Dentsu launches Creative Trends report 2021

This Brave New Normal trends report explores consumer-driven trends that provide businesses and brands with new opportunities created by a post-covid world of accelerated change.

The report is filled with examples of idea-led experiences that signal how marketers can secure growth in 2021 and beyond.

This report was created by a team of strategists, creatives and technologists from across dentsu’s global creative offering including experts from award-winning agencies dentsumcgarrybowen, Isobar, and 360i and other global award-winning agencies including Taproot Dentsu, Merdeka LHS (Coca-Cola For The Human Race) and many more.

The report includes case studies from across the globe including insights and case studies from Dentsu Inc’s world-leading innovation teams.

Five key trends for 2021 are:

1. The Virtual Experience Economy

Accelerated by the pandemic and enabled by 5G, we will see a dramatic increase in virtual products and experiences. Unrestrained by the physical space, we will reimagine what a concert, conference, class or even product can be. How much would you pay for virtual couture?

2. The Real ‘We’

In parallel, we will see a powerful desire for simplicity and authenticity. Front line workers, farmers and activists are our new heroes. A new commercial model is emerging rooted in direct, disintermediated relationships between creators and the communities they serve.

3. Human Contactless

As contactless technologies make stores less human, online commerce will become more social and more personal, powered by next generation live streaming platforms. Get ready for a “QVC for Generation Z”, to reimagine stores as studios and staff as entertainers.

4. Me, Myself and AI

Amidst the pandemic, personal health data became public property. In a future where Alexa can diagnose a cold, cars can identify distracted drivers and our bank accounts can track our carbon footprint, we expect an ongoing tension between privacy, personal wellbeing and public interest.

5. The Urgency of Allyship

Alongside individual wellbeing, as social inequalities widened and the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum, we saw new-found urgency around brands as a force for social good. Going forward, we will see brands step up as allies in driving structural and systemic change.

“It’s tempting to see 2020 as a story of polarisation. Yet in many ways it has been a story of radical collaboration. As our physical worlds became anxious and constrained, virtual experiences were charged with emotion. Able to touch less, we found ways to feel more.” Patricia McDonald, Chief Solutions Officer, Creative at dentsu international

The report builds on Isobar’s recent Creative Experience Survey 2020, which revealed that 64% of CMOs have “completely or moderately” changed their Experience strategy in response to the Covid-19 crisis, with 1 in 5 having ‘completely’ changed their approach.

Patricia McDonald, Chief Solutions Officer, Creative at dentsu international says, “It’s tempting to see 2020 as a story of polarisation. Yet in many ways it has been a story of radical collaboration. As our physical worlds became anxious and constrained, virtual experiences were charged with emotion. Able to touch less, we found ways to feel more.”