by JODIE SANGSTER

You can hardly turn a page these days without seeing another prediction for how the world will look in 2015. So taking into account all the forecasts, projections, estimations and pontification’s, what can we marketers expect to see happen in the next four years?

Firstly, according to the International Monetary Fund, there will be 23.57 million of us living in Australia by 2015 – and not surprisingly we will be more connected and accessible than ever before. This presents exceptional opportunities for marketers to engage and interact with their prospects and customers. However, with increased customer-accessibility comes increased need for responsibility, accountability and smart marketing.

How consumers interact and the devices used for connectivity, continues to propel along the digital pathway:

• Forrester projects that Australia will have become a digital economy, with the internet penetration rate set to rise to 83% by 2015. This will allow Australian
  consumers to have faster and richer online experiences than before.
• One in every four Australians will own a tablet computer (PWC). This amounts to
  a total 5.5 million devices, according to estimates in the Australian PwC Entertainment and Media Outlook 2011-2015.
• By 2015, there will be 18.5 million smartphone users in Australia, up by nearly 10 million from today’s smartphone user population (Australian Smartphone Market Study 2011-2015).
• Mobile internet usage will have far surpassed desktop internet access (Morgan Stanley).
• The mobile device will be the number one screen through which users engage with advertisers’ digital brands, according to Google.
• The mobile-commerce revolution will explode with mobile payments increasing 40% YOY and will reach 2.5 billion users globally by 2015 (Juniper Research).
• Online retail sales in Australia will almost double from $16.9 billion in 2009 to $33.3 billion in 2015 (Forrester Research Online Forecast 2010 to 2015 – Asia Pacific).

For marketers, the marketing landscape looks set to grow and change with the shift being towards digital channels, with social media and mobile marketing looking to lead the charge in growth.

• The online advertising industry in Australia is predicted to reach $3.85 billion in
  2015 eclipsing print newspaper advertising spend (projected at $3.8 billion)
  and free to air TV spend, projected at $3.81 billion. (PWC).
• General display advertising to rise by 11% to reach $877 million in 2015 (Frost
  & Sullivan).
• Half of all marketing campaigns will include video elements  (bought on a cost-per-view basis ) and 50% of all display advertising include video (Google).
• 75% of ads on the web will be “social” in nature—across dozens of formats, sites and social communities (Google).
• Gamification for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon (Gartner).
• 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application (Gartner).
• 50% of ads will be in Rich media formats (currently 6%) which will enable far greater creativity and interaction between users and advertisers.
• Mobile advertising expenditure in Australia will reach $76m by 2015, growing at
  46% a year (Frost & Sullivan).  Mobile advertising in Australia only reached $9.1 million in 2010.
• Worldwide Mobile Advertising Revenue will reach $20.6 billion by 2015 (currently $3.3 Billion in 2011) with Search and maps delivering the highest revenue, while video/audio ads will see the fastest growth through 2015.

Considering we have almost reached the end of 2011, the 2015 predictions are a reality that is just around the corner! As marketers we need to take heed of the future direction of marketing  - as aptly stated  by Forrester in the CMO Mandate: Adapt or Perish “ In the future, there will be two types of companies—those that are agile and adapt to
consumers’ changing media behaviour and those that go out of business.”

Join us at ADMA Digital Day to hear the latest and greatest in digital marketing.  Digital Day takes place 10^th November in Brisbane, 14^th November in Melbourne and 16^th November in Sydney. For more information click here >

I hope to see you there.

Jodie