Snapchat’s Valentina Culatti, Director of Creative Strategy and Production, reveals what she has learned from 2023 and is taking with her into 2024. 

It’s not an exaggeration to say that one of the overwhelming trends in 2023 has been consumers searching for meaning in life. That may sound grandiose, so let’s break it down.

First, none of us has escaped the cost of living crisis. Even as inflation relaxes its grip on the economy somewhat towards the end of 2023, there is still a sense that every penny counts. Businesses as much as consumers are questioning their spend, looking for ways to maximise their disposable income while at the same time, cutting out waste. It wasn’t necessarily a year of contraction, but certainly a reality check in terms of understanding duplication, redundant efforts, and being more effective and productive.

Sustainability has long been the thorn in throwaway culture’s side but now there’s a financial element. Do I really need more stuff? What value will it bring to my life? We don’t need more things. There’s a squeeze on space as much as money. And so the move towards meaning, and experience. How do we push the boundaries, creating new and unexpected ways of communicating visually, developing new languages for a mass consumer.

More and more across 2023 we saw consumers valuing unique events, the ability to take control of the conversation and be part of the zeitgeist. Just look at Barbenheimer. The involvement around Oppenheimer was a completely different vibe to that around Barbie but the latter absolutely got people involved - talking and sharing - thanks to things like life-size doll boxes in cinema foyers, and AI-enhanced avatars that produced our very own Kens.

That involvement also took on another flavour in 2023. Increasingly a ‘look at me’ channel for broadcasting the not-so-humblebrag, social media started to take a turn back to its roots. Increasingly, it became about connecting with our nearest and dearest, cultivating our exclusive tribes, not a race to the biggest follower count or number of likes. The trend is now moving away from broadcasting content and towards social interaction, with consumers looking for authenticity and more in-depth chat among their interest groups.

We’re moving towards a more wholesome experience when it comes to online communities – science proves it. The initial dopamine rush delivered by the occasional like has been overwhelmed by the endless scrolling through feeds, gobbling up time and attention and leaving the user feeling empty. Contrasted with real, lasting happiness generated by authentic interactions – there’s no competition.

And if audiences were looking to participate in meaningful experiences that could support their own, authentic self-expression and happiness, brands too were focusing on using social platforms to forge genuine connections.

Even iconic venues like the Louvre can benefit from an injection of digital innovation. The museum’s Egyptian artefacts are indeed marvels of the ancient world, but time has not been kind. It takes a great deal of scholarly imagination to envisage the displays as they once were. But, using augmented reality via mobile, the Paris museum has - virtually - restored the pink granite bas-reliefs of The Naos of Amasis, or the full-colour Chamber of Ancestors. Visitors can even put themselves in the garb of the time.

There’s no doubt that Generative AI is a natural evolution of AR tools and there was no way of escaping the buzz in 2023. But while AR is now relatively well-established, including parameters and use cases, AI is still very much finding its feet.

The role the human has in guiding its evolution and chaperoning its activities will also need to be defined, and there will have to be serious discussions about how Generative AI will impact roles and even the very structure of services. We’ve just started our journey of prompting, where creatives learn how to instruct the algorithm in true partnership with the model but, in order to achieve the best results using AI, creatives will need to leverage their specialism. That said, while we can ask AI to give us a recommendation, it will always be our intuition as human beings that will drive us.

But more than anything AI will allow us to think about new possibilities, teasing and allowing us to really test the eternal "imagine if this was possible" conundrum.

This, of course, will impact the professions of the future. How do we even train a new generation of AI-literate creatives who know how to harness its power? Creative minds will always be looking for new food for thought, new tools and ways of engaging. It’s all about the broadening of horizons.

2024 will be a moment of refinement. We’re at the beginning of a journey, one that is moving faster than innovations ever have before. One thing is certain – consumers will not accept Generative AI as a valid alternative to engagement on a human level. There will still need to be that same level of authenticity, the sense of community, of participation that we have seen this year.