[Trends 2015] Synchronised messaging for all channels

Adopting some of the tried and tested solutions from other markets and blazing our own path in some areas (like mobile), enable consumers to participate in the all-encompassing digital revolution.

This in turn will allow marketers to commit a larger share of their budgets to new media and new business models, facilitate better planning (with more data) and force more rigorous evaluation of ROI - creating a perfect storm to further accelerate the pace of change.

Most successful marketing organisations are those that can best anticipate the forms that change will take. Here are some of the key trends for 2015 from Millward Brown's annual Digital & Media Predictions:

• Perfect timing will be critical. The new, new thing in 2015 will be synchronised messaging across TV and the other devices that consumers use while watching. Brands will be able to reinforce their TV message with targeted reminders during the ad breaks. Car ads will be followed up with test drive messages, for example, as more and more media owners roll out the capability to match messages across desktop, tablet and mobile.

• Social and mobile silos will be broken down. Brands need to understand the synchronised impact of cross-platform and cross-device behaviours to justify continued (and increased) media investment. To facilitate this, in 2015 social and mobile media will start to deliver insights into how brands and their media agencies can best harmonise their overall social and mobile strategy.

• Insufficient data will become big data and increasingly, intelligent data. In 2015, marketers will start to appreciate the importance of their data: they will streamline their assets and invest in the analytic talent they have been lacking to identify the metrics that are actual predictors for brand and sales growth.

• Native more often gets it right. In 2015 native advertising will become an established part of the advertising landscape. The key for brands will be to partner with publishers that strike a proper balance between brand messages and editorial, clearly identifying sponsored content and matching the site's tone and style.

• Marketers get savvier about 'Multi-Generational Multi-Screen Marketing'. In 2015 smart marketers will optimise across devices by aligning branding objectives with learning about how screen usage varies by generation and contextual task.

• Programmatic will improve with better quality behavioural data but it will also increasingly contemplate brand. Marketers will question whether programmatic optimisation is damaging or enhancing brand building. The best programmatic providers will increasingly differentiate themselves based on their ability to manage cost effectiveness on behavioural metrics while delivering campaigns that build brand metrics.

• Programmatic also gets creative. Creative agencies will design smart, engaging and customisable creative "elements" (rather than ads) which merge seamlessly with programmatic media buying algorithms. The best of these executions will enable a new kind of dynamic, relevant storytelling based on when and how they are delivered.

• Micro-video is propelled into the mainstream. There will be more opportunities to build reach in the micro-video landscape with paid messages. Brands (and agencies) will succeed by understanding the nuances of micro-creativity and the different roles fulfilled by platforms such as Vine and Instagram.

• Analogue will become digital. Every channel will be digital, even if it's not. Marketers will add digital responses such as interaction via smartphones to channels that remain analogue in order to digitalise them. Going digital in every channel will allow brands to put consumers in control.

• Location-based marketing blooms. This will be the year that brands focus on consumer needs to deliver messages and services that are meaningful and relevant to specific locations. In 2015 the ability of brands to give consumers what they want, at the right place and the right time will be a key differentiator.

• Successful organisations will structure for success in the digital age by courting innovators, focusing on digital training and becoming more collaborative. The very best will step back and take stock by examining the impact of digital campaigns on the hearts and minds of consumers.

*Millward Brown's full Digital & Media Predictions for 2015 are available for download.

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