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NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW), the challenger network built to transform marketing, today announced a meaningful expansion of its global footprint across MENA with three affiliate partnerships: public relations and marketing network Orient Planet Group, data-driven strategy consulting firm, Phronesis Group, and events and talent management firm FLC. Together, the affiliates scale Stagwell’s leading digital transformation, creative production and modern media services while expanding the roster of local and international talent available to Stagwell and its growing global client roster.

Each will collaborate with Stagwell’s flagship global media agency Assembly in MENA and existing regional affiliate partner Brand New Galaxy. Additionally, the new affiliates will benefit from best-in-class product solutions in the Stagwell Marketing Cloud, a suite of business transformation solutions for in-house marketing teams.

“Now in its second year, the Global Affiliate Program continues to allow Stagwell to chart agile global expansion and collaborate with regional experts to drive international value for brands. said Mark Penn, Chairman and CEO, Stagwell. “Our partners at Orient Planet Group are already deeply entrenched with teams across the network, and I’m excited to build on our new partnerships with Phronesis and FLC as we continue our mission to transform marketing.”

The new affiliates are leaders in creative production, digital media, and data-driven strategy consulting:

• Phronesis Group is a global strategy consulting firm which helps clients achieve global growth through more effective and efficient marketing communications executions. Focused on measurable client outcomes, Phronesis is headquartered in Chicago with offices in the UK, EU, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Indo-Pacific Region, where they serve a distinct portfolio of clients. These clients include BOD’s and CXO’s of Fortune 100 global corporations, sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms and ministries from emerging market countries.
• Orient Planet Group is one of the most rapidly growing public relations, marketing and communications consultancies in North Africa and the Middle East. Orient Planet’s expertise in creative communications coupled with contemporary thinking provides unparalleled marketing communications services to its clients across numerous sectors. Orient Planet Group recently extended its strategic partnership with Stagwell global communications firm Allison+Partners, scaling their combined expertise in the region.
• FLC is a leading Dubai-based production & model management agency that services clients across two key verticals – Print & Video Productions and Fashion Shows – while supporting casting via a range of local and international models, casts, photographers, and stylists.

“Phronesis is excited to be joining Stagwell through their affiliate partnership program. After an exhaustive review, we found that Stagwell possessed the extraordinary talent, services and will to challenge the traditional holding company status quo with an execution ecosystem that our clients expect,” said Jeffrey Hupe, Chief Executive Officer of Phronesis Group.  “Unlike other strategy consulting firms, we partner with our clients through the entire process from strategy to execution to help them realize growth outcomes that deliver business value.  Our highly disciplined delivery and services execution model is now aligned with a global, premier marketing services holding company that will finally meet client demands by truly integrating their arsenal of services.

“Orient Planet Group is well-entrenched in the Middle East and North Africa with in-depth understanding of the local landscape,” said Nidal Abou Zaki, Founder and Managing Director of Orient Planet Group. “As the regional affiliate of Stagwell and Allison+Partners and having maintained a strong network and long-standing partnerships over the years, we are encouraged to see more organizations engaging and connecting with their markets across a diverse population.”

To date, Stagwell’s Global Affiliate Program has added over 50 partners representing countries across Latin America, MENA, Asia-Pacific, and Eastern Europe. In addition to expansion via this program, Stagwell in January 2022 launched an international office in Singapore to accelerate its growth in APAC.

About Stagwell Inc.

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing.  Led by entrepreneurs, our 10,000+ specialists in 20+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

Contact: Beth Sidhu
beth.sidhu@stagwellglobal.com 
202-423-4414

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New York, New York – February 23, 2022 – Stagwell, the challenger network built to transform marketing, today announced an expansion of its global marketing services into Africa via new affiliate partnerships with three firms: Incubeta in South Africa, SBI Media in Nigeria, and Orient Planet Group, whose footprint spans North Africa, including Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco. As part of Stagwell’s Global Affiliate Program, these firms will collaborate with agencies across Stagwell’s network to scale omnichannel media, content, and production capabilities for leading global brands. 

