How will technology affect media in the next year?
Technology creates media. From the comic book, we read to the automated customer service rep we speak to. The last few years have all been about technology adoption, which will continue in 2022. With AI, machine learning and automation becoming more mainstream, social, e-commerce, content creation, behaviour analytics and more, we can expect an evolution of the existing tools and an evolution of new tools, which will be more sophisticated and better integrated. Media is all about driving efficiency and effectiveness, where technology will play the role of an enabler.
What trends do you see emerging in the industry?
2022 will see four big trends: social commerce, creator economy, linear consumer journey and sustainability. E-commerce will go headless, where consumers will be able to experience and buy products with just a click. Marketers will be compelled to explore ad metrics, which will blur the lines between short- and long-term advertising and communication channels. CMS platforms will evolve to allow brands not just to manage the flow of content but also to monetise the same.
How is the role of your agency changing?
As Radix we take pride in being partners for our brands. Our journey is invested in our clients’ growth, and we understand that with every disruption they are facing, we are presented with an opportunity to learn, explore and recommend the most effective and efficient solution. Our team has grown by 40 per cent in the last year, with team members not confined to one country or office. We have team members remotely working across the region: Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi, Turkey, Oman, Bahrain, India and more. The team comprises of Gen X, Y and Z, ensuring we understand the consumers and marketers at all levels. We will continue with this approach in 2022, ensuring we provide our partners with an inclusive solution for all their needs.
What will be the biggest challenges in the year ahead, and how will you tackle them?
While our clients are facing disruption in their business (supply chain, linear consumer journey, etc.) we are facing challenges in the evaluation and adoption of new media and tech platforms. The learnings and results are not sufficient to make quantitative decisions, which leads to ‘Play, Learn and Adapt’. Keeping the core of marketing and communication at heart, we are working on developing a framework with our clients where risks and benefits are equally shared.
