As the year comes to a close and 2023 looms on the horizon, it’s time to pause and look back at the successes of a year that wasn’t necessarily predicted to end as well as it has.
Mediaweek spoke to Liana Dubois (chief marketing officer, Nine Entertainment), Bettina Brown (director – consumer marketing, News Corp), and Joe Frazer, (managing partner and head of growth, Half Dome) to get their thoughts on the year that was, and what comes next.
What have your key highlights of 2022 been?
Dubois: “The single greatest highlight of 2022 has been to witness most of the globe, our country and our beloved industry come back to life. People, behaviours, ways of working and frankly ‘all the things’ look a bit different which can be challenging and yet there is a beautiful wonder in everyone discovering new life.
“In September, we transparently shared our company purpose and how it would hold us to account on the decisions we make and the company we keep.
“We shape culture by sparking conversations, informing and entertaining our communities. We bring people together by celebrating the big occasions and connecting the everyday moments. Australia belongs here. It’s our north star and a lighthouse guiding us to frame every decision we make.
“Our industry is creative, innovative and curious. I can’t wait to see where we go next, mainly because it won’t be where we’ve been. That’s exciting. We won’t pull it apart and put it all back together the way it was. No matter how much some will hope we do. It will change. Long may it change. We will do things in ways we haven’t always. Huzzah!
“As an industry we are standing on the edge of a new era of greatest, Nine’s hand is out to anyone keen to do ‘new’ together.”
Brown: “Hitting the one million subscriber mark was definitely the highlight for us. It’s been a long time coming – we put up our first paywalls in 2011 with The Australian, and then progressively more paywalls over time on the metros. Once we understood that people were willing to pay for that trusted content within those trusted brand environments, it really changed our whole business.
“Five years ago, we doubled down to hit that million subscriber mark. When we got there this year, it was just really exciting – there have been different phases of growth within that ride to a million, but it was definitely a highlight for all of us.”
Frazer: “Getting back into the office consistently and welcoming the return of in-person events has been a massive boost to morale for the team and our clients, and it is something we are not taking for granted. We had people who had started through lockdowns of 2020/21 and had been working – and in some cases leading – client relationships for upwards of 18 months, and had never put physical faces to names. We have collectively moved past this time in the industry without fully appreciating the toll it took on individuals, and without doubt, overcoming this was the standout highlight for 2022.
“Outside of that, on a professional level, there have been some really interesting market conditions that have been exciting to support clients in navigating;
“Big tech is feeling the squeeze of Apple’s war on privacy or, more accurately, Apple’s land grab for advertising money – this has reshaped performance budgets on the back of ailing returns in historically strong channels – e.g. Facebook.
“2021 saw SVOD become AVOD as market pressure on streaming giants to build user numbers and revenue post-COVID intensified.
“Historical concepts of buying high quality and highly impactful media channels over raw reach numbers got a major rebrand to “Attention planning”, and the industry piled in.
“Measurement continued to be a hot topic as ongoing changes in privacy and cookie-related capabilities forced clients to rethink the way they measured success today and into the future.
“Internally, Half Dome saw major client wins in the Petspiration Group, Ego Pharmaceuticals, GMHBA, as well as a raft of others, whilst continuing to retain all key clients. This mirrored broader industry trends of clients seeking out agencies focussing on service, senior talent, and lean-in support through complex market changes over expensive and inflexible proprietary technology.”
How much of an impact has economic uncertainty had on marketing this year?
Dubois: “Marketing is a highly scrutinized science and can sometimes be a downplayed craft. Economic uncertainty often disrupts marketing strategy and operational plans in organisations that see it as a cost centre rather than what it is, a lever for growth. Nine has and always will believe in marketing lead growth.
“Marketers by nature look to the future, we’re growth focused, so rather than look back and comment on the impact of uncertainty on 2022 let’s talk about what economic uncertainty should not impact in 2023. Marketing.
“Consumers will continue to consume and while they will be more selective in who and what they consume due to a range of factors they will make choices and they will spend on something.
“Most good marketers are part of the 2am club, waking up at 2am thinking about future growth (I feel you friends). Consumers will fill their days and empty their wallets with something, the question is will it be us or our competition?
“Marketing exists to promote growth in business by leveraging all of the organisation’s USP to drive consumer demand.
“So for Nine, our consumers will continue to look to us to spark conversations by challenging perspectives, educating, informing and entertaining them. Bringing them together in the big moments.
“We will continue to invest through the head winds because there is nothing more certain than media consumption continuing and Nine needing to be ever present in that consumer choice.
“As big, sturdy and long standing as we are, we do not have a wrist band to an exclusive party. We’re in this dog fight with the rest of consumer demand for attention, share of time spent and share of wallet.”
Brown: “Our consumers and our subscribers are feeling the heat of that economic uncertainty, and we’re predicting that that pressure is going to increase in 2023 – particularly early in 2023.
“Our brands and our content have got a role to play in helping navigate that world for our consumers and subscribers. We’ve got whole cohorts of young Australians that have never felt the pressure of multiple consecutive rate rises, etc, so we’ve changed our tact in our content delivery, the type of content that we’re delivering, and the tone of our campaign.
“Recently we launched a campaign with our metro mastheads that has a tagline of ‘Get A Read On Today’, really leaning into helping Australians navigate their lives in a world of economic uncertainty. It talks to the depth and breadth of that content proposition, and what content we have there to help them navigate this new world. We’ve worked really closely with our newsrooms to ensure that we’re producing great content to help our readers and our subscribers.”
Frazer: “If there were a theme to sum up 2022, it would be resilience.”
“Consumers were resilient in the face of COVID-induced inflation, the war in Ukraine, and divisive election campaigns. The housing market was resilient in the face of rising interest rates. Companies were resilient in their ability to emerge from such a strange two years filled with uncertainty, and commit to growth in a time of relative consistency.
