Join us on a tongue-in-cheek ‘retro’ look back at 2030. What a year!!
The year is 2030, and the UK marketing and advertising industry is a far cry from what it used to be. Gone
are the days of traditional billboards and TV commercials – instead, we find ourselves in a world of hologram influencers, augmented reality ads, and mind-reading billboards. It’s a wild, uncharted territory, and looking back, it’s hard to believe just how far we’ve come.
The Rise of the Hologram Influencers
In 2030, regular influencers were a thing of the past. The new craze was hologram influencers – digital beings with perfect looks and endless charisma. These holograms were the ultimate marketing tools, able to endorse products in a million different locations simultaneously. Who needs real people when you can have a perfectly curated, eternally youthful hologram shilling your wares?
Of course, this led to a whole new set of ethical dilemmas. How do you regulate holograms? Can they be held accountable for false advertising? And let’s not forget the existential crisis we all faced when we realized we were being influenced by beings that didn’t technically exist.
The Augmented Reality Advertising Blitz
If you thought regular billboards were intrusive, just wait until you hear about the augmented reality (AR) advertising blitz of 2030. Brands took the concept of “in-your-face” marketing to new heights by projecting their ads directly into our field of vision. Imagine trying to enjoy a peaceful stroll through the park, only to have a giant, floating soft drink can follow you around, begging you to quench your thirst.
The worst part? There was no escape. AR ads were everywhere, from the sidewalks to the skies above. It was like living in a dystopian nightmare where consumerism had taken over reality itself.
The Neuro-Marketing Craze
In 2030, marketers took the concept of “knowing your audience” to a whole new level with the rise of neuro-marketing. By tapping into the latest advancements in brain-computer interfaces, brands could literally read our minds and tailor their campaigns to our deepest, darkest desires.
Suddenly, those seemingly innocuous billboards were speaking directly to our subconscious, triggering primal urges we didn’t even know we had. It was equal parts fascinating and terrifying, like having a skilled hypnotist whispering sweet nothings about the latest must-have gadget directly into your cerebral cortex.
The Immersive Virtual Shopping Experiences
Remember when online shopping was as simple as clicking a few buttons? Well, in 2030, brands decided that wasn’t immersive enough. Enter the virtual shopping experiences, where consumers could literally step into a digital world and “try on” products before making a purchase.
Sounds great, right? Except for the fact that these virtual worlds were designed to be as addictive as possible, with endless distractions and temptations around every corner. Before you knew it, you’d spent hours wandering through a virtual mall, accumulating a cart full of impulse buys you didn’t even need.
The Rise of the AI Creative Teams (on acid)
In a desperate attempt to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for content and campaigns brands turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to handle their creative needs. Suddenly, every ad, every social media post, every product description was being churned out by a soulless machine.
Prompting is no longer needed though! Your dedicated AI Creative Team will proactively generate scamps, ideas, mock-ups and copy decks. It will then schedule an appointment with stakeholders to present ideas and receive feedback.
The days of creative briefing are well and truly over.
The Regulatory Nightmare
With all these new technologies and marketing tactics emerging at breakneck speed, the poor regulators were left scrambling to keep up. Laws and guidelines that had once seemed ironclad were now hopelessly outdated, leaving a wild west of advertising where anything went.
Brands exploited every loophole they could find, pushing the boundaries of what was legal and ethical. It was a chaotic time, where the lines between advertising and reality became increasingly blurred.
Conclusion
Looking back, the UK marketing and advertising industry of 2030 was a bizarre, often unsettling place. But hey, at least it was never boring! From hologram influencers to mind-reading billboards, it was a constant barrage of innovation and excess.
So, let’s raise a glass to the madness that was 2030 – a time when marketing was more than just a profession; it was a full-on sensory assault. Here’s hoping the industry has regained some semblance of sanity in the years since. Or maybe not – where’s the fun in that?
