The Metaverse(s)

I start with this because of a piece of news that came up on my feed recently: the European Union spent nearly $400k on building a metaverse and only 6 people showed up to the opening gala. Clearly, there´s a lack of education on the topic. My wish for 2023 is that people take the small steps in exploring this new world (literally) rather than running head first into it. Dig into AR to start with. Build a TikTok filter or a Snap lens. And if you’re already doing that, then think about how you can bring AR to other channels?

Gaming

Now, this is the real opportunity for me. Think of gaming as a channel which allows you to reach audiences, just like social media (or TV and magazines before them). MEA reached 488M gamers in 2022, which is more than Europe or North America by the way. It’s practically untapped and engagement rates are reminiscent of Instagram’s golden era. And you don’t need to break the piggy bank, there are options for all kind of budgets. Get on the train now, before it’s too late.

CX and Web 3.0

For me, the big idea here is that having a holistic, multi-channel approach, performs better than a fragmented strategy. Not breaking news, but the recent erosion of purchasing power means buyers will now think twice – and compare, research more than before. Having all your customer touchpoints aligned and linked is the key to unlock quality leads. How can you get your brand into eCommerce? How can you use loyalty data to establish customer profiles that you can then target on social media? How can you personalize the experience to move prospects down the funnel? 

Artificial Intelligence

My feed is full of chatGP, Dall-E and Midjourney posts. The truth is AI and automation aren’t new. Lexus used IBM’s Watson to write a 60 sec film for the new ES in 2018. It’s interesting but it isn’t going to replace a creative team tomorrow. In fact, my wish for 2023 is that creatives use it to get disruptive ideas or to sell concepts. It’s a good way to learn how the machine operates. The biggest challenge with AI is bias and it is very hard to remain neutral when we, humans, are providing the input.

Content

The influencer market seems to have reached saturation (finally). I wish that in the coming year, it will stabilize and we’ll see less influencers, but better content. The rise of platforms like BeReal is a proof that such evolution is needed: viewers demand authenticity, especially in a world unfortunately becoming more polarized. There’s also a renaissance of audio, which I find particularly interesting. I can’t wait to explore the richness of Discord or Clubhouse communities, for instance.