Does any of the conventional marketing wisdom hold true? Do consumers or the brand managers or agencies hold the control?

Why is the traditional agency model dying? Do multi-screens still exist or is it all just mobile? What are consumers achieving by going live? Should we go Facebook or YouTube or Snapchat or Instagram? Are brands being ‘human’ in a hyper media world?

As we close 2016, one of the key things we have learnt is to unlearn old wisdom and learn new fundamental truths. While most of the articles these days talk about what to do in 2017, very few actually indicate what “not to do in 2017”.

Let’s look at some broad themes how the new media and new marketing are evolving with the new consumer.

* There will be no concept of “digital marketing”

If all marketing will be digital, why do we still discuss digital marketing or marketing in the digital world? The conventional fundamentals of marketing have evolved and organisations are still struggling with traditional structures and formats.

We spoke of multi-screen marketing a year ago and that doesn’t exist anymore because there is only one main screen — mobile.

* Should we be looking at the Chief Marketing Officer or the Chief Digital Officer?

The traditional CMO has structured his organisation with brand managers, ad agency partners, insight folks and media experts. So now if we look at the CDO, should they have a lean structure focusing only on content marketing and media experts or restructure the traditional model?

The answer is lean, content-focused, less brand and more consumer driven. Whether we refer to the ‘D’ as digital or disruption, the role of his individual will be key in future organisations.

* Problem of plenty in the agency world

A few years ago we had a problem of plenty of creative agencies and now we see a problem of plenty among digital agencies. All these agencies are doing the same job ... but maybe some are doing it faster and cheaper. We do see a lot of the agencies doing quick activations, cheap social media management, low-cost online campaigns, traditional media buying, etc.

What’s most critical for the agency model is to build a seamless structure in specialities and create a model that builds the most effective and relevant content in the fastest way with fewer people and a leaner structure. This is most important especially in a world where we see content as being easy and mostly free.

* The future is video and the future is live

Being “live” makes us more present in the moment and increases possibilities of brand–consumer interaction. Total digital video revenue, including mobile and desktop, rose to $3.9 billion in the first half of 2016, up 51 per cent from the first half of 2015.

We can expect much bigger numbers evolving in 2017. The focus now has to be video, brand stories and going live.

* Your consumer is your marketer

In an environment where content is free and we look at consumer-generated content, why should we still have agencies or brand managers debating in boardrooms on how to generate the most effective content? The consumer today is well placed to market the brand they love and create stronger “brand bonds” with their fellow brand loyalists.

Marketing organisations and even agencies need to focus on user-generated content and involve the consumers in this journey of content creation.

* How do we become more “human”?

It is time enough for brands and marketers to be real, authentic and imperfect. The focus has to be on being “human” and trustworthy. Real stories, real people and real content are the new norm. There is potential to use AR & VR (augmented and virtual reality) in an engaging manner, which gives the brand an ability to stand out and to have a meaningful conversation.

While we have chatbots and technology replacing the human way, the question is how do we humanise other content? The key question is to develop a brand language of being more human.

With these seismic marketing shifts, the focus for marketers should be to unlearn and to restructure with a new consumer focus. The reality is no longer the reality, it changes every day.

The key is to find order in this disorder and create a space, which is enviable and clearly more human.

— The writer is the CEO of marketing services firm Human.