What—and Who—Is on Marketers’ Minds for 2021?
Toward the end of last year, we asked readers to share their thoughts about 2021. We received dozens of responses from #MarketingTwitter, women's marketing groups and our Adweek Mentee Program. What would keep working? What would keep changing? Many...
MikeTyes
Toward the end of last year, we asked readers to share their thoughts about 2021. We received dozens of responses from #MarketingTwitter, women’s marketing groups and our Adweek Mentee Program. What would keep working? What would keep changing? Many of them believe recovery will happen this year. So, there’s that to look forward to: optimism and continued resilience. A good handful of them are also looking to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as a thought leader. Here are some of their other thoughts as we plant our feet and get to work.
Top goals
From the professional:
“Grow client list; service existing clients.” —Jessica Bellucci, founder, Bellucci Media
“Brand building; repositions our brands to meet this unique moment and drive cultural relevance.” —Waleed Elgindy, head of brand marketing, Google Cloud
“Reach the C-suite or director level to lead a vision.” —Kerry Hoang, social media supervisor, HyperX
To the personal:
“Bring my business closer to my personal values.” —Marie Berry, CEO, Kara
“Work-life balance.” —Angelic Vendette, global head of social media and influencer marketing, Stitch Fix
“Balancing mental health with the constant need to keep growing.” —Philip Pirkovic, creative strategist, Google
Predictions for the year
“Purpose will lead product.” —Lucy Glaser, head of growth, Unconquered
“Marketing budgets will need to align with brand values more than ever before.” —Erika Velazquez Alpern, vp, marketing, Voice
“Distributed workforces will be more of the norm.” —Gigi Trencher, senior director of partner development, TransUnion
“Some tough times but increasingly innovative uses of technology in comms.” —Rachel Evans, associate director, digital and influencer, Brands2Life
“I will feel a lot more free.” —Sara Porritt, Clorox wellness lead, integrated media planning and U.S. diversity and inclusion lead, OMD
Tech tools that will move work forward
Slack —Charlene Coughlin, managing director, Twist Creative
Zoom —Caroline Giegerich, founder, Daily Marauder
HubSpot —David Amirault, vp of marketing, Ozskier
Calendly —Caroline Giegerich, founder, Daily Marauder
Calm app —Dmitry Shamis, senior director, HubSpot
New thought leaders to watch
“Athletes, musicians, artists who found their voice in 2020 (John Legend, LeBron James, Taylor Swfit, Cardi B).” —Waleed Elgindy, head of brand marketing, Google Cloud
“Rising star journalists who have launched their own one-person publishers.” —Erika Velazquez Alpern, vp, marketing, Voice
“Jeanette Jordan, director of product marketing at Factual, and Adam Ornelas, social media and influencer strategist at Chipotle.” —Nicholas Love, vp of marketing, G&S Business Communications
“Jason Rosario, head of DEI at BBDO.” —Aaron Harvey, co-founder, Ready Set Rocket
“Kamala (Harris)!” vice president-elect, U.S. —Keira Kotler, founder and CEO, Everviolet
2021 prediction
“After the plague comes the renaissance. 2021 will feel like a rebirth for all of humanity. This is not a ‘return to normal.’ I predict a reinvention. This year, we’ll reemerge to reimagine our newly reacquired social selves. As we do, we have a mandate to rewrite our social contracts with each other. 2021 will be defined by how we choose to help each other. The brands that help us do that—the brands aligned to our values—are the ones we’ll value most.” —Andréa Mallard, CMO, Pinterest
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