“With the cementing of our partnerships with Incubeta, SBI, and Orient Planet Group, our Global Affiliate Program now empowers Stagwell to scale our modern marketing expertise across six continents, driving further value for our clients,” said Mark Penn, Chairman and CEO, Stagwell. “By 2025, two-thirds of African households are expected to have increased consumer power in the global economy. As a worldwide leader in culture-moving creativity and modern marketing services, Stagwell’s growth in the region will guide global brands to engage authentically with consumers across Africa.”

The new cohort of affiliates represent best-in-class digital media and global communications services:

• Incubeta is a digital-transformation focused network of experts in marketing and technology committed to driving business-wide growth for modern brands. Incubeta has steered digital growth for clients across multiple sectors, including retail, travel, finance FMCG, iGaming, entertainment, automotive, app development and more.
• Based in Lagos, Nigeria, SBI Media is an innovative full-service agency with a deep focus in media planning and buying. SBI Media’s capabilities span branding, strategy and planning, PR strategy formulation, media management and digital marketing. With SBI Media’s expertise, Stagwell will tap into a rapidly growing digital and traditional media environment with a hyper-localized approach.
• Orient Planet Group is one of the most rapidly growing public relations, marketing and communications consultancies in North Africa and the Middle East. Orient Planet’s expertise in creative communications coupled with contemporary thinking provides unparalleled marketing communications services to its clients across numerous sectors.

“Incubeta is a market-leading specialist that uses the power of digital to unlock and amplify business growth potential. We do this through bespoke, localized digital solutions, powered by global expertise,” said Roan Mackintosh. “Stagwell’s focus on digital-first marketing solutions is a strong complement to our expertise, and we’re excited to collaborate with its network to deliver and enable our client’s growth.”

“We are pleased to join Stagwell, the world’s challenger marketing network. Stagwell’s vision to transform marketing communications is not only in-sync with our DNA, it is at the core of what we stand for at SBI Media Group,” said Rotimi Bankole, Founder and CEO, SBI Media Group. “In 2013, we floated SBI Media Group, and the Nigerian media and marketing landscape has felt our impact. Our story, culture and impact have transformed the way agencies exist in the larger economy.”

 “Africa’s growing economies and the boom in digital technologies provide strong potentials for innovative communications to thrive in the region,” added Nidal Abou Zaki, Founder and Managing Director of Orient Planet Group. “Orient Planet Group is well-entrenched in the Middle East and North Africa with in-depth understanding of the local landscape. As the regional affiliate of Stagwell and Allison + Partners and having maintained a strong network and long-standing partnerships over the years, we are confident to see more organizations engaging and connecting with their markets across a diverse population.”

Stagwell’s focus will initially be in the North and South African markets, with continued engagement and collaboration in Central Africa, supporting the localized needs of consumers.

Stagwell’s Global Affiliate Program is an agile solution to global expansion, enabling Stagwell to partner with regional experts to drive added value for clients and scale marketing capabilities into new regions. To date, Stagwell has added over50 affiliates to its roster, representing countries across Latin America, MENA, Asia-Pacific, and Eastern Europe.

About Stagwell, Inc.:
Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing.  Led by entrepreneurs, our 10,000+ specialists in 20+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

CONTACT

hello@stagwellglobal.com

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Major M&A moves are underway in the gaming space. Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision and Sony’s of Bungie will have repercussions for how brands and advertisers approach the gaming industry, the most lucrative entertainment sector, set to grow from $173B in 2021 to $223B in 2022.  

 What are the implications of this consolidation for modern brands with stakes in gaming? Is more consolidation underway – and if so, what will the next generation of gaming companies look like? Looking ahead: should the consolidation wave change brands’ approaches to the bourgeoning metaverse? Collin Leirvik, SVP, Head of Gaming at Stagwell’s National Research Group, unpacks his point of view on the brand implications of the recent moves.

