Consumers have more reach, access, and power than ever before. It’s flipped the marketing playbook. Brands can’t just market to people anymore—they have to matter to people.

That’s why it’s critical for brands to be relevant in cultural movements. With 2020 promising to be an extremely disruptive year, Carat U.S. has assessed the upcoming media and cultural landscape, revealing how brands can show up and earn attention in this dynamic marketplace. 

The 3 powerful cultural forces on consumers’ minds in 2020 in the US

• Politics: Major campaigns and elections are happening in 2020—with billions in advertising dollars behind them—on TV and social. For brands, that means navigating stretches of political ad saturation, and considering opportunities to stand for values audiences care about. 
• The Olympics: The Olympics in Tokyo are featuring new sports like surfing and skateboarding to appeal to younger audiences. Brands are bullish on rolling out sponsorships, but also need to be mindful of leveraging additional channels, content fit, and exploring cultural themes like patriotism.
•  Streaming Wars: 75% of US homes have a streaming service. With a flood of new and existing competitors—and their extreme competition to capture attention—there will be many opportunities and challenges for brands to fit into the fold.  

How can brands win consumers’ attention in 2020?

• Be aware of the landscape: Plan with agency partners and internal teams to decide which conversations you’ll start, which ones you’ll join, and what to anticipate around these events. 
• Attention to content drives attention to ads: Platforms that generate a lot of attention to content also generate a lot of attention for advertising. Relevant ads get up to 107% more attention.
• Be creative to the platform: Ads built specifically for format and platform are 89% more likely to be noticed. Ads must truly contribute to the experience to be remembered by people. 

In this environment, media must matter more. It’s not enough to just show up, you have to add value to peoples’ lives. If you’d like to matter more to your consumers, Carat can help. Let’s talk. 

About Haley Paas: As SVP, Head of Strategy and Insight at Carat U.S., Haley Paas integrates complex and disparate information into actionable insights and looks to both the future and the past as a way to inspire creative thinking. She creates holistic solutions that are long lasting, yet agile, using consumer psychology/dual process theory as a lens to give consumers a seamless brand and product experience.