FIVE BIG THINGS FROM ‘24

With heads down and arses on fire, it’s hard zoom out to the big pic. So here’s a quick listicle of big stuff we’ve noticed in 2024. Most of it awesome, let’s do more of it.

1. Characters have made a comeback

After a fair few years of fairly boring ads, we finally have a new cast of likeable characters sharing their stories about stuff they sell. The bank families, the telco team, the beer dancers and good old Tina from Turners.

Guess what? It seems to be working. Turns out people buy from people… who knew?

 2. Loyalty went full lolly scramble

As Flybuys waved bye byes, a new stack of apps, points, deals and extras climbed from the closet to wrap a layer of love around our stuff. From Everyday Rewards for cornflakes to One Wallet Dollars on your phone.

It was goodbye loyalty. Hello loyalty. Bonus points and birthday deals are back.

3. Robots found lanes to play in

If 2023 was the year of robot fear. 2024 was the opposite. Today three out of four marketers are using AI in their jobs - from joining dots, to bouncing ideas, to digging through noise to find news.

There’s an army of AI who are happy to help with the boring bits. And lots of us work with robot friends on the regular.

4. Saas is still a hassle 

Everyone now has an ‘integrated tool’ that can catch customer actions and wizard up the next best chat. It’s super smart, ‘right person, right message’ tech. But the holy grail of ‘set and forget’ is still a fair way off for many.

Plenty of people are making good progress, but automating authenticity is harder than it looks.

5. Notworking still works best

With the always-on chaos of technology and change, finding a pause just to ponder stuff is a special kind of luxury. We reckon it works best when the work doesn’t get in the way.

The coffees, the lunches, the random chats. It’s these ‘notworking’ moments that spark the best work. So here’s to a bunch more in 2025.