The TL;DR?

Streaming wars? More like gaming wars. Content is king and the platforms with the most enticing portfolio will win the market.

DTC distribution is not just for DTC brands. Cloud gaming is diversifying the strategies brands can use to get the right content in consumers’ hands.  

Metaverse on the mind? The capital “M’ is driving recent consolidation but the jury’s out on how deeply gaming brands will dig into Web 3. 

By Collin Leirvik, SVP, Head of Gaming, National Research Group 

These recent acquisitions signal a similar trend to what we’ve seen across other forms of media: technology (i.e., cloud) provides new methods for brands to diversify their direct-to-consumer distribution strategies. Tethering content to specific hardware devices may still make the best business sense in gaming (for the moment) but is increasingly less essential from a technological standpoint.

In practice, this changes the equation for gaming brands – the goal goes from selling copies of a game or units of hardware to competing to develop complete, desirable, consumer-centric ecosystems that include both content and innovation in direct-to-consumer distribution.

As we’ve seen in the streaming wars most recently, content is king. The platforms that offer the most enticing overall portfolio of content are winning market share. The same is true in gaming: the totality of experiences a gaming brand provides have and likely will continue to form the basis of their brand equity with consumers.

Due to these dynamics, acquiring studios has always been a growth strategy for gaming brands. However, factors in content development somewhat unique to the industry – especially long development lead times, expense, and risk – have held consolidation in check. It’s hard to justify limiting the audience of a game that costs hundreds of millions of dollars to develop by tying it to a single platform/install base. It is yet to be seen how these recent acquisitions will be leveraged in terms of content exclusivity, but these trends in the transformation of distribution are clearly a major factor justifying recent acquisitions.

The metaverse – and its role in allowing gaming brands to drive greater depth of experience and touchpoints with players with their tentpole franchises – is another driver behind recent content consolidation. The gaming industry has long been a leading force in creating dynamic, online social platforms – the core of what many associate with the recently popularized “metaverse” term. The extent to which brands will also be bullish on blockchain, NFTs, and other emergent innovations woven into to the metaverse and Web 3.0 is yet to be seen. But there are signs that many brands are ready to start experimenting.

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What are the forces at work reshaping the way brands and marketers connect with today’s consumers? The next decade of marketing innovation will be driven by the emerging technology piquing consumer, brand, and investor interest today: new mediums of storytelling unlocked by mixed-reality, new methods of communicating powered by social commerce, and problems to pre-empt driven by convergent social forces and the enduring digital acceleration.

Stagwell is all about transforming marketing – and we’re spending the year working with our agencies to explore how the most innovating and compelling opportunities in new frontiers will transform the way brands and marketers do business.

We’ll…

explore the practical, helping you understand things like if and how your brand should integrate virtual influencers in digital marketing efforts.

probe the conceptual…with questions like what responsibility brands have as they begin to imagine marketing and brand identity in space?

offer strategies for making sense of the monumental…with perspectives on how and when brands should get involved in the bourgeoning metaverse.

Meet Marketing Frontiers – Stagwell’s new content series that will unpack these blue-sky ideas before today’s brands, simplifying the future and helping leaders understand how these concepts will change the way we do business today and tomorrow.

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Agencies Combine Under MMI Nameplate, Delivering Enhanced Media and Integrated Communications Power

New York, NY, January 19, 2022 (NASDAQ: STGW) – Stagwell Inc., the challenger network built to transform marketing, today announced the combination of Stagwell Media Network agencies MMI and Media Kitchen under the MMI brand. The announcement comes on the heels of MMI’s continued year-over-year growth for the past five years, expansion of its partnership with a leading CPG manufacturer, and further diversification of its Amazon work.

