The end of the year is always a time for introspection, but it's also the chance for a fresh start. So we asked media, marketers and agency executives about the most pressing priorities for 2022—not just for their companies, but the industry as a whole. Their responses indicate that there are many issues still to be fully resolved, understood and tackled in the coming year, including talent retention, new approaches to diversity and inclusion and figuring out just how to navigate the metaverse. Here's what they had to say.

David Cohen, CEO of IAB

"My resolution is to make sure that we as an industry talk less and do more. I think that we have many planes that we need to land, whether that is in measurement, whether that is in national privacy reform, whether that is in fighting fraud, whether that is in us following where consumers are taking us.” 

Jeri Devard, founder of the Black Executive CMO Alliance

"Keep the pedal to the metal on increasing the representation of Black leadership. If you have established goals, make sure that the consequences for non-achievement are consequential. Build out plans for brand prominence in the metaverse."

Sandie Hawkins, general manager of North America global business solutions, TikTok

"The New Year brings even more opportunity for TikTok to continue challenging marketers and advertisers to think differently. The industry is evolving away from outdated data-driven approaches, and is learning how to harness creativity and authenticity to connect with the modern consumer. I'm looking forward to seeing the incredible business results that are driven from real, meaningful interactions between brands and their communities in 2022."

Kate Higgins, chief growth officer, Erich and Kallman

"What can we do to be better as an industry in 2022? Keep bringing more diversity into advertising. Be more inclusive to the minority groups that are already here by making sure they have equity and feel like they actually belong. I’d like to ask every single person in advertising to take an oath to be more inclusive. Often, we think it’s up to our bosses and agency leaders to fix big problems. Nope. Being more inclusive doesn’t have to mean rolling out an initiative that will cost lots of money and come from the C-suite. All of us as individuals can do something every day to help make a difference. Back in October for National Coming Out Day, I shared three easy, yet very important, actions that every straight person could take be more inclusive for their LGBTQ coworkers. Let’s build on that for the larger DE&I effort. Find one or two things you can do and start. Don’t get hung up worrying about being perfect, just do something. Every day. And if you are lucky enough to be at a company that is willing to do more, I have a suggestion. Start playing the long game and introduce this wonderful world of creativity to a whole audience that has historically not been included or introduced to advertising. Find a local high school or community college that is full of BIPOCs and start a relationship with them. Go meet them and introduce them to advertising, music, film, production, project management, whatever discipline you’re passionate about. The more we can include talent with different experiences and stories, the more our industry will flourish. I can’t wait to see how we do."

Sarah Iooss, head of sales for the Americas, Twitch

"It's time to embrace the open-mindedness of Gen Z. They've grown up completely online, are mission-driven, and build powerful digital communities. To authentically connect with this group, we need to be bolder and clearer in how we show up to support their values. That means taking an intersectional approach to diversity and inclusion, not backing away from nuanced approaches to self-expression, and even adopting a more liberal approach to the content that we deem appropriate. The more rigid practices of the past won't work for younger audiences, and I'm looking forward to stretching our industry standards and perspectives for more genuine engagement."

Jan Jacobs, co-founder and creative chairman, Johannes Leonardo

"In the past several months we have seen a marked shift in connectivity. The way people are socializing, engaging and behaving is more powerful than ever before, and experimentation is rapidly evolving and quite exciting. Throw in new assets like crypto, NFTs and the coming metaverse and the opportunities are endless. It feels a bit like our industry is not taking full advantage of this digital expansion. I would like to see us not only mirroring the experimentation that we are seeing, but leading the charge as creative people. The moment has never been more appropriate for agencies. At JL, that will certainly be a big focus of ours in 2022."

Soyoung Kang, chief marketing officer, eos

"This past year taught me the value of being brave. That taking risks in marketing—like in eos’s 'Cooch Blessings' campaign—can yield the most breakthrough moments as a brand. And that being vulnerable in sharing your own stories, like the challenges of my career journey as an AAPI immigrant woman, is not only personally cathartic but also creates a more open space for others. So my New Year’s resolution is to find space for more bravery: more leaning into the thrill of uncharted territory in storytelling; more leadership as defined by imperfect humanity, not in spite of it; more bold choices in work and in life. Bring it on, 2022!"

Alia Kemet, VP, creative and digital marketing, McCormick & Co.

