Sam Cousins.
The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2024 and forward to next year.
Sam Cousins, Chief Strategy Officer, The Media Store
I think 2024 has surprised a lot of people, I remember saying at the beginning of 2024 that this year will be the year of the crunch and we’ve certainly seen that across many facets of marketing. We’ve seen some big names exit a multitude of agencies and publishers, we’ve seen continued redundancies across the industry, and ethical behaviour has been called out and is under the microscope. Alongside this, consumers continue to grapple with their new realities, sacrificing lifestyle to survive. We’ve seen the knock-on effect in media spend, and the tightening of privacy and restrictions.
2025 will be the year of ACCEPTANCE of these new realities and the evolved consumer behaviour that comes with it,
Adapting to financial realities and making informed decisions based on current circumstances is a mindset that could influence everything from spending habits to lifestyle choices in 2025.
For example, many Australians are now accepting that they won’t ever own a home. A total of 62% cannot save for a deposit and 49% say they are constantly outpaced by the market*.. Long term renting is growing but comes with its own insecurities. Land tax and interest rates have forced many landlords to sell reducing rental capacity in an already tight market. Affordable housing will become more of a focus for all state governments in 2025 and I have no doubt will feature within the proposed Federal Election.
Younger generations are adjusting their financial expectations. The traditional markers of adulthood will no longer be about getting a great job and buying a home as those things are now out of reach. They are reshaping what success looks like and are in turn more accepting of alternate education paths. With university costs rising, and jobs reshaping, no one really knows what to study for the jobs of the future, but they do know that it will involve AI. The evolution of AI will no doubt involve more job cuts, but at the same time it requires a raft of new roles in software in many categories that traditionally don’t have ‘designer’ type careers.
The changing shape of households will continue to evolve with multigenerational homes on the rise as well as up to 30% of all dwellings becoming single households^. New evolving products and services for single households are an untapped market. Australians are more accepting of the changing shape of families, there is more acceptance of not wanting a partner or not wanting (or being able to afford to have) children. These social norms are shifting in an evolving and accepting society,
Older people will need to stay in the workforce later which will redesign the workplace. Many businesses will start to see the value in older Australians in the next few years as younger cohorts challenge the workplace, especially in service-based industries like ours! It’s been devastating to see the raft of quality senior talent made redundant this year, but I feel change is on the horizon.
As Australians become more Accepting of new realities, we will start to see the rise of REJECTION. Australians are rejecting a raft of things that do not align with their values and experiences.
This includes rejection of: excessive consumption. Many Australians are now realising the excess of their consumption and looking to make changes no matter how small. Slowbuy years, or no waste and nobuy year trends are all gaining traction and social media followings. People are no longer going accept environmental negligence and will start to reject businesses and individuals that do not address this as part of their supply chain and ethos. Clear signposting and direct language is what Australians want to see, according to a recent ACCC report.
With the growth of fake news and algorithms creating echo chambers, many of us will start to reject controlled thinking and curated and delivered of information. The rise in readership of magazines and newspapers is testament to this where news stories are not pushed in front of you and you can decide what to read with content from real journalists.
With social media a hot topic for parents, especially with tween and teen children, the evolving restrictions discussion continues. Young Gen Z’s and Gen Alpha are a fully digital generation as they are more aware of how their data is used for and against them. In the next year or so we may start to see a cultural backlash on algorithms and data privacy,
2025 will also be the year consumers start to say No.
No with their wallets, time and mental capacity for things that don’t matter; consumers realising they are giving too much of themselves away, and this includes their data! We are also saying no to more media, with the recent Deloitte Media and Entertainment report showing that we are spending 10% less time with digital entertainment and GenZ have reduced their consumption by 25%. Brands will need to really deliver on purpose to tap into sacred space consumers will hold for themselves in 2025.
We’re going to need to creatively use audience data to find a way through that, if consumer journeys are going to be more deliberate and take longer, media has never been more important to wrap around those moments of value.
Its not a boring time to be in media, this evolving Australian customer is going to challenge us in 2025, and that’s what gets me out of bed in the morning,
Sources: *Compare The Market Household Budget Barometer October 2024
^ Australian Bureau of Statistics
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