Tony Keusgen, Snap Inc. ANZ Managing Director, looks to 2024:
- AI will supercharge AR experiences
2023 will be remembered as the year AI went mainstream. AI has long powered Snapchat - helping deliver a personalised experience. Now, AI is helping us to create even more sophisticated and advanced AR experiences. This year, we used AI to create an incredibly realistic BarbieTry-On lens to coincide with the blockbuster film release. It went on to be our best-performing lens ever!
In 2024, we can expect even more realistic AR experiences that can be delivered to people much faster thanks to AI-accelerating AR training and content development. We can also expect more AR experiences as generative AI makes it easier for people to create simple lenses without the need for complex coding and programming.
- The loneliness epidemic will end up fueling closer connections
Young Australians are more connected than ever before, but loneliness and feelings of social isolation are on the rise, with a recent State of the Nation report revealing that 33% of Australians feel lonely and disconnected.
2024: With people craving genuine connection, we predict immersive experiences and creative campaigns that shift away from "perfectly polished" to "raw and real" to deliver real engagement.
- The creator economy will evolve, again
More than 200 million people now consider themselves creators. In 2024, marketers are expected to spend more than $32 billion on influencer marketing.
2024: AI will be the next big technological change to disrupt the creator economy. In 2024, we expect to see more creators start to experiment with AI tools to help get creative, produce content, and crunch data. While there have been stories of AI influencers, we believe success will lie with the creators who maintain a human connection – using AI as a helpful tool, not a stand-in.
- The Matilda’s effect will transform the experience of fandom
This year, over seven million Australians tuned into the FIFA Women’s World Cup broadcasts. It’s clear that this tournament changed many Aussies' perspective on sports as a whole, with people who weren’t previously sport fans able to engage, and interested in being part of the conversation. With the Matildas fever spreading everywhere, the community truly came together to celebrate.
The local sports camaraderie isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and you don't have to be in the stadium or even watching the game live to be a sports fan anymore. Sports fans say that a huge part of their experience is via their phone - following live event commentary online or celebrating (and commiserating) with others all over the world – it's all part of the fun.
2024: Set to be the year of sports, with global events such as the Olympics and local favourites such as the cricket and AFL returning. We expect to see sports marketers take fan engagement to the next level as clubs and brands fully embrace more immersive technologies like AR, Bitmoji and digital fashion. This could be the year we see the first truly Augmented Reality Olympics.
- A new approach to measuring effectiveness will emerge
The state of the economy will keep up the pressure on marketers to demonstrate ROI. The advent of new digital measurement solutions means marketers have even more choice, but they need to choose the right tools.
2024: We expect a shift towards multi-touch attribution solutions that track and determine the value of different customer touchpoints. This will be particularly important for e-commerce as marketers seek to get better insights into which platforms are driving sales and conversions.
The continued acceleration of privacy platform changes and looming cookie deprecation will also see marketers further reduce reliance on user-level data - shifting more towards marketing mix modelling (MMM) and lift-based measurement.
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