The following 5 trends will change the game for agencies and marketers in 2020, according to WARC’s annual Marketer’s Toolkit 2020.

According to WARC, next year “will be the year many marketers around the world take action to reverse the drift to short-termism, while the ‘walled gardens’ strengthen their grip on performance marketing spend. It’ll be a year when brands review the environmental impact of their packaging, and when regulators and consumers combine to demand more on data privacy.”

Here are some trends worth watching:

Brand purpose is evolving into brand activism

WARC surveyed nearly 800 client and agency-side executives around the world to create this year’s Toolkit, and the vast majority of respondents agree that it is important for brands to ‘take a stand’ on social issues.

“There is a widespread belief among marketers that brands have a powerful role to play in society – more than 75% of marketers agree that brands need to take a stand on social issues,” says the report.

There are two stand-out social issues that brands are responding to: the growing concern around consumer privacy online, and the ongoing rise of conscious consumerism.

Overall, 84% of respondents said conscious consumerism and sustainability would have significant or some impact on marketing strategy in 2020. Interestingly, the numbers were notably higher in Europe where 48% of marketers said it would have a significant impact, versus 31% in both North America and Asia.

The Greta Effect

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg now has a global following, and her supporters are putting pressure on brands to lift their game. A growing number of brands are auditing their packaging and looking to eliminate single-use plastic. Marketers are also assessing their supply chains to improve their environmental footprint.

Brands are responding to privacy concerns

Data privacy concerns are expected to have the greatest impact on marketing

strategies globally in 2020, according to WARC. Enhanced privacy regulation looks set to change the rules for marketers. Are you equipped with the right skills to to help your clients address their privacy concerns?

The pivot back to brand

“Short-termism” is eroding brands, and undermining the link between creativity and effectiveness. So, in 2020, a growing number of marketers will revert to long-term brand strategies. The Toolkit cites an interesting experiment by Australian insurance giant IAG, which is committed to spending 80% of its budget on brand building activities in a targeted part of Australia over the next 2 years in a test to make the case for long-term brand investment.

The role of brands in a post-trust world

We’ve moved from being a post-truth society, where “appealing to people’s emotions became more important than facts”, to becoming a post-trust society.

“This has created white space for marketers. This white space, which used to be partially filled by other institutions, is now where brands are carving out a place to gain or regain trust, aligning themselves with causes and concerns that fit their brands and attract post-trust consumers.”

It sounds like an exciting opportunity for those agencies that can help clients carve out a slice of this white space.

·         Download the WARC Marketer’s Toolkit 2020 here. ADFEST is one of only eight regional festivals included in the WARC Rankings, successor to The Gunn Report.