During this year the digital propulsion that began in 2020 due to the pandemic has continued, and some of the changes in consumer habits that originated and are here to stay have already been established. In addition, during this year, society and all types of industries have continued their digital transformation, forcing agencies, advertisers and technology to evolve.
the advertising marketis no stranger to this pandemic context, and is undergoing a rapid evolution that is also marked by a series of changes to which professionals must adapt as soon as possible. Google's announcement to postpone the disappearance of third-party cookies until mid-2023 may have reassured part of the industry. However, there is no going back, and it will mean a before and after at all levels. In this sense, the company Quantcast has identified the trends that will mark the advertising sector in 2022:
Companies will put user privacy first
In recent years we have seen a growing concern about data privacy, and in 2022 companies will make an effort to build greater trust among their customers, with an emphasis on establishing strong privacy policies. This is a situation that is already starting to be seen, with more and more companies opting for new profiles in their workforce such as Chief Privacy Officers CPO to take care of everything related to privacy. However, organisations do not necessarily need a CPO to be successful in this regard, as long as they are able to know what their users want and put their preferences as a priority. For this to be effective, companies must ensure that their privacy policies are transparent, apply them all the time and never surprise their users.
New trends in marketing investments
Several brands such as Patagonia have decided to stop advertising on Facebook (Meta), and more and more companies are now looking for new options on how and where they spend their marketing budget. Companies now realise that their spending on different business actions supports and sustains the voices and views that directly impact billions of people around the world. For this reason, the coming year will see increased investment in this spend and who benefits from it, with a particular focus on investing in businesses that align with corporate values and societal issues.
AI-enabled adTech or marTech solutions will be a winning bet
La Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most popular technologies since the turn of the century and remains one of the most effective at determining future behaviour. According to Forrester, brands will embrace AI-based audience solutions, driving 21% growth in the media and advertising category by 2022. With AI and machine learning, marketers experts can gain insights in real time and at real scale, giving them the opportunity to understand their customers, improve business performance and build trust through real relevance. If an advertiser or marketer is not using AI solutions to improve their campaigns, they are missing out on insights, new audiences, and productivity gains, while those using AI and machine learning will gain a long-term competitive advantage.
Early adopters of cookieless end-to-end solutions will gain an important advantage
Marketers who want to prepare their digital marketing strategies in advance can start testing new cookieless solutions early next year to prepare for the end of third-party cookies in 2023. It can already be seen that brands that already advertise without cookies, can gain a competitive advantage in terms of access to new audiences, more inventory and better scaled campaign results. What's more, the most prepared will try more than one approach to replace third-party cookies, because the best cookieless solution will be composed of first-party data, contextual data and more, using AI to bring them together to better understand audiences, value ads and measure results.
As Ilaria Zampori, General Manager of Quantcast in Italy and Spain, points out, "The applications of Artificial Intelligence, especially machine learning and in the advertising industry will continue to grow in importance due to their potential to help businesses make decisions based on useful and actionable data. More changes are on the horizon with the limitation of cookies, so companies that want to continue their digital marketing strategy in the coming years will be looking for help in coping with the new advertising marketplace.
