Marketing in 2023: When social responsibility, agility, AI conversations took centre stage
Influencer marketing, community building and adapting an omnichannel approach were other aspects that marketing leaders were working on this year, said industry leaders
This year, the marketing industry saw some interesting new trends - content integration, CTV, CGOOH, AI integration, influencer marketing and programmatic advertising. Apart from advancements in technology, data also became a crucial part of marketing in 2023.
According to Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki, societal responsibility has become an innate part of marketing. “It seems like the major change you observed post-COVID pandemic is a shift in the way companies approach marketing. Rather than focusing solely on advertising spend and brand placement, there is now an emphasis on social responsibility as a fundamental aspect of making a marketing impact.”
Srivastava also noted that marketing leaders were taking into account issues such as climate change, emissions, and the environment, especially in the auto industry. Broader societal issues like gender inequality are also being accounted for, he said.
As for Somasree Bose Awasthi, CMO, of Marico Limited, 2023 was a year of agility and adaptability. “Looking back at the year, we have yet again realized the importance of being agile and adaptive to rapidly evolving consumer preferences. Given the growing digital interconnectedness over the last few decades, consumer expectations have evolved beyond just wanting good products and customer service. The new generation of consumers is driving the redefinition of customer experience in the FMCG industry. They demand far more seamless, convenient, and personalized experiences extending across touchpoints to form a deeper connection with the brands they buy from. Thus, future-ready CMOs are adopting new-age tools to meet progressive consumer expectations.”
Community building has become a crucial part of marketing, shared experts. Creating collaborative content, not only with ambassadors but also along with influencers and the audience, has dominated 2023.
Sharing more on this, Kaushik Mukherjee, Co-founder and COO, SUGAR Cosmetics, said, “Collaborative content marketing became essential for enhancing engagement and delivering personalized experiences. Community building took centrestage as brands actively engaged with online communities through social media challenges and user-generated content, fostering brand loyalty and a sense of belonging.”
AI campaigns were also the flavour of the season with campaigns like BOAT’s "India India,", Sunfeast Dark Fantasy’s ‘Har Dil Ki Fantasy’, amongst others. Abhishek Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, shared, “The integration of AI allows for more strategic and efficient creative work, leading to increased investment in this technology. AI-led conversational marketing is poised to transcend its traditional boundaries through predictive analytics that will play a crucial role in anticipating customer preferences and behaviours in real-time. It will analyze vast amounts of data, including past interactions, purchasing history, and online behaviours, to deliver hyper-personalized content that resonates with individual customers. Voice-activated interfaces (local language) and natural language processing will become standard features.
2023 also witnessed significant growth in influencer marketing. This also led to regulatory bodies such as ASCI and SEBI to introduce endorsement guidelines, aiming to curb unfair trade practices and misleading promotions.
According to Neelesh Pednekar, Co-Founder & Head of Digital Media at Social Pill, “Influencers marketing category as a whole has shot up from $4.99 BN in 2022 to a projected $6.16 BN in 2023. In India, Instagram has led this change from the front, followed by YouTube. Overall, we have seen a lot of micro and nano influencers come to light this year.”
“A July report by Neilsen showed that the return on investment for influencer marketing is on par with mainstream media, and the industry is poised to grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent to reach Rs 2,200 crore by 2025. It’s good to see brands allocating dedicated budgets towards influencer marketing campaigns. The pie share of the influencer's budget has grown by about 20% in 2023 as compared to 2022.”
Furthering the marketing game has been an omnichannel approach. Tushar Malhotra, Head of Marketing, at Bisleri, says, “You need to have an integrated marketing plan campaign which cuts across channel. There has to be a 360-degree approach. You can't have one message being allocated to one channel. You just have to keep doing the simple things multiple times and in multiple formats so that the consumers get the message and understand the message.”
Brands also recognised the power of GenZ this year, noted brand experts. “GenZ will be shaping the future of our business. But every day is a fine balance in building for the future and keeping our power users happy. What is interesting is that in fashion - even the power users, the millennials are hopping onto the same trends that GenZ is attracted by - more experimentation across trends, brands and styles, so being GenZ first is helping us,” said Vijay Sharma, Senior Director - Brand Marketing, Myntra.
