iProspect Launches the 'Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated'

THE NEW iPROSPECT FUTURE FOCUS REPORT EXPLORES THE INTERSECTION OF CONSUMER ATTENTION, COMMERCE AND DATA

• Consumer, media and brand insights revealed alongside new industry research and guidance
• 2 in 5 marketers still think the path to purchase is linear, despite the rise of digital
• 1 in 4 marketers consider expanding commerce capabilities as their big challenge for 2021

Recently，iProspect, a dentsu company, officially launches Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated as the essential read for conscientious marketers seeking to explore and exploit the latest consumer and industry advancements for brand growth. The 75+ page report, which is free to download, addresses some of the most pressing aspects of modern marketing including the battle for attention, wholesale changes in data privacy, and the emergence of assisted commerce.

Combining evidence-based research with interviews and responses from over 200 brand marketers in 29 markets, the Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated report delves deep into the challenges and opportunities faced in the current global climate and within the immediate media landscape.  And, convenience and relevancy of media to the consumer is key, as 61% of marketers, polled for the report, considered ‘building a highly convenient experience for the consumer’ as the most powerful lever to generate business growth.

Although this is the sixth edition of the Future Focus series, this is the first large scale report released by iProspect since it launched as a new digital-first end to end media agency last month and, its content typifies the intricacies of bringing brand and performance together to achieve growth. 

Amanda Morrissey, Global President of iProspect, comments: “Despite the challenging times we live in, I believe there have never been so many opportunities in media. With our new and unique approach of performance-driven brand building, we are firmly optimistic about the future and resolved to make it happen, today.  With Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated as their guidebook, I hope all marketers will be able to leverage the growth potential afforded at these significant intersections of media, data, commerce and culture.”

Jimmy Kuo, CEO of iProspect China, comments: ” Understanding the consumers path to purchase is more important than ever before in today’s digital economy” Today’s clients are no longer satisfied with the black-box model that the major platforms are trying to push in order to monopolize the market.  Clients are getting smarter and building stronger capabilities for their first-party data, and take back control from the major platforms 

The findings showed that around 2 in 5 marketers (42%) still think the linear path to purchase is as relevant today as it was decades ago, despite the rise of digital. While at the same time 32% of marketers feel that expanding commerce capabilities was important for the 2021 roadmap, however 26% see this as one of the most difficult challenges to face this year.

Practical advice to marketers

In addition to discussing and dissecting the impact of major global industry trends and innovations, the report spotlights the relevancy and opportunity for brands, regardless of sector, to capitalise on these seismic shifts in the media landscape.

Examples of the report’s advice and guidance for marketers worldwide include:

• Commerce is Everywhere

Organisations should strive to build and maintain an accurate picture of their commerce capabilities across five key dimensions: desirability, availability, findability, buyability, and repeatability. This will help them define the most profitable commerce model for their brand, better integrate their e-commerce and stores into an actionable omnichannel strategy, explore new growth channels, and turn media opportunities into transaction opportunities.

• The Battle for Attention

Brands should consider factoring attention into their media optimisation and measurement efforts to elevate the impact and efficiency of their investment. To maximise audience attention, they should ensure the content and experiences they design truly align with consumer intent, and that the campaigns they develop do not relegate diversity and inclusivity as afterthoughts.

• The New Data Playbook

On the data front, organisations should embrace the new privacy-conscious world by re-evaluating the value exchange they offer to their audiences and anticipate technological changes to minimise business disruption. This is the occasion to explore opportunities for automation, evaluate the quality of the data they collect and process, and more broadly reflect upon how data is effectively used to inform decisions.

Click here to download the full report

About iProspect
iProspect, a dentsu company, is a global digital-first end to end mediaagency. Its unmatched mix of media strategy and storytelling with digitalexpertise and audience knowledge defines the new territory ofperformance-driven brand building. By delivering human-centric solutions,iProspect accelerates growth for the world’s most iconic brands includingNestle, L’Oréal, Heinz, LVMH, LG, Hilton, Levi’s, Budweiser, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble etc.The iProspect team works across a network of more than 8,000 media andperformance specialists spread across 93 global markets.

Contacts

Atlas Ye, Performance media operations: atlas.ye@iprospect.com

Ravin Chan, Product /tech / data related matters: ravin.chan@dentsu.com

Lucia Zhang, E-commerce: lucia.zhang@iprospect.com

Tess Wang, Internal Operations: tess.wang@iprospect.com