Top Creative Industry Trends Right Now

Marketing trends are evolving constantly and in 2018, the landscape of the creative industry is more competitive than it’s ever been. That means that brands with teams thinking originally are the ones applying the most unique and attention-grabbing ideas, campaigns, and content--and they’re the ones rising to the top. Are you up to date with all of the most recent trends and practices that are changing the creative game? We have some insights to keep you in the loop!

1. Content Marketing
   Companies delivering consistent and quality content like blogs and social media posts are doing especially well right now. The content marketing trend to latch onto currently is thinking about content in light of “less is more.” With so much saturation and a 24/7 news cycle that doesn’t seem to stop, highly original and exponentially unique content has the best chance of standing out.
2. This means that your blog posts or original campaigns might be fewer and farther between--but truly taking the opportunity to curate unique writing, perspectives, ideas, and digital media will pay off in the long run. Content promotion will also be important in this vein--which of your posts and what kinds of content are already doing well organically? Promoting and sponsoring those, and taking care to up the SEO will ensure that you’re getting the most out of your efforts.
3. Attention-grabbing video content
   In 2018, gaining attention and learning how to roll with it is key. If you’re not utilizing video content, especially original content, in some form, you’re likely losing out. Producing original video content is a way to compete with bigger marketing platforms without spending huge amounts on advertising. But it’s not just about creating video content--it’s about creating content that matters, and feels significant to users and consumers. Capturing attention is about reflecting people’s values, thoughts, feelings, and lifestyles back to them in order to create a relationship, loyalty, and ultimately return on investment.
4. Creating original video content will help you further your marketing efforts, because you’ll be able to create more targeted content. Just look at Tasty videos as a case study. Tasty flipped video content marketing on its head by producing something original, with a subject that fits into people’s everyday lives and desires--cooking simple, fulfilling recipes.
5. It just goes to show that if you can create good, short video content that captures attention, you can build and maintain an audience and any kind of market you’d like.
6. Drones for photography, data analysis and interactive experiences
   Drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been steadily gaining popularity for years. They now have the capabilities to gather a variety of information for many industries, saving labor costs that could once only be carried out by humans. Today, marketers have been able to use drones for photography and data analysis. Making possible the creation of interactive experiences like the light show at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Or even pizza deliveries!
7. In honor of its fifth season, HBO teamed up with Fooji to send pizza to fans of the show Silicon Valley. With the help of drones, HBO was able to send pizza to fans in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as reference to the first episode of the new season. Fans were able to order a pizza by tweeting #Sliceline with a pizza emoji, and lucky users received a response to confirm the order to send the pizza in a Sliceline branded box.
8. Many other creative campaigns like this one have used drones to create and foster relationships with target audiences--and there’s much to learn from these kind of amazing and innovative creative approaches!
9. Increased cloud computing usage for gathering more data
   Cloud storage is no longer just a tool--it’s something that can truly help you transform your marketing strategies if used across an organization or team. That’s why inexpensive and free cloud-hosted data storage will continue to become more popular.
10. Cloud computing is especially convenient for crowdsourcing data to analyze and use for marketing purposes. The more data you can collect, the better intelligence you’ll have to inform your marketing and creative choices. As Unfold Labs said in a recent report on cloud computing trends, “As mobility enhances, the cloud will get more global […] Cloud technology will continue to grow in the years to come, and organizations must actively participate in its adoption, development and security.”

Many creative approaches to marketing are popping up, and now is the time to test your teams’ limits and try something new out! Why not try your luck with a new form of content marketing or see if drone marketing is for you? With these new trends, especially flying drones that deliver pizzas, the sky truly is the limit.

Have any other trends to watch out for? Let us know!

All the best

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