Discover the latest marketing trends and news in advertising that, according to international forecasts, will shape the tone of brand communication in 2023.
What trends in advertising and marketing will we see this year?
The beginning of the year is a time to review the latest phenomena in the industry, marketing trends, and to gather inspiration regarding novelties in advertising. On this occasion, we decided to take a closer look at selected trends in advertising and marketing, marketing, technology, law, and culture, which are worth considering in the near future when building strategies and creating advertising content.
New trends in advertising – video content
Video is no longer a novelty in marketing, but in 2023 we will certainly see even more messages in the form of short, vertical video formats. The current marketing trends in this area are primarily influenced by the users of the TikTok platform. Since 2020, the app has recorded a massive growth in the number of users, becoming the most downloaded mobile application in the world. A response from other platforms didn’t take long. Today, we have already gotten used to this form of consuming content. Whether we watch Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or the TikTok Feed – we expect messages to be short and concise. There is no time to build context; it's best to jump straight into the topic. Consistent publishing of content and fidelity to platform conventions are also crucial.
TikTok audiences primarily seek authenticity, entertainment, and bite-sized knowledge. Value is found in interesting content that resonates with social trends and creative forms of communication, rather than necessarily in high-quality video production. On the contrary, a message that proves to be too "advertise-like" in the traditional sense may discourage viewers and make them "scroll past" our brand's ad.
What trends does the TikTok team notice on its platform? In the 2023 recommendations overview, it primarily focuses on "actionable entertainment," which means activating audiences and acting on the principle of "show, don't sell." The brand's content should evoke trust and positive emotions, present the audience's point of view (POV), and provide credible information. A brand on TikTok should be a friend or partner in discussion, with content that is helpful and engages audiences in topics that genuinely interest them.
In all this, it is worth tracking not only marketing trends and brand actions on emerging platforms but also what users organically create on those platforms and what quickly grabs the community's attention. The diverse accounts of young creators are a treasure trove of inspiration. By staying up to date with them, you can utilize current hashtags and new trends in your brand's advertising.
New trends in marketing – rising demand for creativity
According to the 2023 Deloitte Marketing Trends report, as much as 89% of rapidly growing brands link their long-term success to the ability to support creativity. Rapidly changing times require unconventional thinking and the ability to adapt to new conditions – economic, social, or technological. Additional constraints, such as tight budgets or increased pressure for return generation, may compel even the most established teams to seek new paths of development in 2023.
Brands that focus on creating engaging emotions and experiences that go beyond what is known and visible among competitors in their category can count on standing out from the crowd.
Collaboration with brands and creators
New trends in advertising show that one fruitful strategy in 2023 may be openness to new, creative collaborations with external partners – brands, institutions, or non-governmental organizations.
Another steadily growing trend in marketing remains collaboration with influencers – even in sectors that previously did not anticipate such actions in their strategies. A creator appropriately matched to the brand's image, along with a creative collaboration strategy, can be the recipe for increased engagement and a stronger community around your brand.
An interesting novelty in influencer marketing is the increasingly observed shift towards more qualitative collaborations and a greater focus on campaign outcomes. This approach may result in more long-lasting, quasi-ambassador partnerships with carefully selected creators. More and more marketers are also recognizing the potential of so-called nano-influencers, that is, accounts with smaller reach, which often generate higher audience engagement than those with hundreds of thousands of followers.
One of the most significant novelties in advertising that could contribute to the development of collaborations between smaller creators and brands in 2023 is the TikTok Creator Marketplace. The new tool makes it easier for brands to find the best influencers based on specific parameters, as well as manage campaigns, transactions, and negotiate contracts. Marketers have access to more functionality for discovering influencers based on keywords, topics, demographics, published content, or engagement metrics.
Creativity strengthened by AI
The space for novelty in marketing in 2023 is undoubtedly also opened by technological advancements. The beginning of 2023 saw the internet dominated by discussion about the creative possibilities of artificial intelligence. Social media were flooded with texts and images created using AI-powered content generators like ChatGPT, DALL-E, or Midjourney. A new and exciting trend in marketing will be any experiments using these tools in brand creation and communication.
This admiration for the quality of AI-generated content is accompanied by many questions regarding the possible applications of this rapidly evolving technology – its shadows and lights – or copyright issues. In 2023, we can expect increased interest in the topic of AI and further exploration of the possibilities of artificial intelligence within brands' marketing activities.
In the Polish market, the new advertising trend has already been embraced by ING Bank, utilizing visualization capabilities in its retirement account campaign “Me in the Future”. The brand invited audiences to reflect on the future and describe their associated dreams. Using an AI-supported tool, internet users could generate their own images representing fanciful visions of the future, as well as participate in a contest for the most interesting creation.
New trends in marketing – hyper-personalization and micro-communities
Trend researchers and authors of the Accenture Life Trends 2023 report emphasize that in an uncertain world, people are increasingly seeking spaces of belonging and support in community. In recent years, we have seen the growth of online groups and channels focused on interests, hobbies, or professional groups. At the same time, we see the development of increasingly advanced algorithms that hyper-personalize our experiences and serve us content perfectly tailored to our interests, tastes, or needs.
Micro-communities are gaining from all this, with their rapid growth observable, among others, on TikTok, where hashtags supporting communities around strictly defined areas of interest (#EduTok, #BookTok, #BeautyTok, #FoodTok, etc.) or generational experiences (e.g., the Millennial vs. Gen Z discussion) are trending high.