“It is only now at Half Dome, that we are really seeing the economic uncertainty start to play into marketers’ minds as they look to plan into 2023 and beyond. The world is tipping towards a period of recession at best, and depression at worst, and whilst as an industry we have piled into the concept of spending your way through these times at all costs – how else are you meant to rebound at the end of it all? The reality that CFOs and CEOs are now facing is that savings will need to be found, and significant marketing expenses may need to be part of that to remain viable.
“For many businesses, the conversation isn’t ‘Are we reducing investment in 2023?’ It’s ‘How are we reducing it?’ And that is one of the most important discussions happening.”
What are your thoughts on the current state of the industry?
Dubois: “We are an industry in transition. We, like all others, are finding our new place in the world. Our creativity, ability to innovate, influence, adapt and create impact will serve us well into the future.
“We have a far greater capacity for collaboration as an industry. To truly effect change.
“The current rise of competition around important environmental and social impacts and as an example the many disparate carbon calculators or social impact metrics are doing a disservice to the importance of effecting change. It’s also doing a disservice to our industry.
“We have the ability to influence at scale and collaboration is the only way to create a positive impact for people & the planet. So for anyone serious about effecting change, we’re with you.”
Brown: “It’s an exciting time to be in publishing content creation, that’s for sure! The industry is changing at pace, and I think it’s going to continue to do that. Consumers are consuming more content on more platforms, in multiple formats on a daily basis.
“The trick for us is really about talent acquisition and retention – I think that’s remaining tricky for all of us. We need more young and exciting talent entering the media, marketing, and publishing industries. We need to create pathways and career opportunities for that talent coming through.
“We’re trying to orientate our newsrooms towards growth audiences, content verticals, and formats to manage the needs of our emerging audiences, and also to satiate the needs of our traditional audiences. Keeping up to speed with the pace of change is the challenge, and making sure that we’re creating new pathways and finding talent to come into our industry.”
Frazer: “The industry is going through a very interesting period that will see significant change. The talent wars of 2019-2022 are largely starting to be overcome, with some agencies even going as far as reducing headcount in anticipation of the coming year. Indies continue to grow in number, power, and relevance.
“The holding groups aren’t being left behind – they are innovating quickly in product and positioning with a desire to recapture many clients who have opted away from the proprietary tech route.
“Big tech is a big part of the industry, and things are moving at light speed.
“Ultimately, against this backdrop, the industry is in a strong position. Working conditions have never been better. Our ability to bring new people in, train them, support them and foster environments that fit the modern world is night and day to three years ago. Adding to this, clients are along for the ride, and most are looking for partnerships focused on value generation, not a free fall on rates that put everyone under pressure.
“Whilst there will undoubtedly be macro factors putting pressure on all industries in 2023, marketing is a discipline that is proven to be critical in these times, and I am confident that the industry is well-positioned to navigate through a period of downturn.”
Looking ahead, what do you think the key trends of 2023 are?
Dubois: “I’d like to think what I say next is less about being a trend and more about just being about good Marketing strategy. When I wake up at 2am, it’s because I’m questioning what really makes a difference. What moves the needle? How do I ensure Nine’s house of brands mean as much in Australian culture for the next 100 years as they have in the past 100. That takes a data and insight driven marketing strategy underpinned by brand, creativity and innovation. I’m also a fan of the BIG IDEA…”
Brown: “We talk a lot about new trumping loyalty, and as we exit Covid consumers are more inclined to trial. That’s an interesting one for us, they’re becoming harder to retain. Is there going to be a meaningful erosion of customer loyalty? What does that mean for how we interact with our consumers?
“In this new world, I think we need to be clear about the role our customers want us to play in their lives, and the importance of our intelligence and insight to help us navigate that is going to be vital.
“Our job is to get our stories to our readers where they are, when they want our content, and in the format that they want it in. Constantly evolving how we do that is definitely going to be very important for us.”
Frazer: “It’s no fun just calling out the same three trends as every commentator, so here are three roughies for 2023;
Programmatic will die
“Why? How? Is it the promised land? Noting that most of the growth in programmatic continues to be pegged to growth in emerging, or recently mature, formats such as OOH, CTV, and audio.
“All it would take is for the big three to four publishers in Australia in one channel – none of which have a particularly vested interest in perpetuating programmatic buying in its current form giving up 10-25% of budgets to a big tech middleman – to pull their inventory out of programmatic pools, and suddenly direct buying would be back on the agenda. Could this be done by having locally developed tech built by the publishers themselves? Yes. Is it critical in influencing this change? No.”
Twitter will succeed
“The backdrop to this discussion needs to be an acceptance that the old way of doing things – the way every other social media platform does things – does not work particularly well.
“Misinformation exists in droves, there are echo chambers, and it isn’t scalable nor effective in the medium term to have armies of content moderation teams manually reviewing things in an ongoing fashion. Elon Musk will likely not make a tonne of friends in the industry in the short term, but I’d hope to see him tackle the challenge head on. He has a pretty good track record of generating outcomes in the face of low odds.”
Individuals will rethink working from home.
“I like to compare working in the office to going to the gym. When given the chance, it’s easy to roll over and take the extra 30 minutes of sleep or even rationally decide not to go as part of a routine. That said, the sum of these small decisions adds up over time, and with longevity in data, you can clearly point out the difference in mental and physical wellbeing of those who consistently decide to sleep in.
“It isn’t a one size fits all solution, but as we generate more data over an extended period of time, it will be interesting to see if consistently going to the office shows similar outcomes.”
See Also: Year In Review: Industry leaders on what 2022 has looked like in sales
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Top Image: Liana Dubois, Bettina Brown, Joe Frazer