflation and worsening product quality mean customers are seeing diminishing value from businesses. And unfortunately, it’s not going down well: 48% of the global public find ‘shrinkflation’ unacceptable.

The fact is, as value is being eroded, customer loyalty is dwindling.

One area we’ve seen this is social media. Across platforms there is a familiar pattern, according to journalist Cory Doctorow: “First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves.”

For more trends – download the full report

What does this mean for brands?

It’s going to be even more challenging to get your messages heard by the right audiences. As the web becomes crowded with synthetic content and consumers become savvy with AI-enabled search, it will be harder for customers to organically find you

The ability to spin up content in real time, means we will enter an era of hyper relevance. Marketers will have to be more reactive than ever before, but must be mindful of staying true to their brand

AI has created a trust paradox. While the uptake has been huge, 52% of people are nervous about AI-based products and services. It will be increasingly difficult to understand what’s real and what’s synthetic and which sources they can trust. Generating trust will be increasingly important

Customers won’t remain loyal when they feel they are losing out, so be mindful of strategies designed to pull back budget as they may well have the opposite effect

What can businesses do to plan for the future?

Invest in building your brand. As economic uncertainty persists and technology is set to transform the web as we know it, having a strong brand is key to solving these challenges.

Building a strong brand creates additional value outside of your product and service offering – we see this all the time in the consumer world with high-end fashion brands, but the same applies for B2B. Having a good reputation puts your likelihood of weathering the technology storm a cut above the rest.

It’s also essential in building trust with clients and cutting through in a crowded landscape. Consider the effect on a brand like Google. As one of the established names synonymous with innovation and cutting-edge technology, it is more likely to win the trust of any business or client wanting to transform with AI.

In short, when misinformation and disinformation are rife, customers will lean towards the brands they know. And in 2024, this is particularly true, as the pool of individuals involved in making a purchase decision internally has expanded. You aren’t just marketing to direct clients, but the CFO, CEO and COO now.

Want to prepare for the year ahead? For more information on the above trends, and even more, download our 2024 Trends Report now.

Last month I finished a bootcamp at the School of Communication Arts 2.0 in Brixton to learn about creativity from the school’s dean, Marc Lewis, and I thought I’d share the things that resonated most with me as a PR.

There are some great strategies here we should be unlocking to reach brighter, more vivid places within our campaigns. B2B is no longer consumers’ poor cousin – there are massive opportunities for brands who embrace creativity as our working and personal lives become even more deeply entrenched. The below just might help you find – and capitalise on – them!

You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs

In other words – you have to make a mess in order to have something to clean up. Or you need to have a real problem, to find a solution.

The route to creative that feels real and authentic is to find a problem that people genuinely care about. It might not necessarily be the one your business wants to solve, (for instance driving sales for a new product or raising awareness of your brand), but when you start thinking about the things that are real issues or worries in your life, you’ll get much closer to helping your customers.

Dig a little (or a lot) deeper to find the interesting

Kids ask on average over 70 questions a day. Somewhere along the way, we lose that curiosity and the habit of asking questions. When faced with a brief, we need to try and tap into our inner child. Ask everything we can around a single problem: the who, what, when, where, why and how, to make sure we get to a previously unexplored place.

And the same goes for when we are crafting a brief. Rather than thinking of the product benefit, see if you can get under the skin of what challenge it’s solving for a customer. For instance, “my product protects against ransomware 24/7”. Well, what’s the benefit of that? It means you don’t have to worry about your business’ security after hours. And the benefit of less worry out-of-hours, might just be a better night’s sleep.

Suddenly you aren’t dealing in anti-ransomware, you are dealing in a good night’s sleep and all the possibilities that offers to your customers.

For B2B, this has the potential to unlock far richer areas for creativity.

I’m every woman, it’s all in me

I’m not sure this is what Chaka Khan originally meant when she was singing the song – but it applies to creativity too. When you are looking at ways to solve your problem, all the answers you’ll ever need are either within you or in front of you.

I don’t just mean your ability to Google! We need a mix of lived and received knowledge from different fields to come up with new and unexpected answers.

But to make that a reality, you have to be curious and go out hunting for the answers. Everything you read, listen to, see or discuss with your friends and family becomes the basis of knowledge and insight.

Every walk you take down the street or morning spent drinking coffee and eavesdropping on the people around you is another nugget of information you can later mine. So, don’t underestimate the value of rewarding curiosity and individuals that actively seek knowledge during the working day.

A well behaved creative seldom makes history

The free flowing state of creativity we all desperately want to achieve rarely comes when we are sitting in front of our laptops. But that’s about as far as I can go in describing how you unlock the state of ‘free child’ – that playful, curious energy where great ideas live. My advice to you is to tune in to what makes you feel that way, whether it’s a cold shower, doodling on a notepad or blasting Taylor Swift.

For those leading teams on a creative brief, also think about how you can inspire that feeling of playtime when brainstorming. Bring sweets, take them on a field trip, or tell a stupid joke.

The other important lesson here is around rules. We have to know them to break them. Every industry or category will have a series of rules – whether that’s stylistically or in how they speak to customers. Find those rules and think of the opposites. These will be the key to standing out amongst competitors.

Huge thank you to Marc Lewis and the team at SCA 2.0! If you are an aspiring creative, I would definitely recommend having a look at the courses they offer.