"Brand loyalty sits at the intersection of cultural relevance and data intelligence. Understanding both nuanced and broader cultural cues, while leveraging first party data, social media, search and consumer insights, allows marketers to make significant business impact by forecasting solutions for problems consumers have yet to discover.  One of my 2022 resolutions is to use this point of intersection to transform processes and pipelines, while reimagining and enabling how we innovate, to create and deliver products and services people didn’t even know they needed but will love abundantly. If 2021 has taught us anything, it is that all plans need to be built with flexibility. The brands who were most successful understood this. They turned out of stocks into innovation opportunities, potential negative news into overcoming adversity, and budget cuts into scrappy winning moments. Don’t expect 2022 to be any more predictable than the last two years; instead lean into the unexpected because the new growth mindset is achieved through the ability to navigate and triumph in ambiguity. Sometimes the most valuable marketing gems are born from pressure and heat. I resolve to stay ready."

Rob Lenois, chief creative officer, VaynerMedia

"Stop blaming clients for bad work. Everyone in the business always says, 'clients get the work they deserve.' I call bullshit on that. It’s 100% on us, as industry leaders, to show clients why our ideas are impactful, how they can lean into real attention, how they are solving the brands’ business needs, how the creative itself makes consumers stop and meet them where they are, and why the idea is right for right now. Second, have the humility to let ideas come from anywhere. We are in the business of ideas and I believe good ideas can, and should, come from anywhere…account, strategy, media, clients…there are no boundaries. I believe when we have the humility to let those ideas in, talk about them and build upon them, that’s when the magic happens. Let’s get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Advertising, at its best, isn’t a one man/woman show. Together, I believe, we are better."

Dan Lucey, chief creative officer, Havas

"Resolution No. 1: 2022 will be the year of the employee. Agencies must continue to inspire our workforce—and bring back the fun we lost the past two years. As an industry, we need to embrace the new normal, create a culture that isn't location-based, and provide a physical space where employees want to be. Employers must also share employees' values and offer opportunities to work on meaningful projects that will make a lasting impact on the world. Resolution No. 2: Figure out the metaverse. Every agency deck in 2022 will have a metaverse activation in it. Just like every deck in 2021 had an NFT idea in it, every deck in 2020 had a Netflix series in it and every deck in 2019 had an Airbnb partnership in it. The metaverse is clearly the next boom, but before pushing metaverse activations on our clients, we must take the time to figure out what the hell it actually is—and how it may be useful to our client’s businesses."

JP Maheu, Twitter VP of U.S. client solutions

"Resolution No. 1: I resolve to meaningfully contribute to the industrywide effort to increase the volume of content developed by minority-led and minority-owned publishers. The consumers we all want to reach as marketers and advertisers consist of people with a range of lived experiences and a range of cultures. By increasing the volume of content developed by historically excluded communities, we can help make sure our work better reflects and represents the diversity of our consumer base. Resolution No. 2: I resolve to help the marketing community understand that there are a wide range of communities, interests and passions—gaming, personal finance, music, movies, astrology, makeup, skincare—that people connect to every day on Twitter. We'll do a better job of making sure marketers see this and see opportunity for themselves in it."

Andréa Mallard, chief marketing officer, Pinterest

"There are two things that are top of mind for me. First, inclusion: Advertising is made less impactful because of the relative absence of diverse creative voices. But there are leaders out there working to nurture young, underrepresented talent and helping them get into the industry. So hire agencies like OneBlockVillage in Detroit who are pulling top creatives from a local arts high school (and—I can personally vouch—delivering incredible work and thinking) while also giving these amazing students a taste of (and hopefully passion for) careers in advertising. Second, the metaverse: No marketing leader should sleep on this opportunity. Brands are already being built on the metaverse and innovation is accelerating. My newly licensed teenage son test drove a Hyundai in Roblox. My teenage daughter discovered Marc Jacobs for the first time in Animal Crossing. This is a more participatory rather than passive way to engage with brands and there’s real opportunity here for more creative, innovative, and expansive thinking."

Doug Martin, incoming chief brand officer at General Mills

"I would like to see a focus on employee development. It has been a tough time everywhere between the demands of the pandemic and working from home. It’s been hard to bring people together to socialize and get some of what I would call the softer benefits of being in a group. So I would love to see a focus next year on developing the employee community and also, a focus on training and development. Making sure that the contract that we have—you’re giving us your time, we’re giving you a paycheck—is so much more than just that. I want people to feel like they are growing and learning by being here. That's the environment I'm trying to create."

Kirk McDonald, CEO, North America, GroupM

“There's a bunch of stuff that I wish for the industry to let go of. It's our dead weight and legacy thinking. Some of it is our partisan views and some of it is parts of our operating models that no longer hold any role in the future." “In terms of healthier living … I feel like the workforce of today and the future want to be involved in more purposeful, engaged work … The renaissance rebirth of the advertising industry, the agency world and the media partners world is around growth, that is, purpose-driven growth that feels like it's meaningful material against important causes.”

