The 14 pieces of intelligence a marketer must know for 2014

It’s 2014, so in the modern tradition of listing key trends for the year ahead, here are 14 things you need to know.

Ruth Mortimer

1. Social counterfeiting is going to be a big problem for brands this year. Read our investigation into brand reputations being put at risk by fake goods on social networks.

2. It’s going to be another tough year for retailers. At the time of writing, the brands that refused to discount appear to have won the battle of Christmas sales.

3. Suppliers will also be squeezed this year, whether it’s brands asking agencies for rebates or retailers demanding supplier help with marketing and store refits.

4. Privacy will continue to be a hot topic this year. The EU is bringing out new requirements on consent and brands need to be prepared.

5. Consumers will also demand more transparency in food supply after 2013’s horsemeat scandal. Mark Ritson looks at the problem of genetically modified foods.

6. In media trends, sequential messaging – brand messages that fit together in a sequence across multiple screens – will become a reality.

7. Wearable tech, touted as the next big thing for a while, could genuinely go mainstream this year.

8. You can watch all this year’s Super Bowl ads on our nifty live blog.

9. Lists, a bit like this one, are still going to be incredibly popular. You can find Ashley Friedlein’s list of trends in content marketing here.

10. In good economic news, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) says 2014 has started well with an estimated expansion in UK GDP of 0.9%.

11. Our Marketing Week Engage Awards 2014 in association with YouGov are open for entry! Make sure you are rewarded for your marketing brilliance this year. Visit MarketingWeekAwards.co.uk to enter.

12. We have adjusted the Engage Awards categories this year to better reflect your work. We’ve introduced a brand new award – Best Customer Experience in association with Quadrangle – to reward those marketers who truly put the customer at the heart of what they do.

13. We’re making you the star of our awards campaign. Tweet us at @MarketingWeekEd with your childhood dream job and we’ll make you the star of our marketing campaign.

14. And finally, we publish the marketing industry’s biggest salary survey next week. Just who are the UK’s most stressed marketers? Make sure you read the next issue to find out.

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