Review of trends in digital strategy, brand, UX, CX, visual design, and technology for 2019

1. Presented by
2019
Trends in Digital
5 January 2020

2. Each year, we examine the most interesting
developments in digital.
We look for what’s new. What’s exciting. What’s
relevant to our clients and to our work.
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3. We offer these trends as inspiration for your own
ideas and innovation.
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4. Digital Trends: 2019
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1 From CX to RX & EX
2 Digital Ethics
3 Mobile Tipping Point
4 Digital First Content
5 Searching v. Exploring
6 Going Hi-res
7 Ambient Digital

5. From CX to RX & EX
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6. Recruiting and retaining top talent has never been
more challenging. In response, brands are taking a
closer look at their recruit and employee experience.
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7. In the last few years, a fundamental shift has
dominated marketers’ perspective on brand.
Whereas we once views brand through
messaging or psychographic dimensions,
marketers are now being urged to think of
customer experience as the core of their brand.
This shift offered a host of new models,
approaches, and tools – from design thinking to
customer-journey mapping. In companies that
accepted this shift, marketers find themselves
newly empowered to curate every customer
touchpoint as a brand moment.
We’re all Customer Experience (CX) Experts Now
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89% 18%
Of companies
expect to
compete based
on customer
experience
Of marketing
budgets are
dedicated to CX
initiatives
Source: Gartner for Marketing CMO Survey, 2016 & 2017

8. In 2018, a Federal Reserve study declared that the US
has reached full employment – basically, the labor
market is incapable of operating any more efficiently
than it is now. Unemployment is at its lowest rate
(3.7%) since 1969.
This is making it increasingly difficult for organizations to
find and retain talent – particularly at the highest skilled
positions. In many leading organizations, CHROS and
CTOs are teaming up with CMOs to overhaul not just the
outreach to new talent, but the entire quality of the
recruiting and employee experience.
New Urgency in Recruiting and Talent
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-19/fed-study-of-labor-participation-finds-
u-s-at-full-employment

9. Executives are now urged to take greater care of their
talent/employer brands. It’s perhaps not surprising that
the “experience lens” that has proved so effective for
attracting and retaining customers is now being applied
to recruits and current employees.
This has frequently meant taking a more expansive,
more strategic look at how key digital touchpoints –
LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, public websites, internal
tools – articulate the culture and experience of the
organizations. For some, it has lead to another level of
digital innovation.
CX is extended to RX and EX
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https://hbr.org/2015/05/ceos-need-to-pay-attention-to-employer-branding

10. While most companies use standardized, third-party
tools for recruiting in-take and management, top
competitors for talent are producing their own sites
and apps.
Accenture’s onboarding app helps smooth over a
complicated transition where talent often feel a
disjoint between the organization they experienced
during recruiting and the organization they
eventually joined.
Taking Control of the Onboarding Experience
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https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/accenture-onboarding/id1269703455?mt=8

11. PwC’s Talent Exchange iOS app connects the
internal culture to a network of vetted independent
talent.
PwC can use the exchange to fill gaps in resourcing.
Independent talent can use it to explore
opportunities, projects, and fill their pipeline with
work into the future. They can also connect with
each other.
Encouraging Talent Connections
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https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pwc-talent-exchange/id1062078571?mt=8

12. Deloitte Recruiting Experience
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17. Digital Ethics
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18. In 2018 we witnessed GDPR, record-breaking
lawsuits and fines, and multiple corporate scandals.
In 2019, Digital Ethics is emerging as a
comprehensive response.
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19. Attention has moved beyond third-party hacks. There is now deep scrutiny by governments, courts,
journalists, and users themselves into how digital solutions treat users across several dimensions. Digital
Ethics is a comprehensive approach to such issues as:
As Gartner has noted, the shift happening now is from a reactive discussion of liability toward an active
concern for ethics – from questions like “are we compliant” to “are we doing the right thing.” Smart
organizations realize that addressing ethics in the design of their services is the only way to maintain
trust.
Dimensions of Digital Ethics
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Privacy & Security Accessibility & Inclusion Values & Transparency
Are we keeping data safe? Are we
keeping people safe?
Are we designing for everyone? Do we
treat all users equally?
Are we up-front about what we’re doing?
Does it match our values?
https://www.gartner.com/doc/3891569?ref=clientFriendlyURL

20. The storm around Facebook’s lack of
attention to privacy concerns is so
overwhelming that some news outlets
publish frequently updated “roundups”
tracking multiple concurrent stories.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/timeline-facebook-s-privacy-issues-its-
responses-n859651
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/14/facebook-privacy-problems-
roundup
Facebook is far from alone, however. The
dubious prize of first major GDPR violation
went to Google.
https://www.crn.com/news/security/france-hits-google-with-57m-fine-in-first-major-gdpr-
violation
The Cost of the Reactive Stance
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21. Though technically only applicable to
services delivered in Europe, GDPR’s main
policy directives – keeping data safe, keeping
data private, and giving people direct control
over how data is used – are now core
expectations.
Many now expect other countries and
regions, including the US, to adopt similar
regulations.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/17/gao-gdpr-privacy-laws-us/
Privacy is Relevant Everywhere
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22. Case law is forcing the US to catch up to
Europe in guaranteeing digital access for all
persons, including those with disabilities.
Access Joins Privacy as an Essential Right
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https://www.fastcompany.com/90293399/ninth-circuit-court-dominos-pizza-website-is-bound-by-ada

