Is the death of the marketing funnel nigh? With IAB’s James Chandler

Last week, digital advertising trade body IAB UK unveiled new research forecasting a matured digital market, a fast-growing video and retail media market, and strong potential for gaming.

It also found, based on interviews with 40 industry leaders, that the marketing funnel as we have known it may well not survive a digital future in which more media channels become shoppable and generative AI proliferates, changing how consumers seek information about products and services.

In a companion op-ed to the report, James Chandler, IAB UK's chief strategy officer, argued that not only is the future funnel-less, but that all media will soon become retail media.

Chandler joined host Jack Benjamin to elaborate on his argument and discuss how advertisers should adjust their media strategies as the consumer journey gets truncated by shoppable advertising in AV formats.

"Immediacy is going to be the biggest thing," said Chandler. "With the advent of AI and the sophistication around digital, you can go from awareness all the way through to buying something and becoming a customer in the space of seconds."

Highlights:

1:11: Takeaways from the IAB's Futurescape research

6:34: Should agencies move away from a channel-led approach to planning?

11:33: The opportunity in shoppable formats

17:32: How AI is changing consumption habits and what it means for advertisers

24:31: Is there a new heuristic that can replace the funnel?

Related articles:

The future is funnel-less — adapt your ad strategies accordingly

100 years of doing it wrong — and how to do it right

‘Full funnel measurement must accelerate’ — media priorities for Arla Foods’ Rob Edwards

4 principles to create an effective full-funnel measurement strategy

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