Marketing Society members’ predictions for the next 50 years of marketing 

“In 50 years, advertising will predominantly be digital, therefore totally targetable, measurable and personalised. Consumers will control and define how they are marketed to with most campaigns operating virally and driven by deep consumer knowledge and insight. We will see a big shift in how marketing is embedded into entertainment experiences – well beyond product placement or advertiser funded programming.  Digital feedback on campaign effectiveness will be so fast and accurately predictive that planning and creative will change dramatically day-by-day or even minute by minute.”
Ashley Highfield, VP and MD of Consumer and Online, Microsoft UK

1. Agencies as we know them will cease to exist. we will use creative collectives all over the work to disseminate our messages. our (client) role will be as choreographers
2. The marketer of the year award will be won by someone over the age of 70
3. England will retain the ashes, Europe the Ryder cup and the Lions will whitewash the all blacks in New Zealand
Will Harris, marketing director, Nokia UK

'The next 50 years will see the shift from the current obsession with the self to a focus on the collective. This shift will be driven by three powerful factors; Economic necessity, the evolution of social networking and the build up of massive global environmental threats. Connected groups of people will become the primary audience advertisers and marketers must focus on. Marketers will need to understand group interests, motivations and connections rather than the  demographics or attitudes of individuals. This will come to it's zenith when Microsoft launches Windows Century with 100 different configurations in partnership with the worlds most popular interest groups ranging from the Association of professional futurists to the WWF and Greenpeace.
Simon Ratcliffe, founding partner. Your Future(London) ltd.

“The principles of marketing will show very little signs of change over the next 50 years just as they have shown little change over the last 50 years. This in itself presents a problem for academics who keep trying to re-invent history so they can sell yet more books to unsuspecting students - in reality they may as well just repaginate their existing offer. The challenge for  brands will be to maintain their price premium over own brand/private label products as the latter’s product quality improves and consumers become even more savvy.  Innovation - incremental, radical and transformational will be the ultimate driver of performance and investment in this area , as opposed, to current price investment strategy, will be the key to success.

Communication channels will see the biggest change as digital media becomes the predominant channel, which could well sound the death knell for print ( although it will never entirely disappear). Imagine a world with retinal scanners recording who you are, infra red scanners detecting whole baskets without having to unpack.

But perhaps the biggest and most exciting arena will be that of data modelling and moreover the sophistication of modelling techniques that will give retailers the ability to predict consumer behaviour with such accuracy that products and services will be available before you even thought you needed them. ,A world where instant demand and profitability wait for the innovative retailer , leaving all competitors blinded by the dust storm left behind.”
Patrick Allen, director of marketing, Co-Op Group

“I think we will eventually realise that the last 50yrs of neuroscience will teach us that marketing will need to be much more about congruence than surprise in the next 50yrs. Our job will be to create expectations and accurately deliver them at the point of experience.”
Ian Armstrong, marketing director, Honda

“50 years from now, conspicuous consumption will still be with us and much of our spending will be to relieve ourselves of routine work by having it done by androids, whether in factories, cleaning our cities or in our households.  We will be worrying about whether our androids have "rights" and whether they will take over the world.”
Tim Ambler, professor, London Business School

“For me one of the big trends moving forward will be for big corporations to engage openly and honestly with consumers, genuinely valuing their opinions and contributions. This doesn't mean just replying to Twitter chatter or running competitions to choose the next crisp flavour. No, brands need to establish a spirit of Co-creation and work with articulate, creative and intelligent consumers and category experts to co-create new and relevant product ideas and brand strategies. Companies like Nike, Vodafone and Lego have proved it can be done and deliver results in a cost effective way.”
Nick Corston, managing director, Sense Worldwide

“The powerful globalisation forces sweeping away geographic and other boundaries are already creating a backlash. Consumers empathise with “local” brands and business, which create a greater sense of community. In food and drink, that is reinforced by concerns over provenance, freshness and hygiene. Wyevale’s decision to drop its branding completely from its garden centres in favour of “unbranded” locality fascias is just the start. Local relevance and authenticity will be key factors for success.”
Alan Giles, chair of the Retail Forum and former CEO, HMV Group

“At the moment in media we are obsessed with technologies: devices and networks of all sorts. Very soon these will become totally multi-functional and interchangeable and consequently ‘invisible’ to consumers. We will return to valuing content most highly.  But content will polarise further into the very high-end professional products that can’t be replicated and an endless tail of content, much of it user-generated, with audiences of two men and a dog.  Brands will be making even more direct investment into top quality content, taking the risks but also the rewards. All electronic advertising will be potentially addressable, but brands will be re-assessing the value of what they currently call ‘wastage’.”
Tess Alps, Thinkbox

“As we all know, the world is shifting from B2C to C2C. Consumers seek out each other's opinons and experiences of brands and it takes just a few minutes on the internet.  Products and services will have to live up to expectations. Make a promise in advertising and you absolutely have to deliver on it, ensuring our advertising messages mirror the customer experience.  Looking forward, touch points will continue to be scattered far and wide with greater 'shared ownership' of brands.  Combined with the wealth of consumer data via blogs and social media, the winners will be the marketers with the talent to sort the noise from the information and the ability to lead in this environment, rather than be led by it.`’
Fiona McAnena, BUPA
 
 “Most of the key principles that underpin marketing (know what your customer wants, know what your business is capable of and match the two for a profit) are going to remain the same. What is changing is the amount of data that a company has about its customers (think of your website and any data on customer experience as a large research lab) - and also the speed with which some elements of the media/communications environment are changing. I have heard a lot about "digital" but I think the reason why the web is important and difficult is because it is a sales channel and a communications channel and an environment where the public congregates - part shop, part newspaper, part public forum - and it is the combination of the three that means marketers have to learn and adapt to a new space.”
Alex Batchelor, The Marketing Society’s chairman