Digital Advertising- A Changing Industry.

Regardless of concern over issues like ad fraud, fake news, transparency, and brand safety, as well as continued Brexit uncertainty, the total UK digital ad spend increased to £7.3bn in the first six months of 2019 — up 13% year on year, according to IAB UK’s half-year Adspend report.

The analysis shows that Display (video) and Search were the biggest drivers of growth between January and June 2019 — up 27% and 13%, respectively.

Search now accounts for £3.7 billion of total H1 digital ad spend, while combined Display (video and non-video) is worth £2.8 billion, a 17% annual uplift.

Non-video remains the largest Display format (up 8% YoY to £1.45 billion), but video formats are growing fast (up 27% to £1.32 billion).

The shift in budgets shows an alignment with consumer behaviour. In 2015 Ofcom reported that that Ofcom found smartphones to have overtaken laptops as UK internet users’ number one device in 2015.

In line with the evolution of smartphones and tablets, the global mobile advertising market has been growing ever more significantly over the past decade.

Companies are starting to take advantage of the shift to digital with new and more exciting forms of marketing strategy, such as haptic marketing, offering new possibilities alongside more traditional channels such as email and influencer marketing.

According to Statista’s Digital Market Outlook, mobile will account for 50 percent of the UK ad spend by 2021 and will surpass desktop by 2022.

As advertising techniques become more sophisticated, two things are certain:

• New technologies and channels are bombarding consumers with Ad messages.
• Consumers do not like advertisements and are increasingly getting frustrated with irrelevant, disruptive, and annoying Ads.

With consumers shorter attention spans and general mistrust of Ads, it is becoming increasingly difficult for brands to push their messages to the right people at the right time. Tuning out the noise has become instinctual.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that that brands have to change the way they communicate to consumers, to be successful.

Fortunately, with technology, research and insights we are able to understand consumers’ motivations and purchase behavior better than ever before. This can enable advertisers to give consumers what they really want: not less advertising, but better advertising.

By leveraging the power of data, marketers can create Ads with experiences that are enjoyable for consumers, guiding them along their journeys to purchase — and not Ads that are direct sales pitch.

When brands put the consumer first — meaning you really get to know your audience, what they like, their values, their challenges, pain-points, learn where they and how they communicate are reach out to them at the right moment, with the right message that serves their needs.

By knowing your audience and ensuring the style, voice, and tone of your message is congruent with your brand identity and that of your audience, brands can build strong relationships with the audiences.

Who, in return, by engaging with your brand, will recognise the value they can get out, making a purchase decision for the customer more natural and enjoyable- a win-win solution for both brands and consumers.