Future of Advertising and the Careers that await you!

In reality, the evolution of consumer behaviour dynamics presents a very challenging landscape, wherein deploying an engaging and compelling advertisement is not as easy as it seems.

From my experience I have learnt that advertising is everything that lies between Point A to Point B.

You cannot be too casual about it because there are advertisers who are investing money on your ability to make the perfect communication on behalf of the Brand.

I have worked on a lot of challenging projects for the clients we serve at Trizone India. Let me share a glimpse of it.

• Launching a new range of batteries in the market with stiff competition.
• Building a strong brand positioning and brand equity for one of India’s leading tourism destinations.
• Launching a successful shopping festival in a Tier 1 urban metropolis.
• I’ve also engaged in something as simple as an effective communication to rural setup and persuade them to stop wasting tap water.

During my entire experience in the field of media communications for brands and businesses if there is something that I’ve essentially learnt, it is the fact that advertising plays a vital role in shaping the economy of any country, be it in terms of creating job opportunities, to increasing sales for your business, to creating a strong equity value for businesses in the market and so much more..

I would like to however quickly take you through 3 advertisements that I love, which are also a testimony to why advertising is important and going to be relevant in the times to come.

1. Nike

Advertising helps businesses increase sales, and ensure steady demand.

• The campaign was launched in the late 1980’s when Nike catered exclusively to marathon runners.
• Reebok was selling more shoes than Nike at that point of time.
• Their advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy worked with the marketing department at Nike to conceptualise a campaign that could give them an edge in the market share.
• With this they launched the iconic ‘JUST DO IT.‘ campaign.
• What is most beautiful about the advertisement is the fact that it was short and sweet yet encapsulated everything that people ever felt while exercising, and it continues to be felt even today!!!

Got to walk up four flights of stairs? JUST DO IT.
Must complete a 3km run everyday! JUST DO IT.
Gotta wake up for soccer practice everyday? JUST DO IT.

• It became a slogan for everyone who would exercise regularly or the ones who always challenged their own limits.
• The result? It was a hit. In 1988, Nike sales were at $800 million; by 1998, sales exceeded $9.2 billion.

2. Vodafone

Advertising helps customers by ensuring quality, and facilitates buying decisions.

• Vodafone India, a telecommunications network in India had launched its ad campaign (2003) ‘Wherever you go, the network follows you,’ a spot featuring a young boy and a pug conceptualised with Ogilvy & Mather, India.
• The ad campaign promised a stronger and effective mobile network connectivity to its users even in the remotest of areas. Around the same time mobile products had started penetrating in the market aggressively, and demands for better mobile connectivity was certainly visible in the market.
• A beautifully crafted ad-spot with an original composition was made to promote the brand promise that Vodafone had to offer then, the result was a strong brand affinity and a positive growth in subscribers base.

3. Procter & Gamble

Advertising Helps Society in bringing change for the good

• Always is a brand of menstrual hygiene products,produced by Procter & Gamble.
• The campaign began as a commercial explaining the stigma behind playing sports “like a girl” — implying that the boy’s way is better or correct.
• By the end of the ad, the message is both clear and inspiring: Girls are just as fit and capable as boys are, particularly during puberty — a stage of life that is extremely important to Always and its women’s products.

Advertising Ecosystem

Advertising Helps Society in bringing change for the good.

1. Advertisers – Advertisers are the payers in the ad-ecosystem, either to strengthen their brand or to drive sales conversions. They increasingly internalize advertising skills, especially in technology. In a digital and tech-focused ad-environment, advertisers become more independent of formerly indispensable partners.
2. Agencies – Agency networks create, plan, and manage all aspects of advertising. Their generic competencies range from creativity to media space transactions. Agencies are the key traditional pillars of the advertising market. In the digital advertising world, new competitors with comprehensive tech skills arise and tackle the traditional business models of agencies.
3. Digital platform companies – Digital platform companies (DPCs) facilitate online interactions between suppliers and consumers and act as content aggregators with often high reach and direct customer access. Large DPCs like Google, Amazon, Air bnb or Facebook are important actors, in particular in the advertising space. They benefit from their technological competencies and data ownership, which together forms the basis for strong analytical capabilities.
4. Media companies – Media companies create relevant content and therefore provide an attractive advertising environment. They have gone through a massive transformation process and adapted offerings, distribution, and business models towards a digital space. As a result, new concepts like video on demand or music streaming prevail. Advertising is an important revenue stream for media companies, alongside paid content. Examples of media companies include: Disney, Netflix, Sony, HBO, etc.
5. Consumers – Consumers are the recipients of advertising. Their expectations toward attractive advertising have risen sharply. Consumers expect advertising that is equally entertaining, informative, and proactive.

Traditional Advertising Agency structure vs Modern Advertising Agency structure

What does the future of advertising look like?

• The future of advertising is definitely one thing if not many, i.e. Dynamic.
• What started off as a landscape to reach out to a mass audience with tailored effective mediums have snowballed with globalization to become a landscape to connect with your audience in their personal moments.
• And it’s ever transforming too; a recent change noticed in the industry which will affect job roles is the rise of programmatic advertising which will compete with the value a paid marketing expert would bring in.
• There is a strong possibility in the scenario, let us, for example, consider the outcomes of a research conducted by the experts at Deloitte Deutschland on the future of advertising…

Source – the future of advertising, Pathways to survival in four scenarios survey by deloitte