The move creates a dynamic new consultancy predicated on brand performance and innovation. The combined entity boasts 175 employees who offer deep expertise in media strategy, planning and buying, performance marketing, influencer, public relations, and creative content.                                       

“By bringing these two agencies together, we are offering a strong alternative solution to drive measurable growth for modern brands,” Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn said. “Our challenger positioning is rooted in creating new kinds of collaborations and MMI plus Media Kitchen creates a media speedboat capable of innovating quickly for clients.”

“Media Kitchen’s ability to design and implement transformational media strategies perfectly complements MMI’s nimble brand creativity and innovation services. Combined, they offer a future-facing answer for modern marketeers looking for joined-up insight, ideas, and connections that drive growth,” said James Townsend, Global CEO of the Stagwell Media Network. “This is about creating opportunities for our people to learn, collaborate and express themselves, and help offer clients more capabilities in one dynamic agency.”

The enhanced agency includes 130 employees from MMI and 45 from Media Kitchen. Collective clients and experience include Amazon, Gillette, Loews Hotels, Olay, Pantene, and Waste Management. Core office locations for the combined entity will remain unchanged, with strongholds in New York and Houston and presences in Cincinnati, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Toronto, and Montreal.    

MMI CEO Maggie Malek, a Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree who began her career in the Army Reserves, will head the strengthened organization. A key architect of the company’s growth, Malek has been with the agency for 11 years, rising from an Account Executive to the role of CEO two years ago, just before the pandemic began. Prior to her promotion, she created the agency’s social and influencer practices and led the strategy team. As CEO, her people-first values guide the agency’s team design, employee retention strategies, and successful partnerships across the Stagwell network in service of both her team and clients.  

“We’re ecstatic about the talent and energy Media Kitchen brings to the table,” said Malek. “Our complementary capabilities offer clients stronger teams, greater performance, and new opportunities.”

About Stagwell Inc.

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing.  Led by entrepreneurs, our 10,000+ specialists in 20+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

About Stagwell Media Network

Stagwell’s Media Network is a group of leading multichannel agencies home to more than 3,000 experts with an expansive global footprint across 40+ offices in 20 countries, managing close to $5 billion in media. Agencies include Assembly, MMI Agency, Goodstuff and Grason, creative consultancy GALE, B2B specialist Multiview, multi-lingual content agency Locaria, and travel and media experts Ink.

The network offers marketers a more dynamic partner for global B2B and B2C solutions spanning data, technology, media, and creativity aimed at accelerating business growth for brands worldwide.

About MMI

MMI Agency is a modern brand lab where performance meets possibility. Our mission is to inspire action in an intelligent world by partnering with engaged clients; deploying human-first strategy; developing compelling creative; and conceptualizing iterative media plans and insightful communications programs.  MMI is made up of 175 employees and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Find out more at www.mmiagency.com.

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As we reflect on the marketing implications of CES 2022, Web 3.0 is by far the most impactful development that showed up across industries, technologies and capabilities. While in some ways it may be another victim of CES’ shiny veneer versus reality, there are components that are impossible to ignore – namely, the influx of and investment in the metaverse and NFTs.

Stagwell is one of the first movers when it comes to helping brands activate in this nacent space, having supported the launch of MilkPeP’s activation in the Roblox metaverse. On Thursday, January 6, Stagwell convened a lunch and learn, moderated by Axios’ Sara Fischer, to discuss the tactical and theoretical challenges and opportinities presented by Web 3.0. Here are our top 5 takeaways from the conversation: 

1. COVID WAS A CATALYST, bringing the metaverse into the real world 
2. BRANDS WILL PLAY A KEY ROLE IN BUILDING TRUST with these technologies and platforms
3. NOT EVERY BRAND SHOULD BE IN THE METAVERSE, and not every metaverse is created equal
4. METAVERSE + IRL should be a seamless experience
5. NFTS are here to stay

Web 3.0 is a nuanced topic, and one that is the opposite of a one-size-fits-all approach. Depending on brand, product, buyer demographic and existing marketing activity, the metaverse and NFTs can fill a very important role (which may be… no role at all. More on that later). Learn more about what it means for brands, creative and the future of the online/offline world.