Suzanne Powers, president, McCann Worldgroup and global chief strategy officer

"First, wellness is everything. This is a sweeping sentiment, of course, for our people and how we also set up the conditions so that they can thrive, but also for our clients and our own business.  The wellness of people, families, communities, companies and the world at large are completely interdependent on one another. Our own proprietary Truth Central data confirms this and has discovered that brands, over government, have more power to make positive change. The power is in our hands as brand stewards and creators. Yet we can't do any of that if your talent is not in mental, physical, functional and emotional states where they and creativity can thrive. It is up to us as an industry to crack that challenge together and I resolve to spend energy on exactly that. Second, human ingenuity drives renewal. We've learned so much over the pandemic, from denial, to fear, to acceptance, and even innovation, the power of humans to not only ‘ride it out’, but, in fact flourish, invent, create, has been nothing short of inspirational. In our own company, we’ve invented so many ways to problem solve together across geographies, capabilities, and seemingly disparate agencies, as conditions change with the blink of an eye. Why? Because as our research reveals there’s a strong desire globally for people to create real change from what they have learned, and what they continue to experience every day as the uncertainty carries on."

Ashish Prashar, global chief marketing officer at R/GA 

"As leaders, we must capitalize on what we can control, helping people when it matters. Our industry can harness to help facilitate positive change. I want to help more marketing leaders use their resources to effect social change. We can begin with bringing in people who have been systematically harmed to impact issues oriented around justice or equity at hand. We need to start creating a powerful new narrative, and it's our responsibility as a creative industry to question what ideas and values we are disseminating. As advertising and marketing leaders, we need to start playing an active role in the right side of history by doing right by society, right by people. Building a more human workforce means accepting individuals for who they are. I believe this is especially needed for formerly incarcerated individuals; our industry needs to hire them more proactively. If Black lives matter, we can't work for the prison industrial complex or the police. I hope our industry takes a stand to support our colleagues, friends, and neighbors."

David Sandstrom, chief marketing officer, Klarna

"In the past, marketers have tried to create interest around something that is generally not interesting. With the rise in live-shopping and social commerce, there is an opportunity for influencers and content creators to play a larger role in becoming advocates for retailers, and building trust and excitement with audiences. Looking forward, brands should focus on creating customer experiences that stand out, leaning into the creator economy for more authentic and meaningful engagement with the communities they are trying to reach. Consumers today are bombarded with content everywhere, but it rarely benefits them. One thing I’d like to see from the industry is a move towards creating content that is more valuable, educational, and entertaining to the modern shopper. By offering more personalized experiences based on shopping preferences and behaviors, brands that do this right can build stronger customer engagement and long-term loyalty."

Pearl Servat, head of brand marketing and demand Gen, Visible

"My resolution is for marketers to ensure that your baseline infrastructure is in place first and foremost. If you have the right infrastructure in place, combined with research, then you can drive with scale and efficiency. In other words: if the ‘under-the-hood’ mechanics aren’t set up properly, you’re going to waste dollars elsewhere. Here's an example: if one of your marketing levers, like CRM, isn’t set up efficiently, you’re going to burn more dollars elsewhere to over-compensate. Beyond that, a personal resolution is to remain curious. The marketing industry is changing rapidly and quickly, and it’s imperative to stay immersed in ever-changing best practices, tactics, and ways we can reach our consumers. So stay curious, ask questions, and remain open minded."

Ashish Toshniwal, CEO/Founder at YML

"Recognizing that sharing time and talent is the best way to help causes and communities we care about, agencies should commit to providing cause related or pro-bono work for organizations or projects in need of support. Among the most impactful projects we had this year was a pro-bono, social justice focused effort for the Minnesota Legal Services Clinic by helping to revamp LawHelpMN.org old website and app, so it stopped having trouble matching Minnesotans' needs with available legal resources. This project made a tangible impact for our Minnesota partner, and noticeably re-energized our team, proving that we must continue to be a force for good by giving back. Our industry must remain committed to dedicating the skills and time that foster the growth of communities, which in turn fuels innovation and loyalty. "

Nathaniel Whittemore, head of marketing at FTX

"It's very exciting to see advertisers dip their toes into exploring the metaverse. Two humble recommendations: don't get caught in the trap of exporting old thinking to these new worlds. No one has yet defined what it means to market in the metaverse. It might be that the right thing to do isn't to market at all, but just to hang out with all your new friends for a bit. Second, don't forget that the metaverse isn't a foregone conclusion. It's going to be competing with other types of entertainment and experiences. If your brand is excited about it, lean in to making it fun and coming to life in a way that lives up to that fun potential. More than almost any channel marketers have yet had access to, the metaverse is for building."

Photos courtesy executives; Sandie Hawkins photo by Carlos “Kaito” Araujo