Ten things we will need to know in 2013

I’ve just read a transcript of Andrew Marsden’s keynote speech at The Marketing Forum, and found his insights into what we will need to know in our business by 2013 very interesting.

Although the fundamental role of marketing will remain the same, the context in which we conduct it is going to be very different.

The question of what we will need to know in the future has often made me think, so I thought I would share his thoughts on this subject to.

Here is the summary:

1. Marketing will now need to think global and act within a global context in all that we do. We will have to deal with the changing economic relationships between east and west.
2. The significant movement into larger and larger cities by huge numbers of the global population will create market opportunities on an urban scale. Metro marketing techniques and services will flourish.
3. The rich elderly will need new products and services which reflect their differing life-stage ambitions.
4. Planet Health, both ours and the environment will be a permanent agenda item on the marketing list.
5. The war for resources will fundamentally change how we design, transport and cost our products. The era of cheap food and energy is over.
6. Marketers are the natural management discipline to assume a broader role in the emerging requirement for transparent company models.
7. As Marketers we will have to engaging, consult and interact with both staff and customers who are of a different generation type in new ways.
8. It is also time for marketers to get real about the so called ‘new media’. To evaluate it based on actual performance and not some naive generational ambition.
9. A major element of branded communications in 2013 will be about the 3Cs - Creation, content and co-operation. We will have to develop new IP models to deal with this emerging reality. We must strive to coordinate the image of the transparent company in the world, and we must embrace the leadership and coordination of the networks of stakeholders involved.
10. We will need new agency models to operate successfully in this world. Many of the future assets of companies will be intangible, and marketers will increasingly become managers of intellectual property.

In short marketing in 2013 will be just as demanding and rewarding a profession as ever.

You can read the full transcript, which includes fascinating statistics and detail here.