Personal brands, which are brands used to market an individual’s experiences, skills, and values, are masters of creating and managing communities within their audiences. Traditional brands have a lot to learn from personal brands, including how to optimize social strategy, how to effectively hide marketing in entertainment, and how to build fan-based communities.

Environmental and economic crises over the last few years have created an atmosphere of apathy in consumers who are tired of restrictions. To combat this apathy, consumers are embracing spending more on fun and on experiences that allow for escape from everyday anxieties and worries.

Depending on who you ask, the USA is either already in a recession, or heading swiftly in that direction. In this report, we explore some of the trends that will most impact 2023, as consumers continue to deal with this permacrisis we all seem to be living through. 

With the return of live music, innovations in augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies (known collectively as extended reality technologies) are pushing the boundaries One of the hardest hit industries during the pandemic was the live event industry, in particular live music.

New technologies are being integrated into live sports experiences through brand partnerships and sponsorships. The passionate, highly engaged community of sports fans, and the ability for brands to enhance their experiences, makes sports a uniquely valuable segment for the integration of new emerging technologies.

With more games and more gamers than ever, this industry has become a new channel of engagement that has yet to be fully monetized. The number of gaming content creators has increased over the last decade and so has their influence in the space. Brands across a wide spectrum of categories have taken notice of influential creators and have had success in partnering with these individuals on impactful marketing campaigns.

AI is changing the ways that brands can interact with consumer data to make better behavioral predictions through advanced analytics. Some of the most prominent uses for AI in marketing consist of advanced predictive capabilities, enhanced social listening, and automated optimization of serving digital advertising.

Google announced the elimination of third-party cookies in 2024 in response to consumers digital privacy concerns. The move will likely impact independent Ad Tech companies, who rely on third-party cookies to target users across the web to a much larger degree than Ad Tech leaders who can leverage existing rich and elaborate user profiling.

A century ago, the world witnessed a war, a pandemic, and a recession. The return to normalcy following these events ushered in a feeling of optimism, that changed the meaning of consumerism. With a lot of disposable time and income, the Roaring 20s urged marketers and brands to shift their strategy from selling products to selling dreams.

The global metaverse market is expected to reach $280 billion by 2025. In these worlds where anything is possible, marketers need to deliver experiences that transcend the barriers of the physical realm. A successful metaverse experience is one that ties to the experiences the brand delivers in real life.