AdNews asked industry figures for their assessment of 2022 and outlook for next year
Jaime Nosworthy, CEO, The Pistol
Embracing the constant uncertainty is the only way to come out on top.
The year that was 2022 feels like it has passed us by in a flash. We loved being able to connect with clients and our team face to face again, attend industry events in the flesh and recapture the magic of in-person brainstorms, long lunches, and leisurely banter unencumbered by screens.
But trust us when we say that's far from all it was. A number of key trends dominated the year, and a heightened appetite for digital acceleration was a common thread across our partners, from our largest global clients to fast-growth start-ups.
While it may feel like we've never worked harder, we've also seen some incredible gains in working smarter, helping clients optimise their martech stacks, invest in the right AI capabilities, and realise the performance and efficiency gains of data-enabled automation.
As the big media players from Meta to Google to Twitter went through their own upheavals, it became abundantly clear that brands can no longer plan for sustainable growth by simply relying on these platforms to deliver stable performance month-in and month-out. Instead, a robust digital marketing strategy must look beyond best-practice media buying to incorporate clear zero party and first party data strategies, enhanced UX, and long term relationship building to drive real impact.
At the same time, it was a year of self-care for all of us as a business. We reimagined ways of working, refreshed our workspace to suit how we work now, and unleashed our team to work wherever they work best.
The so-called ‘talent shortage’ encouraged us to look around the periphery of our industry and drove diversity of thinking, which in turn, fuels innovation. New perspectives, provocation, and open-mindedness have led to some of the most impressive creative strategies and concepts I’ve seen since pre-pandemic.
I’ll quite happily bid adieu to 2022 as we look forward to seeing the brands who focused on the key acronyms of 2022 - MMM, 1PD, and ROAS - bask in the glory of accelerated revenue growth and market share. We see the coming months as those that will widen the gap between those businesses that seized the 'opportunity' presented by the pandemic to invest in their technology stack and future-proof key revenue streams, and the others who dawdled on the sidelines.
The constant market uncertainty appears to be the actual new normal, and the businesses that have built the agility and resilience to thrive in these conditions, rather than waiting for stability to return, will inevitably come out on top.
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