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1. COVID was a catalyst, bringing the metaverse into the real world

The metaverse would have come eventually (in fact it’s already been here…hello, gaming community!), but the pandemic undoubtedly accelerated the timeline. With the majority of the world going digital, tech companies were pushed to develop products, tools and software that allowed us to do so much more from a virtual setting, exposing a more urgent demand for expanded virtual experiences and capabilities from brands.

2. Brands will play a key role in building trust with these technologies and platforms 

 3. Not every brand should be in the metaverse, and not every metaverse is created equal

4. Metaverse + IRL should be a seamless experience

 5. NFTs are here to stay

Originally released on

CONTACT

Beth Sidhu

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Stagwell, the US-based marketing holding company, is making good on its recent pledge to grow in Asia-Pacific through its global affiliate programme with a new partnership deal reached with Southeast Asian online news publisher Coconuts Media. Under the affiliate partnership deal, there is no immediate monetary investment. Rather, Stagwell and Coconuts will collaborate on scaled media placement and distribution across the Coconuts network in Southeast Asia. In addition, Stagwell’s agencies, such as 72andSunny, Forsman & Bodenfors, Allison and Partners, Assembly, Ink and others can team up with Coconuts’ in-house marketing agency, Grove, on joint pitches, marketing campaigns and branded content. Revenue sharing will be split on a project by project basis depending on what is involved.

Coconuts Media, founded by journalist entrepreneur Byron Perry in 2011, has grown steadily over the past decade, publishing online news and lifestyle content to millions across eight local markets (Bali, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Yangon) including documentaries and videos for major streaming services and networks like Discovery and Netflix. 

“We’re eager to collaborate with Byron and the Coconuts Media team to offer our leading mix of digital and media services to strengthen the APAC offering for our clients,” says Stagwell’s chairman and CEO, Mark Penn. “With the opening of Stagwell’s first-ever APAC headquarters in Singapore and our agencies’ continued success in the region, we’re investing heavily in Asia-Pacific as part of our global expansion this year.”

In November, Stagwell announced its SVP of executive talent, Randy Duax, would lead the APAC office as managing director starting this month to drive “rapid growth” and expansion. The Coconuts partnership is among the first of these regional efforts from its new regional base. Duax tells Campaign Asia-Pacific the two sides were mutually attracted, with Coconuts already having been on his radar for many years before connecting through the affiliate programme. 

“We’re super excited about Coconuts,” Duax says. “For us, they’re in a lot of different markets, they’re deep into social commerce, they’ve got first-party data. It fills in a lot of gaps that some clients have been looking for in this part of the world. And they’re very collaborative, which is something we look for.” 

While it’s less common for news-media publishers to join hands with a single advertising holding company, the deal should allow Coconuts to tap into Stagwell’s media services and research resources and give the company access to a global client base it may not have had before. The latter could be particularly important as Grove, Coconuts’ in-house creative studio for brands, becomes an increasingly important focus for the company.  

“With our publishing roots as a foundation, we are growing our creative and media-buying services and the business of serving clients as a modern creative agency,” says Perry, the company’s CEO. “Partnering with a challenger marketing network like Stagwell makes total sense as we work with larger, more complex global clients.”

Affiliate versus acquisition

What is significant about these affiliate deals is that they’re designed to be the first step on the road to a mutual acquisition agreement. This is something Stagwell made very clear when first announcing its affiliate programme a year ago. 

“It’s a way to soft introduce [Coconuts] to the holding company,” Duax explains. “We’re not taking ownership, we’re not saying you have to move into this office location. For an entrepreneur, if you want to retain control, that’s the appeal.”

