Josh Golden, SVP, Senior Creative Director, Yes& Agency, predicts we will see the following in 2021:

THE GOVERNMENT BRAND

Government agencies will continue to develop their brands. More and more, we are seeing government entities embrace their brand narrative, their brand voice, and their brand experience. This is exciting. With so much on the line, agencies and Comms departments need to reach stakeholders and the public in more meaningful and remarkable ways. This is best delivered through a cohesive and consistent brand. And that evolution will not simply stop at style guides or brand standards, but a deeper consideration of brand meaning, promise, and value. This will help these federal agencies be more trusted, relevant and effective.

 THE EVER-CHANGING EVENT

We’ll need to reinvent events. Will they be live? Will they be virtual? The solution is not binary. Event producers and marketers will have to explore new ways to create a new multi-media, multi-platform and multi-venue experience. This will be an industry-wide interruption—and one that’s probably long overdue. Events will not be a fixed point in time. 

While there is still value to a “happening,” both online and live, events will be more of a year-round journey with key touch points along the way. Also, the walls between live and virtual attendees will begin to fall away (or should), in favor of a shared experience between the ballroom and home audiences. I look forward to seeing what we can create.

 THE EXPERIMENTATION ERA

A welcomed turning of the calendar page will usher in a year of experimentation. We’ve had to do things differently in 2020, so we’ll choose to do things differently in 2021. Organizations will be more open to questioning—to getting rid of the old sacred cows. “We do it because we’ve always done it” no longer makes sense. Movies were released on TV. Voting was done by mail. Trick-or-treating was done on driveways, not at the neighbor doors. And a lot of it started to make sense. This spirit of experimentation—of design thinking—will carry us into 2021 and, beyond.