Thinking Forward Is Built
In a rapidly shifting landscape where challenges and opportunities evolve simultaneously, long-term marketing thinking has never been more essential. As Belgium approaches its 200th anniversary, the Belgian Association of Marketing (BAM) offers a powerful contribution to this reflection with the release of Looking at 2030 – 35 killer marketing questions, a comprehensive guide designed to help brands and marketers prepare for the decade ahead.
The publication emerges at a moment of paradox and volatility. With rising complexity across technology, consumer behaviour, culture, and sustainability, distinguishing what truly matters from short-lived noise has become increasingly difficult. This is precisely the void the magazine aims to fill. By mobilising dozens of Belgian experts, BAM provides clear signals in a world crowded with distractions — reaffirming Belgium’s role as a thoughtful, forward-looking marketing hub within Europe.
Across 132 pages, the guide addresses some of the most pressing questions shaping the industry’s future:
– Does meaningful marketing still resonate in a world shaped by uncertainty?
– What becomes of SEO when AI begins selecting results for us?
– Can circularity be made desirable, not just necessary?
Contributors including Joke Claessen, Any Courbet, Nathalie Erdmanis, Hamza Ouamari, Andy Serdons, Fons Van Dyck, Dado Van Peteghem, Wim Vermeulen and Isabel Verstraete — among many others — each provide a concise yet nuanced perspective. Their insights span eight key themes reflecting major social, ecological, technological, industrial, and cultural transformations:
• The conscious consumer
• Tech with a soul
• Technology unchained
• Marketing for a fragile planet
• The next marketing model
• From channels to ecosystems
• Trust as the new KPI
• The inclusive future
Taken as a whole, Looking at 2030 serves as a strategic compass for marketers around the world — an essential reference for anyone seeking not only to navigate, but to shape the path to 2030 with clarity and purpose.
As BAM CEO Fleur Parnet notes, the signals we observe today may become the defining waves of tomorrow. With contributions from around fifty marketing professionals, the magazine stands as a collective effort to illuminate what lies ahead and to guide brands toward decisions that are both future-oriented and grounded in real expertise.
Thinking forward is not an act of prediction.
It is the discipline of building what comes next — deliberately, intelligently, and together.
