The future of the ad industry in 2022

Eleven years from now the world will be a different place. China will hit two billion people; the war of the world could indeed be the fight for drinking water; and, perhaps Generation Y would have lived through not two, but possibly four recessions. As for the advertising industry? The prudence demonstrated by consumers will mean that shareholders will be demanding a greater return on their investments and CEOs, in turn, will be relying on strong, robust agencies that can not only manage their brand identity but also the true value of the brand (market capitalization). Right now, CEO’s concentrate on business profitability, market capitalization and ROI. They are critiqued by the market where analysts - with a buy, sell or hold call - can keep, lose or put in question the CEO’s contribution and job. In today’s economic scenario, brand and intangible values cannot be left uncounted as they bear upon the very destiny and survival of a firm. I would challenge that many CEOs do not appreciate the financial significance of getting branding right and I hope by 2022 most will.Brands create choice, build trust and loyalty, drive a premium price and provide an important source of competitive advantage and the resultant share price. Why is work that clearly has little brand impact allowed to consume huge swaths of company budgets, when it’s only pressuring short term results? Who is accountable for the poor and ineffective allocation of current marketing spending?In 2022 would a CEO who has not managed their companies’ brands be held accountable? Perhaps within the next 11 years shareholders may stir a class action against a CEO who hasn’t been spending the company marketing budgets in the right way.Now, there’s a marketing future to think about. John Zeigler is chairman and CEO DDB Group Asia Pacific, Japan & India.