Expert: Security, comfort top of mind for 2021

If 2020 was the year of the unexpected, many are hoping that 2021 will be the year of a return to the expected. From a return to more traditional ways to get news and information to more in-person gatherings, this is what one expert believes we can expect from 2021.

by Kristina Knight

A return to traditional interaction

"A successful vaccine, coupled with extreme device fatigue from the last year will lead to revitalized interest in more "traditional" formats such as OOH, DOOH, and audio. In fact, VIOOH's annual State of the Nation report found U.S. marketers were planning to include programmatic DOOH in 51% of all digital campaigns in 2021, a figure unheard of a couple years ago. As data targeting and measurement within these formats advances, advertisers will truly start to realize their power when executed properly," said Craig Benner, CEO, Accretive Media.

Hoping for more stability

"I predict an uncontroversial next 12 months. 2021 will be the year of healing. Critical industry-defining decisions will be pushed off, as marketers want to return to normalcy just as badly as consumers do. We will see shifts in communication strategies based on fundamental changes to consumer behavior (device fatigue leads to more OOH/DOOH/audio), but it won't be this brave new world people are pontificating. The proverbial can will get kicked down the road to 2022 for all the juiciest topics (antitrust, IDFA/cookie elimination, privacy gulag, etc.). The industry is yearning for a taste of calm and stability, and we'll get a version of it in 2021," said Benner.

A year of identity

"Similar to our 10 successive "Year of Mobile" from 2005-2015, we will have another "Year of Identity" with more players and still incomplete results. Because of this complexity and with so much political, financial, and practical capital at stake, I foresee Google delaying the third-party cookie phase out and Apple delaying IDFA culling," said Benner. "Although this push back will give the industry more time to define their anti-trust and identity strategies - spoiler alert - we still won't have a widespread, industrywide solution."

Keeping some of the 2020 advances

"The general population, and the industry as an extension, will adopt several of the new behaviors we learned during the pandemic such as normalized remote work, AVOD explosion, and empathic messaging. These changes will create more efficiency and drive a new age of innovation. Change isn't and shouldn't be scary," said Benner.

Tags: Accretive Media, advertising, digital marketing tips, digital marketing trends, internet security, internet security trends