The cool kids over at Soap have gazed into their crystal ball and gathered their predictions for what they think 2015 holds in the world of marketing, digital, pop-culture and everything in-between. Read on for some serious and not-so serious thoughts about what 2015 holds.
The Rise of the Social Super-Agent: Gone are the days of celebrity endorsement. The social celebrity – be they vloggers or Instagrammers – are the new “It” people. Their endorsements have the ability to sell to teenagers from the bedrooms, and as their follower count rises, so too do their fees.
#Peakhashtag: And what a peak it will be, with 83% of all campaigns predicted to feature nothing more than a prominent hashtag. Undoubtedly a few babies will make headlines featuring hashtags in their name.
Native Advertising Goes All Out: Combining the Cannes Lion and Pulitzer Prize, the Pulitzer Lion is a concocted award designed to celebrate “Native Advertising”. Instead of assessing a winner based on merit, it will seek to award the trophy to the highest bidder.
Instagram’s Iconic Moment: Throughout the decades, different media has reached pinnacles that have been unable to be surpassed. In 1985, it was the National Geographic’s photograph of the Afghan Girl that captured the world’s attention. In 1989, CNN broadcasted Tianamen Square’s Tank Man. 2014 saw Ellen’s Celebrity Selfie effectively break Twitter. 2015 will be Instagram’s year to create “a visual so powerful it cements the platform’s place in cultural and media history”.
Cost per LOL: Impressions, dwell time and click-throughs are becoming less and less relevant. Revolutionising metrics and reporting, expect publisher to invent radical forms of measurement such as “cost per laugh”, “smile-to-frown ratio” and the ever important “Stopped looking at their phone to look at TV” metric.
Sweens: As the biggest consumers of pop music, reality TV shows, in-game purchases and online media, it’s only fitting they have their own term. Introducing Sweens – Single-digit aged tweens. Securing the ‘digital property’ of their soon-to-be-Sween will be an equally high priority for expecting parents. The competition for personal domain names, social media handles and unique emails is an important factor in selecting baby names.
The Tinderization of Everything: Less original ideas, more replicating successful social start-ups, that’s the 2015 way. It’s a relatively simply formula, you can try it for yourself: The [start-up] of [industry]. Some examples given: “The Airbnb of pets”, “The Tinder of restaurants”, “The Uber of child care”.
Author’s note: This is already alive and kicking. Download “Bark Buddy” today – Tinder for Rescue Dogs that need a home.
Brands Level Up: As new markets become scarce for brands to enter into, mobile gaming will become flooded with brands competing to capture revenue growth of this $85+ billion gaming market. With the average sales on Candy Crush out numbering the average sales of Cadbury, this trend looks set to succeed.
So there you have it, 2015 in a nutshell. What do you predict 2015 holds for all things marketing and digital?
Image Source: Shutterstock