23. Companies are realizing that it’s not just
about reactively complying with specific
technical standards.
A comprehensive approach – aka
inclusive design – offers a more solid
and more value-aligned foundation for
their digital efforts. Inclusive design
strives for access across:
- Abilities (visual, audio, motion)
- Resources (income, digital access)
- Geographies
- Backgrounds
Inclusive Design is Now an Imperative
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24. Confidential 24

27. Mobile Tipping Point
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28. Mobile drives, or influences, an average of
over 40% of revenue in leading B2B organizations
Confidential 28https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/experience-design/b2b-marketing-reshaping-growth/

29. In the past 10 years, we’ve enjoyed a continuous
revolution in mobile design. Mobile websites, mobile
apps, responsive design, and progressive web apps
(PWAs) have given us more dynamic, better optimized
tools for delivering content to small screens.
Mobile usage has now caught up to, or in some
instances, surpassed desktop usage for key
interactions. This tipping point in behavior is driving
change not just into design and technology, but into the
content strategy itself.
The Mobile Tipping Point
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https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/marketing-sales-digital-go-to-
market-transformation-mobile-marketing-new-b2b-buyer.aspx

30. Digital experience providers now realize that
certain kinds of content better suit a mobile
context. Whereas a desktop is tuned for
consuming large amounts of information, in a
specific setting, and connects easily to work;
a mobile context best allows focused
consumption of one thing at a time, at any
point in a person’s day.
The two biggest areas of innovation in B2B
mobile content – video and audio
(podcasting) – actually don’t require new
technology of design techniques. But they do
require a rethinking of content form and
purpose.
The Mobile Tipping Point
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Desktop Context Mobile Context
• Location specific • Location independent
• Interactive • Hands-free
• Browse larges amounts of
data
• Focus on one thing at a
time
• Connected to work • Connected to life

31. Video is of course, nothing new.
But previous approaches were not
focused on the mobile context.
They were based either on
television interviews (think talking
heads) or worse, advertisements.
There’s much to find at fault in
videos like this send-up from a
stock-video house. But the core
problem is shared widely: they are
essentially content-less.
(Pre-) Mobile Video
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https://youtu.be/2YBtspm8j8M

32. One highly successful new type of
video is the “explainer,” a format
that is highly consumable on
mobile during a commute, in
between meetings, etc:
- Short (usually < 3 mins)
- Illustrated (digital vs video
production)
- Captioned (not reliant on audio)
- Focused on a single concept, idea,
or story
The Rise of the Explainer Video
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https://youtu.be/mbPiAzzGap0

33. Many have discovered podcasts as an ideal format for consuming complicated ideas – ones that often
struggled to focus on when it arrived as a long-form article. Podcasts also fit nicely into contexts (like a
commute) where you can’t look easily at a screen.
Rise of Business Podcasts
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Supporting information like transcripts, tagging, and offering multiple listening platforms help improve visibility of podcast content and help
bridge the desktop-mobile experience.

34. Podcasts need not involve a heavy up-front investment. Recording tools are easily available, and most
see better success when deployed across multiple (free) platforms.
Natively Cross-Platform
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35. Digital First Content
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36. Marketers have sought to add interactivity to their
content marketing pieces for years. Now some are
rethinking their digital content from the ground-up.
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37. Content marketers have always for years that long-form copy
was a challenge. Design could offer a more comfortable
reading experience, but it couldn’t the amount of work required
by audiences. In the tight competition for users’ attention,
shorter always wins.
By making content more interactive, more natively digital,
marketers can communicate complex ideas, models, and data
sets without forcing users through a marathon of paragraphs.
Interactive pieces are also easier and more effectively
marketed across channels like social and mobile.
Many look to leading examples like McKinsey’s 5/50
publication series for inspiration.
Bye, bye PDF
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38. New interactive content tools and marketing services seek to make McKinsey-like approaches accessible
to organizations of all sizes and industries, without a lot of coding.
Content Design Tools Make Interactivity Accessible
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43. Confidential 43
A templated approach has
challenges.
Even McKinsey’s pieces can
lack distinctiveness after a short
while. After the initial visual
hook, they often lead to the
same long articles and/or PDFs.

