‘Demand For Online Videos will Grow, And Financial Brands Will Yearn For Elevated MARCOM Solutions This Year’
By Bolaji Junaid
Outside is the new normal: Humans are social beings and no matter how technology transforms human interaction, at the core of existence remains socialization. Experiential marketing will witness a huge surge and that can be attested to how most Nigerians damned all price inflationary trends to curate and enjoy experiences with their loved ones in the latter part of 2023. Marketers and Brand owners can win hearts and build more authentic connections with their consumers by delivering not only personable but memorable experiences at every touchpoint. From leveraging existing event platforms to activating brand-owned platforms, it’s important that brand managers prioritize documenting each event’s flow and how they plan to communicate post-event. Repurposing, personalizing, and scaling content from such events will go a long way to deliver ROI and leave the consumers wanting for more. Interestingly, there are high chances that audiences can move from being passive consumers to event co-creators, driving deeper actions and conversations that eventually drive the desired marketing result
Video Remains Critical: According to Statista, a whopping 74.6bn USD was spent on online video ads in 2023 worldwide. Close to 3.5bn unique people viewed digital video content in the world, a near 50% of the world’s population. As marketers, we need to fully embrace a pivot to digital advertising. It is where viewers are spending an increasing amount of time and where ad formats tend to be more shoppable. Now is the time to pay more attention to content creators, most especially the niche ones with smaller followings who are less expensive and can deliver a niche audience. According to WARC, about 66% of consumers have actively searched for video content to find out more about a brand. Thanks to the likes of TikTok, Facebook videos, and Instagram reels, they have become the go-to mobile social platforms for consumers. Long-form video in the form of movies and other forms of screenplay will also be on the rise in 2024. With 9 out of 10 Nigerian Internet users watching at least one form of video content weekly and 30% streaming, there’s bound to be a significant rise in production and adoption of Nigerian movies into Netflix, Prime Video, and other streaming platforms. Marketers need to become creators, partner with established platforms, and, most importantly, start telling authentic Nigerian stories taking a cue from the now globally accepted “Afrobeats.
The Bankables: While the economy seems gloomy, with the inflation rate recently hitting a record high of 28.2 percent and the continuous fall of the naira against the dollar, however, economists have posited that inflation would climb further in early 2024. This will be as a result of market changes and ongoing currency volatility on the black market. The good news is that it is expected that base effects to kick in mid-year which would cause a decline in inflation and further lead to exchange rate appreciation. To this end, some critical sectors of the economy are bound to witness lots of marketing activities. Top on the list are banks and non-banking brands, commercial banks will be battling to retain market share from the fast-rising fintechs and at the same time navigating their way around the regulatory policies that would swing their way from the Apex Bank, CBN. A case in point is the rumoured Recapitalization move and further re-evaluation of their business health, a move that saw the recent ousting of some bank CEOs. What could be a survival of the fittest in the financial sector should be good news to an average marketing practitioner, as finance brands would require effective marketing communications solutions to remain competitive and continually drive a positive perception for their brands and managers within the year.(Sources: WARC, Statista, McKinsey, Forbes, LBS)