As digital marketing becomes less effective and more costly, brands will embrace creative campaigns and channels such as retail media networks and the metaverse to achieve greater returns on investment and deepen community-led customer engagement.
Privacy regulations and technological changes have reduced the effectiveness and driven up the cost of paid digital marketing, meaning brands spent more than three times the amount to acquire each customer in 2022 than in 2013.
Marketing budgets are shifting to alternative channels, such as retail media networks. Spending on RMNs is expected to reach $100 billion by 2026.
Valuable customer data is still up for grabs. Over half of customers said they are more likely to share data if they receive something in exchange, like personalised recommendations.
