Whilst the all-encompassing shadow of 2023, artificial intelligence (AI), slowly starts to move away (at least just a little), other strategic digital themes are beginning to come into emerge that will come into focus increasingly throughout 2024.
Meeting the rising tides of regulation
AI has pushed the boundaries of many things over the past 18 months, arguably none more so than the world’s focus on data privacy, regulation, and compliancy. In 2020, only 10% of the world’s population had their personal data protected by governmental legislation. By the end of 2024, it’s expected that 75% of the world’s population will be covered – a significant increase.
Australia, Canada and the USA are all introducing a range of data, privacy and AI laws to manage what is the modern wild west; personal data, and its acquisition and use. Likewise, so is the EU AI Act – a wide-ranging bill expected to partially come into effect later in 2024 to add guardrails around the development and application of AI.
Akin to when GDPR was launched in 2016, we’re expecting to see a surge in businesses of all sizes getting serious about how they’re managing personal data and achieving compliancy. Many marketing, technology, analytics, and product teams will be planning to take a long hard look at where, how, and when they acquire and use personal data in their systems. Unlike when GDPR first reared its cookie policy pop-up, however, this is now a true global movement; and with that the aura of attention that it will draw shall be far greater.
Resolving complexity through creativity
In the last decade we’ve seen B2B businesses increasing their investment in marketing technology by 20%, year-on-year. This is quite the contrast when you consider B2B businesses perennially under-invest in marketing and creative functions.
The allure of technology, however, has proven powerful, with the opportunity that insights, connectivity, integration, and automation could bring driving this long-term compound investment – expedited even more so by the rapid rise of AI services, tools and platforms in the last 18 months. This is all aimed at helping businesses achieve more with less.
To counter the plethora of information and insight – as we ever see in the dance of technology and art – we will turn again to creativity and strategic thinking to help manifest this complexity into concise, engaging, and effective experiences for users. Expectations of the modern user is now set by the likes of Apple and Google. Thus, user experiences and creative execution need to be sharp, well-considered and usable, regardless of sector or industry.
This year, we’re expecting to see an increase in investment in direct and hybrid creative skills and services, helping to make sense of the new, complex, and ever-connected digital ecosystem that sits behind every marketing team.
Driving engagement by diversifying experiences
Over the past five years, we’ve seen TikTok grow into a global phenomenon, AI take over the world (at least, the world’s attention), and mobile app downloads continue to grow and grow.
Consequently, people’s digital experiences have become ever more diverse simply by the rate of technological change and growing pace of digital revolution in modern culture.
B2B businesses are finally starting to get wise to this shift, increasingly moving to bring their brand and content to where their audiences are.
For example, LinkedIn reported that 44% of the C-Suite are now listening to podcasts because of the podcast boom in the last 18 months, which has driven behavioral change. Consequently, we’ve seen a significant rise in quality audio content by B2B marketers, trying to read the already engaged audiences in these places. The same is true of video content on YouTube and Instagram.
In 2024, the modern digital experience needs to be as much about where and when it is, as it is what it is.
If you would like curated content like this this straight in your inbox every month, subscribe to our newsletter, pieces, here.
We help complex, global organizations define and operationalize their purpose every day. We would love to carry on the conversation.
Contact us