If you ask me to predict the future, I can guarantee you I’ll get it wrong. I’d simply join the thousands of well-paid futurologists, system thinkers and other assorted marketing experts who also get it wrong. I’ll just leave right here Al Ries’ 2007 prediction that the iPhone would fail, and the New York Times’ infamous pan of Beyoncé's solo debut.
Over two hundred years ago, the French critic, journalist, and novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Kar, someone much wiser than me said, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” or, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” So instead of focusing on what I think will change come January 1, I’d like to do the opposite and focus on “la même,” or what I think will stay the same in 2024.
My first “la même”: Storytelling is a constant.
Any good marketer knows that storytelling makes what we do relevant. Humans are obsessed by the nature of stories. When we go back and look at early humans, we’re fascinated by cave drawings because they are evidence of preverbal storytelling. We’ve used storytelling to understand science and the world around us for millennia. In antiquity we told stories beneath the stars in the sky by connecting them into shapes; these stories are still told today.
Storytelling is a major part of what advertising is. To paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, the medium isn’t the message but rather is dictated by the popularity of the day; from radio in the early 20th century to streaming services today, it’s storytelling that keeps the audience’s attention.
My second “la même”: Emotions will continue to rule.
Emotions are how we as humans relate to each other. It’s also how we make the majority of our decisions, including what we buy, which makes emotions and its power to persuade the strongest tool we have in our marketing toolbox.
Understanding emotion and how to properly harness it for your brand is so vital, not just in terms of the emotion that your advertising might stimulate, but also the emotional priming that premium content delivers. Research we’ve conducted at NBCUniversal has demonstrated that the context in which advertising is seen has a direct impact on its effectiveness, impacting both attention and emotional engagement. Context matters.
My final “la même”: Cultural curiosity creates common ground.
As a kid growing up in London, I would bring traditional Nigerian food to school for lunch, much to the bewilderment of my classmates who had yet to discover the culinary delights of jollof rice and moi moi. These days, people have way more cultural curiosity around others who are different, and they’re turning to TV and films to explore and satisfy that curiosity.
While it’s notoriously difficult trying to find insights that are relevant around the world, it’s in the key differentiators—not in the lowest common denominators—where we find universality, foster connection and create common ground. The people on screen may not look like us or even have the same beliefs, but we recognize their pain and joy through storytelling, which reminds us of the fact that we’re more alike than different.
According to recent studies conducted by NBCUniversal and Magna, 67% of people believe brands should play a role in satisfying their cultural curiosity. That’s not surprising since brands now find themselves in a place where the expectations consumers have of them are very high, even as trust in institutions continues to falter.
Not only is bringing people together the right thing to do, but research is finding that 93% of people have a desire to connect with other cultures, and 67% believe brands should play a role in satisfying that cultural curiosity. All this means that fostering empathy is smart business.
So, as we approach the new year, remember these three things:
- Any time spent becoming a better storyteller is not time wasted.
- Brands should lean into the power of emotion.
- The one-two punch of cultural curiosity and micro storytelling create macro appeal.
These are skills—better yet constants—that will never go away because they are based on the very things that make us human. And that’s a prediction I’m willing to bet I’ve gotten right.
