61% marketers feel a highly convenient consumer experience is the most powerful lever for business growth: iProspect report

• iProspect has launched its Future Focus report that explores the intersection of consumer attention, commerce and data.
• It has taken in account responses from 200 brand marketers in 29 countries.
• Around 61% of the marketers polled for the report considered ‘building a highly convenient experience for the consumer’ as the most powerful lever to generate business growth.

In today's world, convenience and relevancy of media to the consumer is key and 61% of marketers, polled for iProspect's 'Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated' report, considered ‘building a highly convenient experience for the consumer’ as the most powerful lever to generate business growth.

The report addresses some of the most pressing aspects of modern marketing including; the battle for attention, wholesale changes in data privacy, and the emergence of assisted commerce.

Combining evidence-based research with interviews and responses from over 200 brand marketers in 29 countries, the Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated report delves deep into the challenges and opportunities faced in the current global climate and within the immediate media landscape.

The findings showed that around 2 in 5 marketers (42%) still think the linear path to purchase is as relevant today as it was decades ago, despite the rise of digital. While at the same time 32% of marketers feel that expanding commerce capabilities is important for the 2021 roadmap, however 26% see this as one of the most difficult challenges this year.

Amanda Morrissey, Global President of iProspect, commented, “Despite the challenging times we live in, I believe there have never been so many opportunities in media. With our new and unique approach of performance-driven brand building, we are firmly optimistic about the future and resolved to make it happen, today. With Future Focus 2021: Brands Accelerated as their guidebook, I hope all marketers will be able to leverage the growth potential afforded at these significant intersections of media, data, commerce and culture.”

Prerna Mehrotra, CEO, Media, dentsu APAC and MD, Media Group, dentsu Singapore, commented, “Our aim is to guide marketers to explore these intersections at the new connection points for business and brand growth. By leveraging these trends where culture, technology, commerce, data and content converge, we can help them design experiences that are meaningful and valuable to consumers. The future focus at iProspect in APAC will be on working with clients to deliver on the promise of 'Brands Accelerated'.”

Commenting on the report, Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India said, "The report, is a detailed guide for marketers to help them with future-ready solutions specially in the current uncertain times. It helps understand how consumers behave in the digital world, and how this learning can be applied that to real-world scenarios via a highly connected and creative use of media. As a digital first, end to end agency, our perspective allows us to rapidly optimise the work and adapt to ever-evolving human intent at the pivotal intersections in life when culture, content, data, and technology meet."

Practical Advice to Marketers:

In addition to discussing and dissecting the impact of major global industry trends and innovations, the report spotlights the relevancy and opportunity for brands, regardless of sector, to capitalise on these seismic shifts in the media landscape.

Examples of the report’s advice and guidance for marketers worldwide include:

#1: Commerce is Everywhere
Organisations should strive to build and maintain an accurate picture of their commerce capabilities across five key dimensions: desirability, availability, findability, buyability, and repeatability. This will help them define the most profitable commerce model for their brand, better integrate their e-commerce and stores into an actionable omnichannel strategy, explore new growth channels, and turn media opportunities into transaction opportunities.

#2 The Battle for Attention
Brands should consider factoring attention into their media optimisation and measurement efforts to elevate the impact and efficiency of their investment. To maximise audience attention, they should ensure the content and experiences they design truly align with consumer intent, and that the campaigns they develop do not relegate diversity and inclusivity as afterthoughts.

#3 The New Data Playbook
On the data front, organisations should embrace the new privacy-conscious world by re-evaluating the value exchange they offer to their audiences and anticipate technological changes to minimise business disruption. This is the occasion to explore opportunities for automation, evaluate the quality of the data they collect and process, and more broadly reflect upon how data is effectively used to inform decisions.

The last point is of particular significance as the report found in some circumstances there are huge disparities between what the consumer and brand marketer think, when it comes to assessing data value. Only 9% of marketers believe helping a company improve products or services is an incentive for consumers to share their data, while 44% of consumers believe it is a good enough reason to release personal identifiable information (PII) to the brand.