DIGITAL MEDIA DIGEST: DEC ‘20
Tags: Trends, Digital Marketing, Brands, 2020, 2021

A monthly look at the world of digital from NORTH’s point of view

Image Source: Pexels

Goodbye, 2020. Hello, 2021! To end this outrageous year we turned to our fellow Northies to get their predictions for 2021. We asked: “What do you foresee will be a major trend in the new year?”

Name/Title: Rebecca Armstrong, CEO

Prediction: Ecommerce will continue to dominate brand strategy.

Explanation: The pandemic collapsed into three months a process of adopting ecommerce that otherwise would have taken 10 years in the U.S. (source: McKinsey & Company). More than half of all consumers intend to continue using curbside pickup and grocery-delivery services after the pandemic is over (source: CommerceHub). With regard to the ‘K-shaped’ recovery, it’s digitally transform or die. One example: at legacy retailer Macy’s, ecommerce now accounts for roughly 43% of sales, up from 25% before the pandemic. To meet the increased demand, the retailer has partnered with Google on search and added same-day delivery for online orders. Smart move. Simply getting stuff to folks fast is one of several ways described in the Google study, Decoding Decisions, for tipping people out of the exploration/evaluation cycle into purchase. Clearly this has staffing, organizational and positioning implications for brands and agencies. We need specialists and we need to figure out where they belong in the nexus between creative and media.

Name/Title: Nicole Bell, Media Director

Prediction: More than ever before, humans will be socially aware and be paying attention to brands that support social causes, take a stance, or remain silent.

Explanation: Conversation in 2020 was dominated by #BlackLivesMatter, a global pandemic and historical election. People are, for the most part, at home and paying attention.

Name/Title: Ashod Simonian, Creative Director

Prediction: The Roaring 20’s are coming back

Explanation: We are cooped up, emotionally exhausted, and ready to let the good times roll. Expect explosions of color, maximalism, and an anything-goes attitude in creative executions. A year of ideas incubating in quarantine will burst into dreams come true for the most ambitious of us (ultimately benefiting and inspiring the rest of us). This blind optimism will collide head-on with the realities of our still-broken society, the most successful content being that which doesn’t back down from the hard truths but embraces joy as a path toward progress.

Name/Title: Izzy Kramer, Media Planner

Prediction: Streaming video usage will continue to boom, but people will lean heavy into nostalgic shows.

Explanation: We will continue to see increases in binge behavior and comfort TV watching, as streaming services like Hulu have noticed. However, I anticipate there will be the Great Spring Streaming Doldrums of 2021: a time of limited content as a repercussion of all TV and movie production abruptly stopping at the beginning of the pandemic. Because of that, I anticipate streaming TV users will seek comfort and escapism by rewatching (and rewatching again) their favorite TV shows of the past.

Name/Title: Madelyn Engel, Performance Marketing Manager

Prediction: Micro influencers will cause social ecommerce to boom

Explanation: Social platforms have been investing heavily in ecommerce, particularly Instagram with the new shopping tab and one-click purchases. These additions were originally created for businesses with the hope of becoming a virtual storefront, but the true power of these features will be utilized by micro-influencers and content creators looking to make revenue off of their product recommendations. Expect TikTok to move into ecommerce as it finds a way to be useful and profitable to content creators so it doesn’t face a mass exodus, like the one that ultimately ruined Vine.

Name/Title: Justin “Scrappers” Morrison, Creative Worker

Prediction: Space Station Life

Explanation: Now that school, work, shopping, and even new movie releases all happen at home, people will fully commit and dive deeper into seeing their home as a space station on a dangerous planet. We will see a huge wave of home improvements that we typically look for in hotels; saunas, hot tubs, roof gardens, outdoor living rooms, gyms, fancy fire pits, hammocks, and quiet spots designed for escaping the work that has now saturated our living quarters. A new wave of seeking escape at home will increase the need for new entertainment; books, TV shows, movies, music, video games, social media apps designed for children, home workout fades (think solo jazzercise), and every kind of home craft project imaginable. Going “outdoors”will be a future revolution once it’s normal for newborns to get a shot of the COVID vaccine. Until then we will refine our home life.

Happy New Year! Stay safe out there.