Since it launched a year ago, Stagwell has signed up nearly 50 affiliates, including others in APAC such as Metric Design Studio in China, Enormous in India, This is Flow in Australia, and Hong Kong-based Beyond Media Global. 

Making the distinction of how these affiliate deals represent a very different approach from “top-down, holding-company acqusitions”, Duax explains the programme is designed for entrepreneurs looking for global opportunities to bring their own local opportunities and resources in return without the pressure of being forced to work for global clients and projects that they don’t want to.

Similar to the Worldwide Partners network of purely independent agencies, Stagwell’s affiliate collective is a network of successful entrepreneurs and businesses that want bigger opportunities. “You’ve got creative agencies in some of these markets who maybe have never had a media or research component,” Daux explains. “Maybe they have a client that just needs to reach into one specific market and they don’t have that connection. But they don’t [yet] want to sell to a bigger holding company. So for us it’s an opportunity to see if the partnership works out and if they can execute some of the bigger pieces of business we could bring.“  

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NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ: STGW) today announced the next step in its expansion into Asia-Pacific via an affiliate partnership with Coconuts Media, the leading alternative online publisher reaching an audience of millions across Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali, and Yangon. The partnership meaningfully expands Stagwell’s media investment in the region and adds a key partner with scaled content, production, and distribution capabilities to support global clients.

Via the partnership, Stagwell and Coconuts will collaborate to offer clients a competitive mix of traditional and digital media services, advice on region-specific consumer trends including the high growth in social commerce sales in APAC, and scaled media placement and distribution opportunities informed by first-party data across the Coconuts Media network. Additionally, Stagwell’s agencies in the region – including Assembly, Allison+Partners, 72andSunny, Forsman & Bodenfors, Ink, and more — will partner with Coconuts’ in-house marketing agency, Grove, in collaborative pitches and marketing campaigns. 

Coconuts Media’s publications include Coconuts, serving fresh and juicy news from eight cities in Asia; BK Magazine, Bangkok’s leading source for the best places to eat and hang out; and Soimilk, a daily dose of lifestyle news for Thailand’s digital-savvy youth. Grove, Coconuts Media’s in-house creative studio, ideates and manages campaigns for brands, while Coconuts TV produces documentary and unscripted programs for the likes of Netflix, Discovery, and MTV. 

“With the opening of Stagwell’s first-ever APAC headquarters in Singapore and our agencies’ continued success in the region, we’re investing heavily in Asia-Pacific as part of our global expansion this year,” said Mark Penn, Chairman and CEO, Stagwell. “We’re eager to collaborate with Byron and the Coconuts Media team to offer our leading mix of digital and media services to strengthen the APAC offering for our clients.”

“With our publishing roots as a foundation, we are growing our creative and media buying services and the business of serving clients as a modern creative agency,” said Coconuts Media Founder and CEO Byron Perry. “Partnering with a challenger marketing network like Stagwell makes total sense as we work with larger, more complex global clients.”

The affiliate partnership with Coconuts Media is the latest step in Stagwell’s ambitious global expansion strategy, which has seen the Company add over 40 affiliates in locations across MENA, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. In January 2022, Stagwell also launched a corporate headquarters in Singapore to accelerate business development opportunities across APAC and support regional client partners, led by Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Randy Duax.

“Coconuts is changing the game when it comes to scaled content and premium media partnerships across APAC,” added Duax. “With the growth of their in-house creative agency and recent media acquisitions, they are a powerful partner as Stagwell rolls up its sleeves to help brands transform their marketing in the region.”

About Stagwell Inc.

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing.  Led by entrepreneurs, our 10,000+ specialists in 20+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

About Coconuts Media

Coconuts Media is Asia’s leading alternative media company.

