What will the future of advertising hold in 5 years’ time We asked around Ayzenberg and got some pretty intriguing insights (and some perhaps a little scary). Here’s our best guesses at what 2020 might look like so that you may prepare carefully.

On Native Advertising

“In 5 years I think we’ll see today’s trend of native advertising in a more mature form. Branded content will integrate into the content we consume on a daily basis so we’ll see further moves away from the traditional TV spots and see more focus on storytelling that feels organic to what you’re already doing in the moment and it will all be social-forward. Ads will be designed purposefully to get people talking and sharing. Creative that doesn’t do that will have faded away almost entirely.” – Rebecca Markarian, VP Social and Digital 

“The :30 spot and standard messaging will still be pervasive; after all, 2020 is only 5 years away. Even if the $79 billon broadcast ad industry takes a significant hit, digital has a $30 billion delta (and growth will most likely be at the expense of other vehicles such as print, radio, out of home). With that said, as digital and mobile ad platforms mature, the type of content will evolve to adapt to include an intelligent native, video-narrative approach. The product story-based approach doesn’t necessarily need to be a full-scale, long-form narrative (especially since this could be counter to the ever-growing ADD-like consumption habits). It could be short-form, sequential entertainment pieces shown based on tracking exposure across multiple video ecosystems. The sequential narrative also doesn’t have to be linear. The best use would be to include interactive hooks, dynamic branching path creative that personalizes user experience based on individual interaction.” – Vincent Juarez, Principal, Media Director

“Moment- based advertising will inspire marketers to identify the time and place closest to a consumer’s choice to make a purchase – and be there with the right story to engage them. Mixed reality technology will create the opportunity for algorithmically personalized and opt-in advertising that shows consumers what they want at just the moment when they want it – and without cluttering our real world with millions of advertisements we could care less about.” – Matt Bretz, VP, Creative Director

On Technology

“By 2020, the leading edge of the mixed reality holographic technology will have offered brands the opportunity to bypass screens and connect with consumers directly in the real world at the moment when purchase intent is highest. If you are driving by Taco Bell and you are a fan, you’ll see a Taco Bell story play out on the dashboard in front of you, enticing you to turn in for a special offer. When you finally lay down in your hotel at the end of a long day’s work on the road, your favorite movie and game studios will offer you their latest content one spoken word or gesture away. If you love Marc Jacobs, when someone walks by you wearing him, he’ll join you for a sec and invite you to shop what they were wearing.” – Matt Bretz

“The connected device definition will evolve/expand beyond mobile and wearables as we know it to encompass everything from car dashboards, heads-up displays, key fobs to everyday items like apparel and household products. Imagine ad-supported in-car GPS that serves HUD ads based on location, clothing with “connected tags” that provide detergent or proximity based dry-cleaner offers, connected spice racks that provide sponsored recipes that cross-sell complimentary products to enhance the culinary experience, wearable tech that provides hydration and nutrition recommendations based on the intensity of an individual’s workout. Regardless of the device, this is as much about how hyper-targeting, moment-based, media messaging will encompass location but expand to personalized situational-based engagement.” – Vincent Juarez

On Leveraging Influence

“Influencer marketing will be at an all-time high. Marketers will recognize this and go beyond the AAA talent to engage influencers at all levels. More and more, specialist agencies will emerge to help marketers engage. Influencer outreach will encompass everything from premium, highly-produced video but could also revert back to individualized text and image-based communications that are native to key social platforms. The key is that anyone with a social media account and any type of following or sphere of influence could be a candidate for an influencer activation.” – Vincent Juarez

On Digital Media

“Cord cutting, internet based-tv and connected device usage will be at an all-time high. The elimination of traditional touch-points will be counteracted by the ability for every connected device to act as an advanced (sight/sound/motion) or basic level (text) engagement point.” – Vincent Juarez

“The ‘straight to digital’ trend will go from today’s popularity of digitally-released series (House of Cards, Bosch, Transparent, etc.) to movies. We’ve seen it be successful in instances like The Interview but in 5 years it will be more the norm as people will choose to watch movies more at home and splurge bigger on the big blockbusters.” – Rebecca Markarian

On Being “Mobile-First”

“We’ll stop saying ‘mobile-first’ because it will just be that way. Everything will be optimized to consume how and where you want without issue. On the social network front, Facebook and Twitter will continue to be important but become increasingly a ‘newsfeed’ and networks where you can more carefully curate the content you see and share – like Instagram, Snapchat, WeChat, and Pinterest – will continue to grow at a faster rate.  Successful social brands will diversify into the niche networks with content strategies that are similarly diversified.” – Rebecca Markarian

On Engaging With Gen Z

“Generation Z are said to be the most focused on helping others and the world so I think we’ll also see brands continue to lean into social responsibility and giving back and tie that heavily into their promotion. At the end of the day, I think we’ll see a much higher level of creative storytelling and much less of the direct sell in advertising.” – Rebecca Markarian

On Big Data

“This might not be the case by 2020 but advertising in the future will be a brand data land grab starting from the day you are born. Think of it as programmatic Gattaca. That ‘social’ platform your parents started talking about you the day they brought you home from the hospital, that ‘pacifier’ companion device. Maybe its called a ‘PCD’ by Google that you were handed at 6 months old which will track every bio metric action like a brand Fitbit: programmed images, custom served stories, interactions and gestures. Your identity and brands you interact with are already being seeded before you can read. By 4, you will have already settled on your favorite toothpaste for the rest of your life, by 13 you will believe you know the make, model and color of the first car you will buy, and at 16 you will already have an opinion on what country you will want to visit and what airline and hotel you want to stay at. All those day-to-day purchase decisions will be served up in the data strings like predicting the weather. Sure, the brand message might be off a few degrees from time to time but the ‘Mega Doppler Brand Radar 10,000’ will always be on.” – Chris Younger, Principal, Director of Strategy

“The tech may not be as invasive as the clichéd sci-fi embedded skin-chip but it could definitely be more intelligent to combine a hub connected device with user demographic, psychographic and social data. At the retail level, a hub device can interface with intelligent connected displays to provide recommendations or engage with short-form product based narrative.” – Vincent Juarez