What are the trends that will shape the relationship between consumers and brands in 2016?
The paradigm shift that has led to the emergence of new communication channels has forced companies to develop a new way of relating to the audience. With a greater number of channels and with more content for an area of increasingly limited attention, qualitative interactions with the consumer will be more valued than ever.
“The pollution content is an unstoppable process that will run its course in 2016, however, brands are increasingly aware of the role they must play in society and have already begun to implement it. In the coming months, approach branded Entertainment will acquire its true dimension, the generalization of wearables will increase the value of brand experiences, collaborative economy will continue its relentless advance and will be more necessary than ever that brands talk in real time with their customers,” notes David G. Natal, Head of Consumer Engagement of LLORENTE & CUENCA.
Meanwhile, Adolfo Corujo, Partner and Managing Director of the company, noted that “The debate on divorce between consumers and brands is in the process of extinction. We are entering the era of new forms of relationship with brands increasingly engaged in exploring novel territories represent a refocusing on how they had to live with citizens. These trends for 2016 anticipate will be overcome in the near future by other even more advanced, which will continue affecting the same roadmap delivering value to consumers.”
About to close by 2014, the Center for Ideas and Trends Analysis Llorente & Cuenca advances what will be the twelve most important trends in the area of Consumer Engagement that will mark the relationship between consumers and brands.
- Increased Content Marketing
The emergence of social networks has made companies aware that consumers respond to communications with interactive character of a conversation, not a monologue own informative. Thus, the Content Marketing or content marketing, which is based on customer needs to adapt to maximize their offer, and accounts for 28% of the marketing budget brands, the study 2016 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America by Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs’.
- The Branded Entertainment as a solution to the pollution content
Spending of branded content to branded entertainment shows as a great option for addressing the pollution content. It is important that manufacturers are aware that not only compete, but must take into account products of the entertainment industry as ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Breaking Bad’ or the Marvel Universe. 2016 marks content will create a more focused than ever to consumer interests and become finally in the big industries of leisure, fun and entertainment of the future.
- Wearables be imposed
The wearables are electronic devices that are incorporated somewhere in the body and continuously interact with the user and with other devices, such as smartwatch or smartglasses. An estimated one in five people use in 2016 wearables, a business that will generate 5,800 million for 2018.
- Communication moves
According to Forbes, in 2017 87% of internet-connected devices will be tablets and smartphones and, in parallel, investment in small communication devices will grow seven times faster than in the case of the PC. The e-commerce also has a new field of expansion thanks to the mobility of the devices, with mobile payment becoming a mainstream trend generated, for example, a third of all online sales in the United States during the past Black Friday.
- The hegemony of audiovisual content
Wheelhouse Advisors indicates that 75% of executives say consume online videos at least once a week, 50% of them on YouTube. According to studio estimates ‘2016 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs’ videos can get to boost sales of a brand by up to 174%.
- Gasification gain prominence
The gamification has transformed the way in which the leading companies interact with their customers and employees and in 2016 this trend will be consolidated. Forbes estimates that over the next twelve months, more than 70% of the Global 2000 companies have opted for gamification techniques. That will happen of an incipient investment figure in gamification of 100 million dollars in 2011 to 2.800 million expected in 2016.
- Right Time Marketing
How many times we see brands committed to launch thematic and hashtags do not go beyond your area of interest? Against attempts to generate new conversations, the challenge for companies in 2016 will be more than ever to capitalize on existing conversations and bring them value. According to Chris Kerns, author of ‘Trendology’ brands using ‘Right time tweets’, those that take into account the current state of conversation, they receive 400% more retweets and 421% more favorites than your average by tweet.
- The communication becomes experiences
The challenge for companies for 2016 is to generate physical experiences in the daily lives of consumers that impact their belief system through their senses. In this context comes into play neuromarketing, to find the most significant experiential points and strengthen them.
- Workers will be a central public
Taking into account estimates of a report by consultancy Aon Hewitt, more than 60% of employees are not committed to your organization after six months of its incorporation. In this context, employers must rescue techniques were born consumer-focused but have employees in a field development as gamification, video as a tool experiential relationship or as a way to build deeper relationships.
- Grow investment in native advertising
The search for new business formulas of the media led to the so-called native advertising, which is to include an ad on a website or platform respecting the format and editorial style of it. It is estimated that next year’s spending on Native Ads reach 4,800 million, representing a 34% increase, and, according to forecasts, will extend to 8,800 million in 2018.
- The Big Data will allow communication to microtargets
The Big Data, ie the analysis of data matching, allows companies to know more and better consumer preferences and, in this context, personalization will become increasingly relevant. According to PWC, 73% of users are willing to give personal information such as to obtain benefits. In this context, it is estimated that the Big Data will be moved to the end of 2016 a total of 232 million dollars of spending and will have generated 4.4 million jobs.
- The era of collaborative economy
The collaborative economy defines an alternative socioeconomic system, based on collaboration and sharing as banners of a new way of understanding business relationships. The potential of collaborative economy is already estimated at 110,000 million dollars, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
