Peering into the future

This week's Future Foundation conference in London has unveiled the top trends coming to a world near you. 

It's always fascinating peering into the future, and impossible to argue with the predictions as to some extent those who make them can always claim they weren't wrong, they're simply early.

Anyway, Rebecca Coleman in Marketing Magazine reports today that the top five future trends range from multi-faceted paths to purchase, to hedonistic offsetting and solo living.

The one that caught my eye however was number 3, emojinal intelligence.

According to Future Foundation’s managing director Meabh Quoirin brands have an opportunity to harness the power of real emotion.

She adds: 'No-one can deny that emotional marketing works, but the ways in which brands are getting there is becoming increasingly varied.'

And 'amplifying emotional messages is one way brands can meet the ‘adblockalypse’ head on, on the basis that people are much more willing to share ads and content that makes them feel good.'

It caught my eye partly because today also saw an ad blocker take out a punchy ad in the Financial Times to denounce the internet advertising industry.

Lara O'Reilly, Business Insider's global advertising editor reports that Shine, the Israeli ad blocking company, has placed a provocative print ad in the Financial Times to denounce the US advertising trade body the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The ad features the famous image of Muhammad Ali knocking out Sonny Liston, with the strapline:

"The @iab knew we could block. Now they know we can punch, too."

Both stories highlight the conundrum facing brands in the modern digital environment.

How to reach and engage an audience that leads to meaningful interactions and ultimately a deeper relationship with their brand.

The recent rise in ad blocking is a consequence of advertisers having taken advantage of that relationship in recent years.

It's time to make amends, and quick. Connecting through real emotion may be the answer, but doing that consistently and at scale is no mean feat.