Eight trends to watch: 2009 Digital Outlook from Razorfish

1. Advertisers will turn to “measurability” and “differentiation” in the recession

2. Search will not be immune to the impact of the economy

3. Social Influence Marketing™ will go mainstream

4. Online ad networks will contract; open ad exchanges will expand

     with Google’s new interest-based targeting, thing looking to change even more rapidly.

5. This year, mobile will get smarter

6. Research and measurement will enter the digital age

     This is an issue dear to my heart and I have been writing about the importance of Attribution Analytics,  Micro and Macro Attribution many times in recent months; directly from the report:

    “Due to increased complexity in marketing, established research and measurement conventions are more challenged than ever. For this reason, 2009 will be a year for research reinvention. Current media mix models are falling down; they are based on older research models that assume media channels are by and large independent of one another. As media consumption changes among consumers, and marketers include more digital and disparate channels in the mix, it is more important than ever to develop new media mix models that recognize the intricacies of channel interaction.”

7. “Portable” and “beyond-the-browser” opportunities will create new touchpoints for brands and content owners

8. Going digital will help TV modernize

Read the Razorfish report for details.

reading notes : 2009 Digital Outlook

With six hundreds (in 5 days) tweets from readers of the 180 pages 2009 Digital Outlook from Razorfish, this report is certainly captured the attention of many working in marketing/advertising. It is an exciting read and I will share a couple of my notes here.

Clark Kokich’s introduction sets up the story line really well.  

The opening paragraphs went to the key point directly.

 “I spent the first 30 years of my advertising career focused on saying things. What do we need to say to persuade people to buy our product or service? How do we say it in a unique and memorable way? Where do we say it? How much will it cost to say it? How do we measure consumer reactions to the things we say to them?”

Now, after 10 years in the digital space, I find myself spending my time talking to clients about building things. What do customers need to make smart decisions? What applications do we need to build to satisfy that need? Where are our customers when they make a decision?”

He then described the new role agency need to play: ” .. it’s about the actual role they should be playing in setting business strategy, designing product and service offerings, delivering service after the sale, creating innovative distribution channels and developing new revenue models.”

These are great insights.  Ad agencies are expert of creative messaging – “saying things”; the new challenge is about shifting the focus away from that and go beyond. This is a tremendous challenge indeed, one that would require new skills and “deep collaboration between creative, technology, media, user experience and analytics”.