The lecture attended by 500 marketing professionals that took place in Belgrade as part of Direct Media Academy saw experts from the world’s leading marketing expert hub Trendwatching present key trends as a recommendation to brands, the media, and marketing agencies.
Offering a service or product that makes life easier—by using artificial intelligence; being present everywhere and at all times in completely new places and contexts; connecting young people with peers who share the same interests; companies making internal changes for the better (and talking about it!); and, finally, being different and unpredictable—these are the five global trends in marketing for 2018.
“Consumer behaviours and expectations are changing faster than ever. Watching trends allows you to see newly emerging consumer expectations before they hit your business so that you can innovative to respond. In an environment of rapid change, you need to become your own trendwatcher!,” said David Mattin, Trendwatching’s Global Head of Trends & Insights.
Direct Media’s Managing Director Jovan Stojanović said that monitoring trends is important in marketing that connects companies and consumers, just as is always working on yourself through learning.
“Several years ago, we launched Direct Media Academy to help us to get better in our business, and today we opened its doors to the wider marketing community for the first time. We want to share some of our expertise with the community and to strengthen our brands and the market as a whole through better communication. In our keeping track of new knowledge this time we’re getting help from the visiting speakers from the Trendwatching team, who bring a global perspective on marketing,” Stojanović said.
Direct Media Academy (DMA) is a regional educational program completed by more than 300 participants so far. The DMA organization and program committee are made up of Direct Media experts from different areas of marketing and communications: brand strategy, communication planning, research, digital marketing, public relations, and social media communications.
The program is designed as a series of lectures and workshops in the form of modules that cover the theoretical and practical parts of these marketing areas.
This year DMA hosted a team of Trendwatching lecturers, David Mattin Delia Dumitrescu Lead Innovation Architect and David Mattin TrendWatching’s Global Head of Trends & Insights.
Established in 2002, and with hubs in London, Singapore, New York, Amsterdam, São Paulo and Lagos, Trendwatching helps forward-thinking business professionals in 180+ countries understand the new consumer and subsequently unlock compelling, profitable innovation opportunities.