My 2010 brand forecast revisited

I’m a procrastinator, which is why this brand forecast I started writing back at the beginning of the year never got finished. But some of it did. Have a look. Meh.

2010 Brand forecast:

Simpler is better (posted Feb 25)

We’re inundated with constant messages, ads, invites, emails, pings, pongs, dings and dongs. Some people feed off of this, what I like to call “InfoCane”, but there are more people out there who just want what they’re looking for and that is all.

Everything us brand managers and marketers need to do in 2010 should be made to simplify, make simpler, be simpler and simpler to find.

Find yourself skim reading more than you ever have before? That’s cause we’re constantly trying to take in more and more information, quicker and quicker. Sure, we could slow ourselves down and relax a bit. But what fun would that be!

In making things simpler, we can start by creating content that’s easy to skim and help people find the information they want quickly and easily.

Simpler may not be as fun for us info-junkies, but for our customers, it’s what will ultimately allow them to have a nice and easy experience with your brand.

Experiential

Didn’t write – must meant to say that customer and brand experiences will be a huge, huge deal for brands in 2010.

Ad Hoc

Didn’t write – but wanted to mention that marketers will need to be on their toes this year, ready to respond, interact and be ad hoc with their interaction with customers.

Design Focused

Didn’t write – but as we all know, design trumps most other factors when it comes to marketing. Design should be at the forefront of our thinking every single day.

Intelligent

Didn’t write – but as we create new experiences and interactions with our customers, they need to be intelligent. That’s what customers will expect more and more.

Environmental – and not just the “green” kind. We’ll be seeing more emphasis on healthy living in general. As with “simple”, we’ll be seeing less meat, less packaging, less chemicals we don’t know, less extravagance. In contrast, we’ll be seeing more recycled materials, more innovation with previously unrecyclable products.

Mobile – Seems like a given. But we’ll be seeing mobile applications that do everything but wash our cars for us. As with “Mavericks”, mobile will continue to be a playground for crazy innovative and experimental products that are interlinked with marketing campaigns that go far beyond the cell phone.