When the pace of digital advertising leaves you in a spin, tune in to your audience and find your own beat

If there is one thing that is constant when it comes to digital advertising, it’s change. No sooner have you got your head around the latest innovation or technology and another is coming around the corner - or at least that’s how it can feel.

And, let’s face it, the FOMO is real. Whether it’s AI, the metaverse or retail media, the urge to jump on “the next big thing” has led many an advertiser astray just for the sake of the novelty factor. We’ve all heard the stories from pitch meetings that hinge on the sentence: “So, we want to be doing something with AI.”

To a degree, that’s OK. As humans, we’re naturally curious and indulging which is part of the joy of digital advertising. But we’re also programmed to find constant change unsettling and curiosity quickly gives way to frustration when you feel like you can’t find your feet.

If you let it, the pace of change in the digital ad industry can feel like a runaway train you can’t quite catch. Throw in a hefty dose of pressure to stand out from the crowd and finish the year with a clutch of awards in reception and you can see why digital delusion sets in.

So what’s the answer? It’s infuriatingly simple - tune into your audience and find your own beat. Brilliant, effective, long-term brand campaigns come about when advertisers have the confidence to cherry pick the technology that works for them. The big problem with “we want to be doing something with AI” is that the technology is leading the strategy rather than the idea.

Making new tech and digital innovations work for you means understanding your audience and leading with creative ideas that ring true to your brand purpose. When that happens, the results can be magic. Take British Heart Foundation’s ingenious gaming activation that flatlined Twitch streams to resonate with a Gen Z audience. Or IKEA’s TikTok-first campaign that drew on shopping channel cues to engage pet-lovers and get them sharing their views.

So while the industry won’t slow down anytime soon, remember that you don’t have to jump on every new trend but can find your own beat. Listen to your audience and utilise technology thoughtfully to engage them in ways that feel true to your brand. That’s always a crowd pleaser.