2024 is shaping up to be a year of innovation for marketing activity in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry says Mediaocean in a new report. Despite macroeconomic headwinds holding over from 2023, optimism pervades the advertising industry. Marketers are gearing up for an active year, expressing their intent to maintain or increase spending in nearly every media channel.
Background
CPG marketing historically has revolved around a focus on the company’s brands. A brand is a name, logo, word, mark, tagline, or any other identifying characteristic that separates a company’s product or service from other competitive offerings on the market. A brand is among the most important assets that a company has because it differentiates the company and helps keep the company in consumers’ minds. Brands are normally protected by using trademarks.
So, it is not surprising that companies invest a lot of time and money to create brand recognition. It is successful when people are able to recognize a brand through visual or auditory cues such as logos, slogans, packaging, colors, or jingles rather than being explicitly exposed to a company’s name. Logos like the Nike
NKE
swoosh and the Golden Arches of McDonald’s, and taglines like “They’re magically delicious” from Lucky Charms cereal and “I’m a big kid now” from Huggies Pull-Ups diapers all help further brand recognition.
A company’s marketing department works hard to come up with those cues and often conducts market research to determine the success of their brand recognition strategies. These brand recognition strategies are then used in advertising and marketing to drive customer purchases.
In the past, these advertising and marketing plans typically relied on multiple tactics. Popular programs use assorted printed materials (including mailings of all kinds, outdoor signage, etc.) radio messages, product placements, and television ads. As the digital world has advanced, these new platforms have been added to the mix.
What’s ahead for 2024
Mediaocean recently completed an industry survey among CPG companies that found that brand strategies must evolve; these companies must respond to changing consumer behavior and the advancements in technology that have changed business data and reporting.
Mediaocean noted that CPG companies rated e-commerce as the most critical consumer technology and media trend, a reminder for the CPG industry to focus on omnichannel solutions. These companies must work to optimize their digital presence and leverage data-driven insights. Generative AI, particularly ChatGPT, has captured everyone’s attention, leading to a shift in focus and resources allocation. 2024 promises to be the year that AI moves from speculative use cases to practical day-to-day applications – particularly in the areas of data analysis and market research.
Mediaocean also believes that the importance of measurement and attribution capabilities in advertising investments has steadily increased. CPG marketers today consider it indispensable as part of a full-funnel approach to advertising. Concerns are steadily arising regarding the decline of measuring campaign effectiveness on tech platforms and the open web, highlighting the need for innovative solutions and advanced analytics. As the industry prepares for a cookie less future, marketers are urged to evaluate and test available measurement solutions and proactively adapt before market forces dictate their actions.
Mediaocean concludes that, from an operational standpoint, a prevalent gap between creative and media execution persists. This gap negatively impacts team workflow and messaging relevance, so closing it means an opportunity for brands in a year that will be marked by data deprecation, antitrust regulation, and privacy protection. This sets the stage for adoption of Creative Ad Tech, benefiting all stakeholders in the upcoming year.
POSTSCRIPT: CPG companies represent the bulk of American companies. While the current economic environment has shifted the emphasis of some companies to more private label merchandise, I believe that key marketing principles are basically the same. The brand identification is always valuable to both the customer and the company. The customer looks for quality assurance which is implied in the national brand name and reinforced by the brand’s identity. It is hard to recreate that valuable relationship.
