This Just in. Our Top 5 Content Megatrends and one massive buzzword for the rest of 2019. LinkedIn, Slow Content, Smaller Events, and CBD and Cannabis Wellness + Beauty are all on the scene in 2019.
In 2018, we predicted big things for events, video content marketing, and the Cannabis industry.
What does the rest of 2019 have in store for us?
LinkedIn is the New Facebook (minus the election data scraping)
We’re calling it. LinkedIn is the new Facebook when it comes to content distro and ads, for B2B and B2C.
We recently visited LinkedIn’s NYC headquarters and what they’ve just launched is definitely Facebook-y in a great way — video ads, enhanced website visitor insights, and objective-based targeting — but with a super clean audience to target (i.e. our professional lives).
We also caught up with Jon Lombardo, global market lead at Linkedin and here’s what’s trending:
“The research we’ve seen is that 60% of marketing spend should focus on brand-building and thought leadership. Smart marketers will invest more heavily in brand-building over direct-response to build market share, command pricing power, and generate long-term cashflows.” Cash. Flows.
So, is this the year we finally become a little less purely “transactional?”
Our 2019 Mega Buzzword? “Slow Content”
Over the past 5 years marketers increased their publishing by 800% only to see engagement decline by 89% (AMA).
This is why we’re all about “Slow Content” this year. Slower everything actually.
2019 is the year to make less, make it better, and distribute more.
And evoke something.
Read my Slow Content Roadmap here.
#burythelede #slowbusiness #slowfashion
Events (and Experiences) Are Even More In. But Small is the New Big
The event and exhibition industry is set to grow another 2.5% again this year (CEIR).
That said, 2019 is the year that organizers will produce more purposefully small B2B events than ever before in order to spark meaningful in-person (“IRL”) connections and even greater attendee returns.
Read more about it in my recent piece, “How Small Experiences Deliver Big Impact.”
Digitally native D-to-C (“Direct-to-Consumer”) brands are also staking their growth on providing more thoughtful, in-person experiences.
“We are in an experiential economy,” said Coty/Cover Girl’s rockstar CMO, Ukonwa Ojo, late last year.
YES.
Diversity is Luxury
We love what a new Bain and Company report says about today’s definition of luxury:
“If a brand isn’t putting a diverse group of models in its ads or showing that it considers environmental impact, customers are far less likely to buy what the brand is selling.”
In other words, embracing diversity and being socially conscious is luxury. And this is finally surfacing at the corporate level.
CBD and Cannabis push even deeper into luxury (and mainstream) retail — especially in Beauty and Wellness
CBD and Hemp-derived Wellness and Beauty Products have exploded onto the mainstream retail scene and without a doubt is the next great crossover retail category to emerge in 2019.
The 2018 Farm Bill recently passed which means the prohibition of hemp has ended along with all other hemp-derived products, like CBD (Cannabis’ non-psychoactive cousin) — which is slated to be a $22B market by as early as 2022. It is also the most profitable ingredient in skincare (Forbes).
Last September Luxury CBD brand Lord Jones also just became the first and only CBD brand to be carried by Sephora — now they carry 12.
Where does that leave Cannabis?
The new Congress just got started and there’s already a bipartisan marijuana bill and NYC itself is moving fast towards broad legalization (joining 33 other states).
The biggest opportunity? It might just be at the luxury-minded and design-forward end of the business — compelling traditional retailers and brand-builders to take notice.
In Closing
2019 is the year to Bring Your Story Forward, provide opportunities to engage IRL, and use the right tools to convert your storytelling into concrete results that you can measure time after time.
But it all starts with having a strong editorial foundation and an even stronger sense of what you/your company stands for.
And whatever you do this year, do it Slowly.
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By Jed Wexler
CEO / Slow Content Chief / Strategy @818Agency
Director: Luxury Meets Cannabis Conference: a platform for luxury-minded and design-forward visionaries in the CBD + Cannabis space. This October 2019 in NYC.
featured image: designed by Billy Gray of Gray Projects Studio
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