AdNews asked industry figures for their assessment of 2022 and outlook for next year
Jack Watts, Group CEO Bastion
While looking back is a critical and insightful thing to do at the end of any year, 2022, in my opinion, brings to a close a 3-year block of COVID times in the Marketing and Communications landscape. We all know the major milestones, and peaks and troughs, we all lived them intimately, so I won’t recount them here.
In my opinion, the more pertinent thing to do right now is not to look back but to look forward. The times, they are a changing coming into 2023, and that’s where the focus needs to be.
I preface all the below with a simple statement, I’m very enthusiastic about the state of the market, the strength of our clients’ businesses and our own going into 2023 and beyond. It’s a great time to be alive and an even better time to be in this industry.
I want to start with what I hope happens in 2023 and then with what I believe will happen.
My hope is that 2023 is the year the industry believes in itself again. As marketers, we have done a shithouse job of marketing ourselves. We’ve lost some of the mojo and magic of working in this field, and the ability of our wide set of skills to grow and evolve not just businesses, but the most important issues of our time.
Cutting costs is easy, growing a business is hard, and changing opinions or behaviours is even harder. Fundamentally that’s what the business of marketing and communications is in the business of doing – we all exist to create, grow, protect, and measure ideas. And if the world needs one thing right now, it’s that, in spades.
So in 2023, let’s start by changing our language, talk up the industry and its participants, believe in the craft, and capitalise on the challenges faced in some of the sexier and shinier industries of late to fill ours with the best people on the planet.
So that’s my hope, underlying that is my belief that the market will remain strong in 2023, but only for the smart, agile, or lucky.
In difficult times, what we hear a lot about is a 2-speed economy – some industries moving forward, some moving backwards. What we are seeing in our US business (always the global canary) is more like a 10-speed economy. Some industries charging ahead, some plodding along, some stalling, and some like my mum’s driving; hard on the brake, and accelerator, sometimes both at the same time.
What that means is that there is plenty of opportunity, but you’ve got to be in the right lane, and then be just as ready to switch lanes when the time is right. Both client and customer demand will speed up and slow down at different times through 2023, and the winners will be in the right place at the right time with the right solution.
Those with a broad offer and an agile operating system that can meet changing needs will succeed. Those with a narrow product or service offering will struggle or be lucky.
The cream will rise to the top in 2023, and hopefully, our industry does the same.
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