With 2021 almost over, team members at Firefly recently took some time to discuss and share the adtech trends we’re likely to see in the New Year – starting first with Cecilia Lang, our Chief Revenue Officer:

Context, Creativity, and Conquesting

“Experiential will have a comeback but with a twist. As brands find ways to engage with their customers and create meaningful experiences, technology like holograms and velocity projections – as we saw in our recent Ghostbusters: Afterlife campaign with Sony Pictures – will continue finding its way onto the streets.

“To build engagement, brands in 2021 tailored their ad content on Firefly screens to be contextually relevant based on location, time, and a variety of other factors on any given day. In order to keep consumers engaged, brands will expand on this approach by using APIs to ensure their message is meaningful and in the moment. This personalized touch will draw consumers’ attention and affection, as they journey throughout their day.

“Competitive conquesting ads will expand beyond retail as brands find clever ways to promote their product over their competitors based on real-time competitive actions. This year, we’ve helped put together some fun conquest campaigns where Firefly ads for a competitor’s product are displayed whenever a vehicle passes a retail store display that features the competitor. We expect more like this in 2022. Data will help inform the action, and creative will help steer the consumer.”

Cecilia Lang, Chief Revenue Officer

As Digital Ad Fraud Increases Unabated, Brands Will Seek Alternatives

“While the industry has come together and made significant advancements in combating ad fraud through supply chain transparency and third-party anti-fraud technology, bad actors continue to plague digital the digital ecosystem, with web, mobile, and CTV each presenting their own unique issues. In a recent report by Statista, they estimated the 2021 global cost of ad fraud at $65 billion, growing to $100 billion in 2023. In a more recent example, a Mediapost article highlighted a study by Cybersecurity CHEQ reporting that 35.7% of all Black Friday shoppers were fake.

“Despite tech advancements, the majority of ad fraud goes undetected, and even when it is detected, it is highly disruptive with valuable resources being spent on clawbacks and correcting erroneous reporting numbers.

“As brands and advertisers look to invest their media budgets, they can do so confidently with Firefly's owned and operated street-level marketing platform, as it’s inherently fraud-free and ensures a brand-safe ecosystem where their advertising dollars are 100% focused on reaching actual people who are actively engaged in the consumer journey.”

David Clutter, VP of Agency Development and Programmatic

More Campaigns Will Turn To Mobile Digital Ads for Social Media Engagement

“I think we’ll see a continued focus on how OOH and mobility advertising can have an impact on social media channels because innovative creative campaigns have such great potential to produce captivating social content. It’s an opportunity for us to tie what happens in OOH to the data and analytics piece of social media in order to get a more holistic view of overall success. In addition to our Ghostbusters campaign, we saw it this year with Kanye and Drake in Toronto, and it was something I emphasized during a recent guest lecture at Indiana University.”

“Using this type of space for advertising purposes is never going away, but it’s becoming more modernized as digital creative lends itself to social media content creation.“

Scott Rappaport, Senior Account Executive

The Digital Cookie is Dead, Long Live Digital OOH

With the digital cookie on its way out, digital OOH will be the only place that uses location and real-world triggers to bring context and moment-based messaging which can meet audiences where they are in the real world. Content and context will be king, and OOH will become the most differentiated medium for ads.

Alexis Candee, Senior Account Executive

Much more from Firefly soon. Until then, Happy Holidays and see you in 2022!

AdTech Trends Team Firefly is Looking Forward To in ‘22