Towards the end of last year, I was invited to attend the Global WorkTech Scenarios 2050 South Africa conference. I was afraid to share my ideas because I wasn’t sure how they would receive it at first, and I wasn’t sure how my expertise in marketing and communications would fit into the future of science and technology. .
Often, the tendency is to view science as an interdisciplinary subject that has no direct bearing on our daily lives—at least that’s what I thought. However, the more I was exposed to this field, the more I saw how different waves in science and technology were shaping society’s cultural experience, such as changing the way society communicates, buys, and accesses information. The digital age.
Attending this conference opened my eyes to this and as a result asked me to think about future possibilities and the role of marketing and communications in this regard.
We were sent a document entitled “To prepare for the panel discussion”. Future Work/Tech 2050 Global Scenarios. Using the prospective research method, the case study was carried out in 2008. It clearly shows the conditions that may arise in 2050 due to global technological developments. In addition, the case study examines the impact of these developments on politics, economics, and culture. Of the three scenarios presented, the third topic is: If people are free – self-realization Economy resonated strongly.
A culture of self-awareness, creativity and purpose
According to this special future study, new technologies in the form of artificial intelligence will change the face of the job market as we know it today. In the year By 2050, nearly 4-billion people will be involved in private employment. This means that even if new technologies do not support formal employment, they may provide an environment for alternative forms of employment to flourish.
The study predicts that with this type of economic change, the percentage of people employed by corporations will decrease and the number of self-employed people will increase. The study also indicated that individual power will begin to increase in terms of government and corporate power.
As a result of the technological revolution, this economic change will also have a direct impact on global culture. Due to the increase of individual power, the society begins to accept the concept of independent economy. Basically, what this means is that individuals begin to decide for themselves how to use their time, reflect on issues related to their purpose in life, and find ways to express their purpose through work.
As a result, the culture of self-awareness, creativity and purpose ends and this can change the way people relate to brands. In a society where individuals are self-aware and driven by their desire to express themselves, one must ask oneself how this will affect the way companies market and communicate their brand to the public.
Reduction of corporate power
Corporate has benefited from public relations, marketing and communication presence for many years. Because this field of study examines the behavior of consumers or target audience, understanding their wants and needs, and using various methods to mass market a service or product to people for profit.
In fact, Edward Bernays, known as the “Father of Public Relations” and Sigmund Freud’s nephew, based public relations on the study of public psychology – the broad study of how one individual’s behavior affects many people. People.
Over the years, this approach has worked like a charm because the capitalist economic system has fostered society’s need for material success to achieve competitiveness, consumerism, and social acceptance. So the corporate has been able to win various public trusts by tapping into this in public relations, marketing and communication.
But future studies If you predict a self-driven economy by 2050, we will see the decline of corporate power and the rise of individual power. The timeline in society means that the pursuit of personal creativity, self-awareness, and purpose must begin to look for a different approach in the field of marketing and communication, as opposed to seeking material success in order to gain social acceptance. To communicate brand names to the public.
Changing consumer markets
I, therefore, suggest that a more personalized approach can be taken to understand a specific target audience, as opposed to a mass communication approach that categorizes people according to what they possess – for example using the Living Standards Measurement (LSM) method. .
This means that brands need to spend more time exploring their target market environment to understand what affects them, what they want, what they need, their deepest needs and fears. A dynamic consumer market dictates that brands engage as active members of society and have the ability to effectively translate their beliefs and value systems, not just their physiological needs.
In the past, brands got away with simply marketing and communicating to push a product on the market. This approach worked for years because the consumer culture at the time was more about what a particular product/service could do for me. However, this approach to today’s consumer seems alienated.
In the digital age that allows us to access information more easily, consumers are becoming increasingly aware and interested in the politics behind how a brand operates. As a result, consumers confidently reject a brand that does not represent their beliefs or value system.
This type of consumer, unapologetic and self-aware, is predicted to increase exponentially by 2050. Brands that refuse to be noticed and listened to, remain disconnected from the reality of their target audience and find themselves preaching to the unconverted.