An interesting application of shared experiences in a connecting way turned out to be EA Games' campaign on TikTok, in which the creators of the game Sims encouraged users to create their own content by mimicking the Sims' language "Simlish." The action turned out to be a hit. It successfully tapped into the generational nostalgia associated with the game while also building interest among new users.
Niche aesthetics are also gaining their moment, gathering a loyal fan base that enthusiastically replicates and interprets a chosen style. Some of them become loud virals and begin to create purchasing needs in the real world. Purchases themselves are increasingly inspired by organic recommendations from the digital community, evidenced by the popularity of hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt or #TikTokMadeMeTryIt. A new strong trend in marketing is also live selling during streams by well-known creators.
In 2023, it is worth re-examining the personas and customer journey of our target groups and considering how the brand can respond to the specific needs of increasingly diverse micro-communities to reach new customer segments with communication. New, valuable insights about potential audience members may be useful in this regard. In 2023, we can observe increased interest in data analysis tools and a heightened number of A/B tests to efficiently allocate budgets for communication directed at narrow but engaged audience groups.
New social trends – Joy-Conomy and positive emotions
Trend forecasts indicate that after years of the pandemic, as well as in the face of new challenges, including the growing economic crisis, there is a need for 2023 to bring more hope and optimism. We seek a boost of positive emotions, a respite, and space to experience small moments of joy in everyday life. We see this in many overlapping new trends in fashion and marketing, such as “Elevated Expressionism,” “Feel-Good Feeds,” “Ageless Play,” or “Dopamine Dressing,” for which Wunderman Thompson coined a collective definition of “Joy-Conomy” – the economy of joy.
The Pantone Color Institute also announces a year of boldness, joy, and a focus on nurturing inner strength. Color of the Year 2023 Viva Magenta is meant to be an energetic and "unconventional shade for unconventional times." An increasing trend in advertising that we are already seeing is the more frequent use of vibrant colors and bold aesthetics. Humor also plays a significant role, on which content on the TikTok platform heavily relies. As many as 50% of the platform's users believe that the app improves their mood, while 40% cite "cheering up" as one of the main motivations for purchasing the advertised product.
Marketing trends – health and mental well-being
Current trends in marketing indicate a growing popularity of health topics and broadly understood self-care, with an emphasis on providing positive emotions, self-confidence, and motivation to act. Users are seeking friendly authorities and proven content that can help them take care of their health and work-life balance. Brands that operate on emotions, supporting and helping in dealing with daily difficulties can expect greater responsiveness and engagement from audiences.
One of the offshoots of this trend is also the post-pandemic tendency to prioritize mental health. As a result, we are observing growing interest in topics such as wellness, communion with nature, soothing pleasures, physical and mental fitness, healthy sleep, stress management, and building healthy relationships.
This current also introduces visual trends in advertising for 2023, which Adobe presents in its report under the title “Psychic Waves.” This aesthetic is manifested in fluid, "soft" forms, changing shapes, calming gradients, and saturated colors with surrealism elements. The effect is meant to be soothing and reflect the need for harmony, even detachment from harsh reality.
Novelties in advertising – legal changes
And speaking of health, it is worth mentioning the latest regulations concerning advertising. As a result of legal changes, there will be novelties in 2023 marketing for medical products.
The amendment to the law on medical products, effective from the new year, prohibits the use of images of persons performing medical professions or claiming to be such individuals in advertising spots. According to the legislator, advertising for a medical product should not mislead and must be formulated "in a way understandable to the layman." It should also include:
information that the presented product is a medical product, along with appropriate warnings;
the name of the manufacturer and the authorized representative, at least the trade name of the product, and the intended use of the product;
contraindications for using the product, if they relate to the use of that product;
information for the user or patient about the probable risks associated with using the product in accordance with its intended use.
Promotion of medical products used in aesthetic medicine, such as hyaluronic acid or specialized equipment used in treatments, has also been prohibited.
Meanwhile, advertisers of other products that do not belong to the medical niche should also keep an eye on new legal changes defined by the so-called Omnibus Directive (directive of the European Parliament and Council No. 2019/2161). As of January 1, 2023, it introduces, among other things:
the obligation to verify consumer reviews of products;
the need to disclose the positioning of products in search engines on trading platforms;
the obligation to state the previous price for the last 30 days and the current price;
the obligation to inform users whether the displayed price has been "individually tailored based on automated decision-making," which in practice means disclosing price adjustment practices based on the consumer's profile, e.g., based on their place of residence or device model.
Sources:
1. Deloitte Global Marketing Trends 2023. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/marketing-and-sales-operations/global-marketing-trends.html.
2. What’s Next, 2023 Trend Report, New Era of Confidence. https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/trend_article/online/whats-next-2023/pc/en?rid=3bsakytm5b1.
3. Adobe 2023 Creative Trends Report. https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/creative-trends-thankyou.html?faas_unique_submission_id=5A7A03FE-B8D1-C651-93C1-D6DF1D8FB493.
4. Accenture Life Trends 2023 Report. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/song/accenture-life-trends.
5. Wunderman Thompson 2023 Trends Report. https://www.wundermanthompson.com/insight/the-future-100-2023.
6. Pantone Color of The Year https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2023.
7. Advertising Law at the Turn of 2022/2023. https://nowymarketing.pl/a/40684,prawo-na-przelomie-2022-2023.
