Three Trends to Look For in 2024: Martin Reiher – amp
We ask industry leaders to give us their take on what’s to come in the year ahead and reflect on the year that’s passed.
Published by: BIA Staff | Branding in Asia on January 15th, 2024
As the great Prince once sang, “I have seen the future, and it will be.”
With the New Year just passed, and another trip around the sun completed, it’s that time once again to take a peek into the future and offer up what we think it will be.
As part of an annual series, we asked industry leaders what they see coming in the year ahead while also looking at the year just passed.
Next up is Martin Reiher, Head of amp Asia, with a look ahead, a look back, and the fate of his New Year’s resolution for 2023.
Looking Ahead
What are three trends to look for in the coming year?
Will 2024 be as wild as 2023 in terms of innovation? Most likely.
In my opinion, what’s more important is to see how these trends interact within the context of a highly dynamic environment, extending beyond digital transformation, as opposed to evaluating their value in isolation.
So, what will change in the coming year? Technology is a big driver, but not the only one. In our amp work with clients, particularly here in Asia, we see brands distinctly shifting towards a broader lifestyle offering. From hospitality to automotive, the brand experience encompasses various aspects, expanding the customer journey into a larger ecosystem. This shift will lead to a few implications:
1. Brands will increasingly focus on a data-driven approach to recognize, understand, and better predict behavior patterns.
Having a sound data strategy will be critical to predict these patterns.
2. This data-driven approach will need to be AI-powered.
Without AI, the data pools cannot be leveraged holistically, and without GenAI, the increased demand for content across all of the different touchpoints cannot be met. This will go hand-in-hand with the increasing importance of cultural adaptability and hyper-personalisation.
Our clients often ask questions along the lines of: “How can we strengthen our authentic brand image, while resonating across different markets, cultures, and segments?” This may sound like a dilemma, but this is very doable when harnessing the power of AI.
3. Deploying multi-sensory strategies will be crucial in 2024.
The old saying “an image is worth a thousand words” may have been more true in the years before the oversaturation of video. Now, consumers are faced with thousands of images in their daily lives, and advertisers have very little time to garner their attention and drive home brand messages.
This is why brands have turned their attention to the exploitation of additional senses, and have started designing with these senses in mind. Naturally, sound lends itself best to digital ecosystems. It’s fast and recognizable and will become even more important as podcasts, voice, and audio-visual content become more ubiquitous.
“Brands have turned their attention to the exploitation of additional senses, and have started designing with these senses in mind. Naturally, sound lends itself best to digital ecosystems.”
Interestingly, the sales of earbuds and noise-canceling headphones have increased nearly 7x between 2018 and 2021 (source: Statista) indicating just how important sound has become. Brands know this and have begun to shift their attention towards this arena.
I believe that there will be many trends to watch in 2024. There will be new, exciting, and flashy things to play with, but the difference maker will be the implementation of these tools with a sound strategy to drive value for customers and wider businesses.
Looking Back
Your favourite trend of 2023
I really enjoyed seeing brands and agencies begin to embrace sound in their marketing efforts. I’m not sure I would call this a trend, but more so a wider acceptance and understanding of the impact proper sonic strategy can have on consumer memorability, recall, and engagement.
Your favourite campaign of 2023?
It was incredibly rewarding to work with the team at SAUDIA on their re-brand and new Sonic DNA. Not only were we given the opportunity to take the national airlines’ sound to a new dimension, but we were also able to collaborate with our colleagues at Landor, helping to bring the brand to life across all five senses in a multi-sensorial re-brand. All facets of the brand were considered in an effort to heighten customer experience, from sound to visuals, taste, and even smell.
On a personal note, it was amazing to see amp’s sonic work soundtrack one of Mastercard’s latest campaigns with Lionel Messi. “Passing on the love of football. Priceless” saw the Ballon d’Or winner surprise a pitch full of young players, only to find out they were all named “Leo” in his honor. Weaving Mastercard’s Sonic DNA into this impactful campaign was a fantastic experience for the full amp team.
What was your 2023 New Year’s Resolution and did you keep it?
I don’t typically set New Year’s resolutions; they don’t seem to yield much success. But, generally, I would say that I live strongly by my values and principles which have been guiding me well.
I’m somewhat of a disciplined dreamer who remains curious and keen to learn new things while making sure to actually get things done. A modern-day desktop explorer, maybe? As long as I stick to that, I know that I’ll be fine.