44. Some of the best examples in digital-first
content is coming from unexpected sources.
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47. Confidential 47

48. New Approach, New Roles
In a standard approach, a content pieces moves
from skillset to skillset at is proceeds through a
staged process.
A digital approach breaks down roles and stages. It
also introduces new skills. Teams collaborate
throughout.
Writing
Editing
Design
Sign-off
Publication
Analysis
Expert, Writer
Editor, Writer
Designer
Editor, Expert
Marketer
Marketer
Digital Editor
+
Expert, Writer, Designer,
Front-end Developer,
Marketer
Ideation
Creation
EditingDistribution
Measure
Lots of back-
and-forth
(Coordinated
writing, design,
and coding)

49. Searching v. Exploring
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50. Search dominates how we begin most digital
experiences. But brands are now more careful about
how we rely on search to get users to where they
want to go.
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51. 2017

52. 2019

53. Many content-heavy sites followed the lead of
online retailers by putting search front-and-
center. These experiences represent significant
investment: technology must be purchased,
filters and controls must be designed, and the
results continually optimized and refined.
But here’s the reality: users don’t like search-
forward interfaces. At least, not when they
aren’t yet sure what you have.
Our own website is (perhaps ironically) a good
example of this trend. The blog search
accounts for only 1.5% of pageviews.
Why Do We Make People Work?
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Pretty much no one
uses all this
functionality.

54. Amazon, who appropriately leads with search in its main
retail site, chose an exploration-focused experience for its
corporate blog.
A simple keyword search is still available. But the primary
metaphor is a digital magazine, supported by a clear
hierarchy of featured and supporting articles, multiple
discovery mechanisms, simple tagging, and a clean reading
experience.
Leaning into Exploration
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55. BCG, McKinsey, and other professional service organizations that market primarily with thought
leadership have followed a similar path, encouraging browsing over searching.
Experts Agree
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57. Of course, SEO and external search still
matters. More than ever.
A big driving factor is the browser
experience – all major browsers have
integrated search into the address bar,
making portals, bookmarks, and landing
pages essentially obsolete.
* External SEO Still Matters
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https://moz.com/blog/write-for-seo-2018

58. Going Hi-Res
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59. A new generation of ultra high-resolution displays
across devices is driving the use of new visual
treatments and techniques
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60. Unlike in previous years, the biggest changes in
display technology are not in their size, but in their
resolution and pixel density. Howsoever they’re
labelled – 4K, 5K, 8K, “Retina,” etc. – high-res
screens are now standard across all device types,
including TVs, desktops, laptops and mobile phones.
Pixels are now small enough to be invisible to the
human eye, rivalling the smoothness of print.
Designers have definitely taken notice.
The Rise of Hi-Res
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Your college computer
Your first iPhone
Old flat-screen TV your kids use to watch YouTube
Brand-new monitor at work
Neighbor’s “man cave” TV you secretly want

61. Type treatments previously avoided –
serifed fonts, thin weights, extreme
modulations – can now be used as
beautifully in digital as they are in print.
It’s not just about having new design
options. For some organizations, it’s the
key to full visual alignment between their
print and online brands.
Refined Typography
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64. Custom Interaction Effects
Higher pixel density also leads to
smoother, more refined micro-interactions.
Subtle changes to the cursor, line weights,
typography, and buttons visually reward
the user for continued engagement.

65. High-resolution displays show their full power when
used for immersive experiences
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68. Ambient Digital
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69. Leading brands don’t just align analog and digital.
They integrate them into a single, cohesive
experience.
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70. Our digital lives have now become so pervasive, so
portable, and so ubiquitous that the most innovative
brands are exploring immersive experiences that
blend analog and digital touchpoints so seamlessly
that the difference no longer makes sense.
By leveraging location-specific (or location-aware)
technology like touch kiosks, voice assistants, mobile
devices, VR and AR, brands can create experiences
where people interact with a environment, not a
device.
Ambient Experiences
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“This multiexperience environment will create an ambient
experience in which the spaces that surround us define
‘the computer’ rather than the individual devices”
- Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019

71. One of the easiest first steps in creating an ambient experience is the introduction of kiosks and
interactive screens into an environment.
Kiosks & Device Integration
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Mcdonald’s kiosks haven’t cut jobs, but
they have cut error rates.
Taco Bell’s kiosks are design to improve
traffic flow and overall experience.
BT’s new kiosks will never be as well loved
as the iconic phone booth, but they offer
fast wifi, free charging, and location-specific
information

72. Amazon Go stores are low on
kiosks, but they are integrated
into digital in less obvious ways.
People scan in using their
phones. Items they select are
tracked using sensors or
beacons inside the products.
No need to check out – after you
exit your Amazon account is
charged and you receive the
receipt by email.

73. Online retailers like IKEA and Houzz
have each released mobile apps that
integrate their online stores, physical
stores, and your own home.
The apps use AT technology now built
into iOS and Android to “place” furniture
items like rugs, sofas, and chairs into an
image of your own room. It even lets you
move to view the object from different
angles.

74. In the New York Times Daily
360 videos, the content
itself is projected into the
video. There’s no
interruption in consumption
between copy and image.
You can move your device
to explore the area around
you. The sound on the file
is an ambient recording.

75. Thank you.
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