Mark Titus, AVP Marketing, Nippon Paint India (Decorative) shares his take on the marketing trends that will rule in 2023

Marketing events have made a huge comeback in 2022, especially after their long hiatus during the pandemic. Brands and event agencies are coming up with bigger and better events and on-ground activities to engage with their consumers and other stakeholders. Interest in virtual engagements, especially virtual events have seen a steep decline - decrease in Metaverse’ popularity is testimony to that. These experiential events are going deeper and wider. In 2023, it is advisable for brands to engage and connect with consumers at a micro-level and reach the grassroots, in terms of geography and demography.

Here are some other marketing trends that will rule 2023.

Purpose-driven marketing

The economic and social unrest caused by the pandemic has thrown a spotlight on how important it is to not just sell to consumers but also to care for the well-being of consumers and other stakeholders like employees, and business partners. This will continue to be at the heart of many marketing initiatives in the coming year. A brand’s marketing initiatives should be aligned with the causes that the consumers care about – health, eco-friendliness, climate change, and so on.

Focus on Gen-Z & millennial consumers

Resonating with woke consumers that are GenZ and millennials should be high on every marketer’s priority list. While Gen-Z values practicality and values of a product/service, millennials place high importance on convenience and customer experience. For both generations though, it is important that the brand’s values align with theirs. An eco-conscious consumer will choose a brand that provides eco-friendly products/actively engages in eco-friendly initiatives, even if their products cost a little more than their competition.

Sports marketing

Many brands have been successfully connecting with consumers by partnering with their favourite sports leagues/teams, as sponsors/functional partners. The steep rise in sponsorship value of major sports events and teams is a testament to the value and impact brands are seeing in such tie-ups. 

Brands can choose to partner with their all-time favourite sports leagues like IPL (cricket) and ISL (football) or even support upcoming sports like basketball, hockey, kabbadi and Kho Kho through events like Pro Kabaddi League, Hockey India League and TN Kho Kho Premier League. Regional/geo-specific event activation can have an even higher impact on brands that want to connect with their consumers at a grassroots level.

MarTech & Social commerce

In the last few years, we have seen the combined power of MarTech, SEO and Social commerce. With the rising popularity of Instagram, Instagram ads and Google searches will continue to be hugely relevant. Further, advanced MarTech helps in reaching the right TG and motivated buyers. Marketers should continue to leverage marketing technology to influence consumers to consider their brand and click on the ‘Buy’ button. MarTech is the right medium to reach tech-savvy millennials and Gen-Z who are more online than offline. This is a marketing spend that will give you measurable and high ROI.

This article was first originally published in exchange4media