Welcome to COHN AI, where we bring Actual Intelligence to our audiences through a team-crowdsourced, timely prompt. In this day and age, artificial intelligence is dominating decision-making, but COHN stands apart with real, human expertise. Through the COHN AI series, we’ll offer our expert insights and perspectives on a variety of trending topics.
Soon, you will begin to see a plethora of blogs and articles that offer “2024 Marketing Predictions” from industry experts, but let’s be honest, most of those blogs will offer similar predictions because they will be co-written by ChatGPT. Just watch! One person writes an original thinkpiece blog, and the rest will just be circulating the same group-think predictions.
Not at COHN! We have Actual Intelligence so our ideas are predictions are original. Will that affect their efficacy? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Without further ado, here are COHN’s 2024 Marketing Predictions.
Things get authentic, again.
Lisa Wieting, Chief Marketing Officer
For every action, there is always an unexpected response. Some may call it a butterfly effect. But drawing from several different snippets of recent reading, A.I. might just force us into a world where jargon and overly polished content die. This is a world I want to live in!
I anticipate a shift in how we think (and talk) about marketing—from problems to insights to metrics. I follow @markpollard on Instagram and LOVE how he presents the idea of strategy as looking at a marketing problem more provocatively. “Couch the problem from a customer’s—not business’s— point of view.” This means looking at the human problem behind the business problem and not being afraid to speak to an unspoken truth. Basically, cut out marketing table-stakes words like “sales, conversions, compelling, relevance, etc.,” and replace them with normal language that humans use.
This connects a couple of timely items:
- The fact that “authentic” is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year
- That A.I. can certainly crank out content but it lacks that human touch
Just think of all the time and stress saved if we don’t have to figure out how to “nicely” shed light on a marketing problem or insight and we can instead just say it like it is and approach it more directly from a “human” point of view. Last I checked our audiences/customers are still human (for now).
Direct mail is back in demand.
Ali Lego, Chief Operating Officer
What stands out to me as a future trend is a “throwback” to direct mail. Consider the amount of time you look at and engage with a direct mail piece compared to the amount of time (if any) you spend on a digital banner ad as you’re scrolling through a webpage. While cost-efficient, digital marketing just doesn’t differentiate like direct mail.
You’ll get caught up in the… Crossfire.
CJ Powell, Vice President of Brand
Remember a few years ago when it felt like the world was on fire, every day was a new existential crisis, and every brand felt the need to take a stand to show that they cared? If you have forgotten, just check out this infamous Pepsi commercial starring Kendall Jenner that dropped in 2017.
Unfortunately, the 2024 election is going to bring a lot of these issues back to the fray, as political heat ramps up over the next year. I predict brands will desperately try and stay out of it but will slowly be brought into the crossfire as the country gets angrier and angrier. Buckle up.
Let’s get interactive with it.
Gabi Baldwin, Content & Social Media Specialist
I’m predicting the rise of interactive marketing. Brands are upping their game in engagement, from quizzes and polls to AR and VR. Interactive movies and TV shows are also on the rise. A prime example is Netflix’s “Choose Love,” which offers viewers the chance to choose the narrative. This approach is similar to Netflix’s other interactive titles, such as “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” “Cat Burglar,” “Headspace: Unwind Your Mind,” and “Trivia Quest.” I’m excited to see how interactive marketing progresses and gets adopted across different industries. There are so many possibilities, from interactive educational content to e-commerce innovations like virtual shopping assistants.
More AI spawns a humanist art movement.
Lynde Scott, Production Artist
There’s going to be even more AI, everywhere. Much like how social media was the marketing wave of a little over a decade ago, marketers and college students will feel the need to focus on utilizing AI to be relevant in the field. Any software or app that doesn’t already will soon have some sort of AI built into it to offer more to customers/users. Most AI platforms for copywriting and creating art are still based on text prompts. I think this will change soon to make the creative process smoother. Perhaps AI will be able to interpret creative briefs or critique artwork/offer improvements to the artwork you submit.
I’m also interested to see how the future of art will be altered by the increased role of AI in our lives. Throughout history, new art movements received their start (in some way or another) as a result of something big happening in humanity. Some say cubism and surrealism came about because of the popularity of photography and the realism it captures. If I had to guess, I’d say that AI will bring about a more “human”, handmade, and genuine movement in art and design. I’m more excited to see this than I am to see the new AI advances!
