Media-savvy consumers to set ad trends, seminar hears
CONSUMERS WILL BE among the key trend-setters for the advertising industry in next decade while advertisers remain the most influential content creators, supported and funded by marketers, advertising experts suggest.
Social-media technology has changed consumers’ behaviour and turned them into active content generators. On-usa Lamliengpol, president of the Advertising Association of Thailand (AAT), said that as devices such as smart phones, tablets and personal computers have proliferated, customers had enhanced their skills from single-screen to multi-screen or even multiple platforms.
On-usa shared her viewpoints at a seminar called “10Setter: Advertising Creates Trends and Trends Create Advertising”, marking the 10th anniversary of the Adman Awards & Symposium. The anniversary ceremony will be held on October 16 at the CentralWorld shopping complex in Bangkok.
Suthisak Sucharittanonta, chairman and chief executive of advertising agency BBDO Bangkok, said that apart from becoming smart users of social media, customers were more selective on brands and products. This extends even to the content they prefer as there more choices, particularly social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, on top of traditional media.
Advertisers and product owners, therefore, should adapt and their marketing communications to diverse media platforms to reach target audiences, Suthisak said.
Thana Thienachariya, director of Southpaw Business and director of the Academy of Business Creativity at Sripratum University, said the “nowism” trend was not only found in consumers’ behaviour but in product owners’ also.
“Marketers and product owners want to get quick and effective returns and response from their advertising investments,” Thana said.
Many companies use popular actors and actress as brand presenters to persuade customers to purchase their products and services.
Though digital media and social networks play key roles in the communication sphere, On-usa suggested that television remained the most influential medium in the industry. Of total advertising spending, about 53 per cent goes into television commercials.
With the increase in cable and satellite channels and the coming digital terrestrial TV business, television advertising will continue to drive the ad industry’s growth in the near future.
The AAT predicts that overall advertising expenditure this year will see growth of 3-5 per cent to Bt125 billion from last year despite some negative economic factors such as the high level of household debt and the rising cost of living.
