Sydney, 6 November 2024: Kantar today releases its 10 key global trends for marketers for 2025. ‘Marketing Trends 2025’ predicts the forces that will shape the future of marketing, backed by extensive attitudinal and behavioural data. These are trends that represent not just incremental changes but a fundamental shift in how brands connect with consumers.

In announcing these trends, Kantar Australia Head of Culture, Futures and Strategy, Dan Robertson-Jones says, that “2025 promises to be a seismic year for the Australian marketing industry and those who embrace these changes, prioritise data-driven strategies, and champion creativity and inclusivity will be best positioned for success.”

“Many of the emerging trends and forces that have been disruptive forces over the past few years will move into the mainstream. With it, they will define what successful marketing looks like.”

“Sustainability, inclusivity and ageing demographics, AI, Livestreaming and Retail Media Networks are just some of the trends that marketers will now need to understand and leverage to drive growth. But doing so will consign the market challenges and uncertainties of the last few, post-pandemic years firmly into the rearview mirror.”

“Kantar’s Marketing Trends 2025 details key trends and insights to get marketers back on the front foot and making the right decisions for the year to come and beyond.”

The marketing trends that will make a difference in 2025:

• Brands go woke and definitely not broke: While evidence that inclusion is a powerful engine of brand growth continues to mount, marketers are still underestimating its impact. Kantar data shows that a brand’s diversity and inclusion efforts influence the buying decisions of almost eight in 10 people worldwide. With major political, social and demographic changes set to make inclusion more personal for lots of people next year, it will become one of the most significant considerations for brands.
• The puzzle of slowing population growth: Products rely on populations getting bigger to drive sales. But global population growth is now under one per cent and is predicted to go negative by the end of the century. Forces like people marrying and having children later, and living in smaller households, will exacerbate this shift. So will ageing populations, who tend to spend less. This creates an urgency for marketers to predispose more people to their brand and to find new spaces in which to grow.
• Gen AI – safety will come first: Data provenance will be a big theme in 2025. Kantar research shows that more than two in five global consumers don’t trust ads that are AI-generated. As AI becomes more sophisticated, more people will be pushing for transparency in how it’s used. Whether they’re using Gen AI to inform data-led investment decisions or to help create ideas and content, marketers will need reassurance that the training data the models are based on are trustworthy, relevant, and reliable.
• Looking to livestreaming: Livestreaming platforms like Taobao Live, Douyin and WeChat reach half the Chinese population, and some forecasts put live-commerce sales at 20 per cent of total retail in China by 2026. Livestreaming ads can boost both short-term purchase intent and long-term brand affinity. Kantar’s experts expect established brands to look to livestreaming ads to build long-term associations, while medium and smaller brands prioritise increasing awareness and driving immediate interest.
• Demanding more from Retail Media Networks (RMNs): By collaborating with retailers on their first-party data, marketers can be more precise in targeting and personalising their marketing, which in turn means detailed consumer insights can be used to optimise ad spend and improve campaign effectiveness. But in 2025, there needs to be transparency about the challenges holding back marketers from investing in RMNs; improved data access, specific media measurement needs, and the ability to drive brand equity.

• Embarking on the voyage to total video: The line between broadcast and streaming TV is now all but invisible to viewers. Heavy investment into broadcast TV advertising will continue to be spread across the TV portfolio, and further into video advertising, predicts Kantar. Marketers that take a nuanced approach, testing and learning to find the right mix across traditional channels, SVOD, and AVOD platforms will be best set for success.
• Social media to innovate to recapture attention: Just under a third of people say ads on social media platforms capture their attention, a marked decrease over last year’s 43 per cent. This can’t simply be attributed to an attention deficit among younger audiences; disenchantment has struck every generation. Kantar expects to see more creative innovation and visual theatre attempt to capture people’s attention in 2025: experimental camera shots, cuts, and new ways of telling old stories.
• Sustainability set to become marketing’s job: 2025 is a big year for sustainability legislation ramping up in major economies, which will force businesses to see sustainability as an opportunity as well as a risk. Kantar analysis suggests that sustainability already contributes US $193 billion to the value of the world’s top 100 brands: by finding authentic ways to connect to the consumer, marketers will be able to turn sustainability initiatives into growth.
• Brands to tap into creator communities: The creator economy is booming, offering brands powerful opportunities to connect with engaged audiences and build trust. The tight-knit communities that creators bring together hold a great deal of power to predispose more people towards a brand. Collaborating with creators in a two-way relationship will be important for platforms aiming to grow their user base and ad revenue.

• Stretching the limits of innovation: Innovation will be a must for larger brands that can’t easily grow in other ways: brands which can find new space in which to operate double their chances of growth. Those with high penetration and a strong probability of growth then have momentum to reimagine what they’re in the business of and explore new revenue streams. In 2025, marketers can take inspiration from brands like Oreo and Ferrero which have pushed the boundaries through innovation.

The full Marketing Trends 2025 report is available here.