I recently had the pleasure of attending Advertising Week Europe, one of the most exciting industry events diving into the hottest topics in marketing, creativity, advertising, and technology.
This year’s conference was centred around how brands can navigate the cost-of-living crisis, take advantage of emerging technologies, and prove the ROI of marketing through effective measurement approaches.
Read on for some of the key takeaways and insights for brands.
The aftermath of the pandemic, lingering cost of living crisis and inflation, have placed huge pressures on businesses as navigate declining consumption and consumer demands, and shrinking profit margins.
Grace Kite and Sarah Stallwood, Economists from Magic Numbers, highlighted that while some brands will win, others will lose. But this doesn’t mean brands should peel back on marketing; advertising has been proven to be a main driver for change. Here are some tips for brands looking to win and unlock growth.
Ross Farguhar, Marketing Director at Little Moons further added that econometrics is an effective strategy for advertisers to adopt to navigate the difficult market condition.
Econometrics help us to understand drivers of demand, effectiveness of campaigns, and can also inform on price elasticity or seasonality.
On the topic of brand marketing, the advice from Diageo’s Chief Marketing Officer Cristina Diezhandino, highlighted the importance of putting creativity, purpose, and inclusion at the heart of businesses inside and out. This was echoed by UK founders and leaders like Andria Vidler, Chief Executive Officer of TAG, who noted that a clear brand mission communicated in an authentic way is immensely powerful for brand development.
Leaders of top UK retailers and grocers such as Ocado, Boots, Primark or Waitrose came together to share the latest strategies that have allowed them to succeed despite challenging marketing conditions. Below are their top five tips.
AI has become an industry buzzword. Despite the ongoing debate on its ethical implications, the overall sentiment towards AI at Ad Week was overwhelmingly positive. Leading brands expressed how they have been using this technology to transform their business and deliver growth.
Heinz, for instance, uses AI for creative effectiveness. Matt Cosad, Head of Data & Analytics at Heinz, shared that AI is being used by their in-house teams to create channel specific assets, thereby by freeing up time, and reducing expenses. Matt recommends that businesses leave big idea ideation to the in-house teams and outsource the task of volume asset creation for mid funnel or low funnel to AI.
Derya Matras, Meta’s EMEA VP discussed three ways in which advertisers and marketers are already using today. Firstly, marketing professionals are moving from buying an ad spot or an audience to buying an outcome, as AI fills in gaps in data increasing chances of success.
Secondly, the creative industry is moving from heavy distribution and production to ideation, reducing the amount of time and budgets spent creating platform/channel specific content. AI in messaging has allowed marketeers to be more personalised when interacting with consumers.
Finally, as brands seek to innovate and explore this new space, it’s advised that the human element is still maintained to make the best use of the technology. Read Wavemaker’s Growth trend article on Generative AI for growth opportunities and things brands can do to get started.