The advertising industry has been through some striking changes over recent years. The rise of digital media and growing personalization mean the situation is substantially different from 2019. Taking a long view, it is clear the landscape is nothing like it was pre-pandemic.
For this reason, it is critical to stay ahead of the trends. Doing so will ensure you, your company, and your brand remain competitive as the situation evolves.
Key Trends to Watch in 2025
So, which trends do you need to watch in 2025? Here’s a rundown:
AI-Powered Personalization
AI-powered personalization will be top of the exciting changes coming next year. Advances in artificial intelligence-based tools are enabling hyper-personalized ad experiences, allowing marketers to display the exact ads the consumer wants to see.
This technology will likely go beyond curation (i.e. showing consumers products they most want to buy) and instead adjust ad copy and even language to suit user preferences. Consumers will feel like brands can speak to them directly instead of just to the broader demographics they are part of.
Real-time content adjustments based on user behavior and preferences could also become possible. Non-intrusive AIs will soon measure consumer actions and feed these into algorithms, telling them the best way to encourage conversion.
Rise of Generative AI in Creative Campaigns
Related to this, marketers will also use AI to produce creative assets, like video, text, and imagery. However, the emphasis will be on prompting AI systems to generate outputs that match brand tone, voice, and consumer needs instead of merely lowering costs.
The blending of AI and conventional production will also be a factor. For example, professional copywriters may produce the base for ads and then AI systems might iterate on these to discover the optimal text via A/B testing.
Ethical considerations will also emerge when using AI content. Brands will need to maintain their authenticity and avoid artificial intelligence diluting their content or making it seem “thin” or depersonalized (both of which are issues with today’s systems).
Sustainability Messaging and Green Advertising
Sustainable messaging and green advertising will also likely be part of the story for 2025. Brands want content that reflects increasing consumer demand for eco-friendly products and services.
Patagonia is one of the best examples of a business that effectively displays its sustainable credentials through focused ad campaigns. It continuously refers to its various schemes, such as clothing return and ecological material use, in its content. It even ran a “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign to make consumers think twice about purchasing its products if they already had something similar at home.
Tesla is an example of another company that does green messaging effortlessly. Branding via thousands of social media influencers that follow the company’s activities, including its investments in green tech, spread its narrative among the public.
Immersive Advertising Through AR and VR
Growth in augmented and virtual reality ad formats, especially in gaming and e-commerce, will likely also be a trend for 2025. Headsets are becoming more affordable, even mainstream, increasing this strategy’s universal appeal.
Existing VR ad examples include:
GSK’s ad, the Exedrin Migraine Experience, which recreates what it’s like to have a migraine and how the condition can affect people who live with it daily
Adidas’s Terrex: Delicatessen ad that gives audiences a vicarious experience of what climbing a high mountain wearing its shoes is like.
McDonald’s Happy Goggles designed for younger audiences, turning Happy Meal Boxes into a VR experience.
Expansion of Social Commerce
It’s also likely that social commerce will continue to see massive expansion throughout 2025, continuing the trend of the last few years. Social media platforms will likely enhance their shopping experiences, encouraging users to stay within their sites instead of clicking over to Google. TikTok have already taken the initial steps with their ‘For You’ shopping week which looks an awful lot like Amazon’s month of Prime deals and we anticipate the social media giant will only look to expand this area of their business in the new year.
AI chatbots and shoppable live stream integration will undoubtedly take this trend to the next level. Getting on-platform advice will help consumers make better buying decisions, especially those involving more complicated products, like skincare or lawnmowers.
Privacy-First Advertising Solutions
Privacy-first advertising is another strong trend. Brands must develop stricter strategies for navigating new data privacy regulations, including cookieless tracking. New tools are available, such as behavioral analysis algorithms that rely less on cookies, but require time to set up and careful calibration for optimal performance.
Balancing personalization with consumer trust will become a primary theme over the next twelve months. Marketers will need to develop ingenious ways to funnel customer-relevant data into AI systems while also respecting the need for privacy and data anonymization.
Blurred lines between paid and earned media
Finally, the lines between paid and earned media will become more subtle during 2025. Consumers and rival companies will find it more challenging to differentiate between native ads and paid content.
To avoid the stigma of the hashtags ‘sponsored’ or ‘ad’, brands will take a softer sell approach and settle for awareness rather than an out and out hard sell. For example instead of Netflix paying influencers to make a favourable sponsored post about ‘The Holiday’ they may pay them to simply voice their opinions on the movie on their social platforms. Whether the influencer loves or hates the movie is irrelevant, Netflix have reminded their target audience of their newly added content in a subtle way.
Emerging Platforms and Channels
2025 may witness new channels emerging and going mainstream. For example, BeReal is an ad platform set up specifically for Gen Z with over 70% of its users in the 18–27 age range, and 40 million users across key markets, like Europe, the U.S., and Japan.
Decentralized social networks are also expected to rise. Bluesky, Mastodon, and Diamond App all bypass gatekeepers, offering commercial enterprises more ad freedom and fewer constraints.
Finally, audio-based platforms and podcasts for storytelling are showing potential. Amazon’s Audible is a leading example where ad formats could replace subscriptions, but there are many others, including Spotify, and SoundCloud.
Data and Measurement Innovations
Data and measurement innovations could also come to the fore during 2025. AI-driven analytics tools offer predictive insights beyond standard approaches because of their unique ability to “see into the data.” They can capture hidden patterns and adjust marketing strategies accordingly, something that will likely accelerate over the next year.
More generally, 2025 will likely shift toward ROI-focused metrics over vanity metrics. These deal more with the buttom line than with likes, shares, comments, and other indicators of social success.
Challenges to Anticipate
Of course, throughout 2025, advertisers can expect to face some severe challenges. One problem is ad fatigue, or the fact that internet users now see so many commercials, they simply zone out, even if the placement is for something that could benefit them.
The solution, going forward, will be to get creative and find new channels to grab their attention. Value-driven content will become mainstream and advertisers seek to win consumers over to their cause again.
Addressing skepticism around AI use and data security concerns will also be necessary. Consumers and internet users are more cynical than ever about how companies relate to them online.
Conclusion
To recap, 2025 is likely to see some emerging ad trends, including more personalization, a renewed focus on data, AI-infused ads, and immersive, sustainability-focused VR experiences. For these reasons, brands need to experiment, adapt, and innovate to stay relevant. Otherwise, the industry could leave them behind.
Share your thoughts on the trends and how you’re planning to incorporate them into your strategies.
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Originally posted on ADvendio.com on the 12th of December 2024.