Our mission is to inform and entertain our audience by telling true stories that matter across our portfolio of publications:

• Coconuts, fresh and juicy news on what’s happening Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali, Yangon, and beyond
• BK Magazine, Bangkok’s leading source for the best places to eat and hang out
• Soimilk, a daily dose of lifestyle news for Thailand’s digital-savvy youth

Coconuts TV, our video brand, produces documentary programs on weird and wondrous stories from Asia for broadcast TV and streaming platforms. Grove, our in-house brand studio, ideates and manages creative campaigns for leading international brands that run on Coconuts brands and beyond.

Each month we reach an audience of millions across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong through digital, print, audio, and video.

We are passionate about journalism, the media industry, and telling the untold stories of our region. Learn more at www.coconuts.co

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Beth Sidhu

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Stagwell Insights

CES 2022 is in the rearview mirror. The technologies that debuted this year will bring accelerated innovation and transform the way consumers get and share information, engage with brands, and experience culture for years to come.

This year, Stagwell hosted a series of virtual floor tours featuring expert commentary on the trends we expect will transform marketing in 2022 and the implications for marketers. Below, we share our top four takeaways: 

More Screens, in More Places, More Often (Doing Different Things):  

• The trend: Television is evolving from a purely entertainment-focused device to a multi-faceted video display, enabling a sprawling universe of entertainment, lifestyle, home décor, news & information, and communication possibilities supported by the assistance of your favorite AI and voice-enabled tech.  
• The implications: More screens, in more places, more often means more media placement channels for brands, greatly expanding the array of consumer distribution touchpoints available. The way content is displayed isn’t the only thing changing; the nature of content itself will adapt to streaming-era behaviors that can more seamlessly connect content to commerce-driving actions via things like QR codes. Perhaps unexpectedly, the TV console in 2022 may find new life as a portal for discovery, addressable content marketing, and a rich source of first-party data.  

The Creator Economy is Here – For Everyone:  

• The trend: Tools for video creators continue to evolve, giving both the quality and bells and whistles of strong video content that were once reserved for professionals. At the same time, brands are experimenting with ways to give consumers creative control over branded products and services, seen in products like the L’Oreal Colorsonic which allows consumers to make their own custom lipstick.   
• The implications: 2022 will be the year technology and brands converge to empower everyone to be a creator of products, not just content. For brands with an imperative to scale compelling across increasingly niche consumer segments, marketing activations that empower the average consumers to use brand assets, products, or other associated content will be a powerful tool for awareness and top-of-funnel marketing.  

Problem-Solving Tech: 

• The trend: Technology is shifting to focus on the key economic and social challenges that were illuminated by the pandemic, such as food sustainability and labor and supply chain shortages. We saw a heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence and robotics as a tool for tackling these complex challenges of human scale, exemplified in products like John Deere’s fully autonomous tractor or the tradeshow-wide trend towards Electric Vehicles. 
• The implications: Brands will have new opportunities to scale the best practices enabled by problem-solving tech, which can unlock exciting new business models, product offerings, and service capabilities. At the same time, renewed corporate interest in the environmental and social footprints of businesses will add pressure for CMOs to ensure marketing communications and operations address their businesses’ impact. 

Scaling In-House Marketing:  

• The trend: The tech on display in the C Space for marketers underscores the need for a toolbox of scalable, DIY-marketing tools for in-house teams, who are increasingly present at major brands. At CES this year, Stagwell showcased the Stagwell Marketing Cloud, our suite of solutions supporting business transformation for in-house marketers, arrayed across real-time business intelligence, AI-powered comms tech, AR for events, and end-to-end influencer marketing management.
• The implications: With over 77% of organizations now having some form of in-house agency, expect investment in tools & services to support in-house marketing creation and execution to continue. Specifically, brands will be on the hunt for solutions that enable them to unify first-party data, create content at scale, and drive efficiency through their operations via automation.    

—

To dive deeper into the technology on display at CES 2022, stream a recording of Stagwell’s Virtual Floor Tours here, and reach out to beth.sidhu@stagwellglobal.com if you have questions.