Data marketing: 10 trends to follow as 2020 gets underway

Home Blends & Trends 8 January 2020

New challengers for the advertising duopoly, the continuous rise of marketing in-housing and D2C brands, California’s CCPA, AI applied to marketing and media transparency… Discover the trends that will shape the digital marketing ecosystem in 2020!

1. New challengers for the advertising duopoly

Although Google and Facebook are still leaders in their ecosystem, a few challengers are coming out of the woodwork and threatening their dominance. First, Amazon: obviously the biggest contender in terms of size. Third on the advertising podium since 2018, Amazon generated almost $10 billion this year according to eMarketer, representing an impressive 8% of the American digital ad market.

Then come Snapchat and Pinterest, both considerably smaller than Google, Facebook or even Amazon, but boasting impressive growth rates. Indeed, they recorded respective growth rates of 50% and 47%.

In the meantime, another challenger could emerge. TikTok, the newest arrival, could now become a real threat with its younger and more engaged audience. Considering that TikTok users spend twice as long on the app as Instagram users do, things could get interesting.To be continued…

2. Why marketers should keep an eye on in-housing

In-housing is still a key trend for 2020, and marketers should keep an eye on how it disrupts their ecosystem from the inside. According to Dentsu’s latest report, 52% of marketers say they will broaden in-housing initiatives in the upcoming years. But instead of dismissing agencies, this trend is, on the contrary, revealing their considerable value for brands and businesses. Indeed, in-housing is not the end of consulting, but instead represents a new era of collaboration between marketing experts and advertisers. The latest example comes from Coty, which has recently restructured its internal adtech and digital media departments — a major move from the cosmetics brand towards structural optimization.

Read more on The Drum and the tea house.

3. Tech skills are no longer enough for CMOs

By definition, being a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) is already a challenge. Each year, the ecosystem debates over a range of questions from which the skills they should have to which strategy they should adopt. The role of a CMO is becoming increasingly complex, as marketing continues to blend with technology, while becoming driven by data and performance. The CMO is not just the “guardian of the brand” anymore, he or she is the guardian of the business as a whole, constantly navigating among several departments, including digital, data, technology, marketing, and communications.

4. D2C brands: are they really ready to take over the world?

Direct-to-consumer brands, or as they are sometimes now called, DNVB brands (Digitally Native Vertical Brands), have experienced incredible growth since appearing on the market in the 2010s, pioneered by Dollar Shave Club. With techniques such as creating their brand horizontally, cutting out intermediaries, and using data to knock out competitors, these brands seem to have fully disrupted the market with their new marketing model. One question remains for 2020: will they be tough enough to resist the assaults of traditional brands, especially in the advertising field?

5. CCPA is the new GDPR

Who said data privacy wasn’t on the American agenda? Eighteen months after GDPR’s roll-out and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, California is also ready to make a radical move. The California Consumer Privacy Act took effect on January 1st, and applies to any company selling or using the personal information of California residents. Companies are now required to display a “clear and conspicuous” link, so that individuals can agree with the reuse of their personal data. This could especially turn into a real issue for publishers who rely more on cookies than logged-in users data.

This California law might be a first step towards a federal law. In September 2019, 51 CEOs penned an open letter to Congress, asking that the law regulate data collection, processing and activation at every level.

6. The US-China Trade war and the consequences for marketing and tech

Is the cold war back, this time between China and the US? The countries, caught in an economic and strategic struggle, seem to trust each other less and less. AI technology, telecoms and marketing solutions are suffering in particular. Huawei is still in the American government’s crosshairs as it becomes the leader in 5G. Each country is becoming progressively more closed off towards the other, and each is becoming more protective of its own walled garden. Meanwhile, Russia might attempt to build its own isolated cyberspace. Back to the… past?

7. Tougher regulations for tech giants: what’s next?

More than ever before, tech giants are being scrutinized, as if they were under a microscope. GDPR fines, CCPA compliance, antitrust investigations, tax fraud allegations… The dream of monopolies today looks more like a nightmare. If technology is moving fast and subject to constant change, regulation and institutions are trying to catch up. In December, the French competition authority fined Google €150 million for anti-competitive behavior on the advertising market. In the US, Democratic presidential nominee candidate Elizabeth Warren has criticized the way that new tech monopolies hurt small businesses and stifle innovation.

8. Is AI really disrupting the marketing world?

AI has been in the spotlight for the past few years, and has even been called the fourth industrial revolution. But what are the actual changes that have occurred so far in the marketing field? There is no doubt that AI is transforming the ecosystem and expanding the possibilities; it is popping up all over marketing and advertising, with the rise of voice assistants, marketing automation, and VR for brands and social media platforms. However, there is still a long way to go and many issues to solve, especially in terms of ethics and privacy.

9. Transparency: 2020’s first media issue

Among the issues that are arising this year in the martech and adtech world, there is one of crucial importance: transparency. From fraud and brand safety to the fact that users are getting harder to follow with ITP measures, data quality is being questioned, especially in advertising. For instance, as much as 80% of location data could be fake according to Digiday. Many issues discredit online advertising and undermine the trust of brands and users alike.

10. You & Mr Jones becomes the first brandtech unicorn

It’s happening! You & Mr Jones, the world’s first brandtech group launched in 2015 by David Jones, was created with the ambition to marry branding and technology. It has now raised $200 million in its second funding round. The group, which fifty-five joined in 2016, is now worth $1.3 billion.

In the Wall Street Journal, Jones stated: “We are starting to see the disrupters in this industry get to values that mean they’re starting to be significant companies”. Could 2020 be the year of brandtech?

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