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Forward planning for brands and marketers is never an easy proposition and the task is getting more complex year after year. Technology has advanced faster in the last 50 years than all the preceding years of human history put together. This is predicted to happen again in the next 25 years.

In this environment, we need to be able to identify the right technology to invest in and that’s where macro analysis comes in. We have to be able to understand the trends governing audience digital interaction; the social, political and environmental factors that make people want to engage with brands. We need to understand the people themselves, the tribes and demographics which can be analysed to understand communication priorities and technological preference.

Then we can start to look at the technology itself, the armoury we use to tackle the challenges of the digital world.

At DRPG, we aim to understand the macro environment through the overarching trends which influence our audience behaviours and tolerance. In 2019, the big fish in this pond was ‘brand purpose’. Think of this as CSR on steroids and you’re getting close to its power and influence. Essentially, it is a far better concept than CSR to explain the expectations our audiences are placing on business.

More than half of consumer behaviour is now driven by brand purpose considerations. The younger generation are expecting purposeful change more than any other demographic with 67% expecting brands to lead on and not react to societal, political and environmental issues.

In 2020, the evolution of brand purpose and its fallout is going to be centred directly on a simple and ancient concept: trust. The reality is employees and consumers do not trust brands to tell the truth. Since 2017, the public’s trust in the government, media and business has been in sharp decline.

By Callum Gill | https://www.marketingtechnews.net/