AI, privacy and retail media are changing the game for marketing, writes Rob Webster, Co-Founder of Tau Marketing Solutions, opening new opportunities for marketers willing to embrace these seismic changes.
In a time of so much change, working out vague predictions for the year ahead becomes reasonably easy while being precise is a fool’s errand. This year I have tried to work from the fundamentals and build from there, explaining why I think these predictions will come true and what it means for marketers. To begin in this vein, I think most will agree there are five key trends that will dominate marketing in 2025:
Macro Trends 2024
- AI adoption – Transforming every layer of business from customer acquisition to internal operations.
- Privacy maturation – Redefining tracking and targeting strategies, demanding innovative measurement approaches.
- CTV growth – Cementing its place as a critical advertising channel in a post-linear TV world.
- Retail media expansion – Empowering ecommerce giants to drive unprecedented advertising efficiencies through first-party data.
- Dominance of the giants – Google and Meta now account for about half of all advertising spend globally. Add in Amazon, TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, X and you get to 90 percent. This level of global domination is a new phenomenon.
From here we get into the predictions for 2025. It’s going to be a year of rapid change. In the last 10 years we have seen a huge change in marketing as digital took over from TV as the dominant form. Privacy changed the data game, the pandemic changed human behaviour and consumption. Yet, despite all that, I think we are going to see the pace of change jump up to a new level. Two years ago OpenAI introduced us to Generative AI. In 2024 marketers started to see benefits and transition. In 2025 I think we will truly have begun the AI era for marketing.
- The rise of AI in search listings – Google no longer dominates and SEO is changed forever
AI-powered search platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Bard are changing the rules of search. Instead of relying on traditional algorithms and paid ads, these systems provide natural, conversational responses tailored to user queries. The concept of “Share of Model” is emerging as a new metric for brand success, measuring how often brands appear in AI-generated suggestions. SEO will never be the same again.
Top tip
Invest in optimising your brand’s visibility within AI-driven platforms. Build credibility, ensure context-rich mentions and enhance digital reputation to win the “Share of Model” battle.
What it means for marketers
A transformation of traditional SEO to a more holistic form that includes AI results. Traditional keyword optimisation will give way to ensuring brand relevance in conversational AI platforms. Companies must take a proactive approach to ensure their brand becomes the preferred recommendation within AI ecosystems. This matters not only across the web, but across all forms of content consumed.
- AI Advertising: A transformative new paid (search) opportunity
As the new AI platforms gain engagement and market share they also need monetisation. This means that we will see massive new paid media channels emerge around AI search and more general AI adjacent ads. Think ads on Perplexity, ChatGPT and other AI tools.
Top tip
As these new opportunities come online it’s vital that companies and marketers experiment early to see how they perform. Early adopters may get a leg up in terms of performance. Equally, it’s important to treat new channels with care by leaning into understanding and experimentation before scaling.
What it means for marketers
Just as the first prediction changes the landscape in organic search, this means a dramatic change to the paid search landscape. A shake-up in the search market opens up opportunities for innovation and new ways to connect with (and better understand) audiences. AI automation will facilitate scaling of these opportunities across this crucial channel.
- Google keeps its limbs, but spends a year under pressure
Despite regulatory pressure, expect Google to have all its limbs attached in 2025. Google are likely to endeavour to delay any break-up of their core assets, but, with pressure on their core search business, it could be a tough year for the giant. Yet, new glasses technology and Gemini upgrades will keep Google moving forwards.
Google will allow the consumer to end the debate on third-party cookies and they will likely be an irrelevance by the end of the year. This will most keenly be felt in the performance display arena, but also on web-based video. Thanks in part to its dominance in measurement, Performance Max (PMax) will increasingly become the dominant model for performance display advertising in part because it dominates measurement. This will force the open web and the CTV world to step up their game and respond.
Top tip
Use PMax for performance campaigns, but future-proof your strategy against over-dependence on one ecosystem by investing in premium inventory and alternative platforms.
What it means for marketers
Open web firms must pivot towards higher-quality inventory and advanced measurement techniques. Successful publishers will focus on premium audiences, enhanced ROI transparency and innovation in ad tech tools to stay competitive.
- AI Agents: A virtual workforce revolution
AI agents are evolving to complement and augment human skills across workforces, automating tasks across platforms and applications. Initially limited to repetitive tasks, these agents are becoming increasingly sophisticated and able to work autonomously across a variety of applications, tackling complex processes across different tools and programs.
Top tip
Invest in developing or integrating AI agents that can handle marketing workflows. Start with simple tasks like email outreach, competitor research or campaign reporting, then expand into more strategic functions like media planning and forecasting.
What it means for marketers
AI agents will redefine operational efficiency. From scheduling and customer service to complex data analysis and campaign execution, they will free marketers from time-intensive tasks allowing for greater focus on strategy and creativity. Expect a particular shift in how media planning is done powered by Agentic AI and private LLMs.
- Media Planning 2.0 “Relevance at Scale”: Efficiency meets customer acquisition
“Hyper-personalisation at scale” is a theme frequently cited by the likes of Sir Martin Sorrell in discussions around AI’s potential. However, in our view, “personalisation” has become too closely associated with the type of “Dear Rob….” spam communications we are bombarded with daily. So, “relevance at scale” may be a more fitting term. AI can help marketers better understand which messages will resonate and produce relevant content, making it easier for brands to deliver contextually rich messaging to reach the right audience at the right time. Expect a revolution in media planning that directly links with media buying and content as never before.
Top tip
Use AI to help you break your target audience down into personas and research which content will resonate most with each. As this progresses, synthetic data (AI modelled data that rather than predicting text, predicts user sentiment) will be able to predict which messages perform best.
What it means for marketers
Companies that adopt these techniques successfully will be able to deliver dramatically better response rates and marketing effectiveness. It means that a focus on modelling (synthetic data), user engagement and producing more relevant content faster will all become vital activities for successful marketers. Indeed the entire agency battleground and whether brands continue to in-house could come down to the strength of Agency vs Client AI planning systems.
- The convergence of CTV, Premium Publishing and Retail Media
CTV and retail media have been the success stories of the open web since the pandemic. We will likely see these areas grow much closer together. In 2025 “commerce media” will be the talk of the town combining the best of CTV and retail media. Retail media is the one space where Google and Meta don’t already dominate measurement. The broadcast part of CTV and premium publishers still dominate the best content. In order for the open ecosystem to continue to have relevance beyond the giants, the players in this group need to come together. For the sake of their survival I believe they will.
Top tip
Brands, agencies, publishers and retailers need to work together to make it easy to drive success across this huge area. Integration is everything. Each player must stop looking at others as competitors and build a more integrated product with a focus on quality and measurement.
What it means for marketers
Integration skills come to the fore here. From bringing data together for measurement to data- led buying. Those that operate in silos will fail. Those that can be part of something bigger have a chance to win big.
- Apple’s ad network evolution
I think it’s time for the long-rumoured Apple DSP. On the back of its huge success with Apple search ads, it seems likely to arrive this year in the form of an ad network. Why this year? Having been testing its options for some time, it seems like Apple is now actually hiring for it. Moreover, the market is ripe for new options and publishers would love it to help monetise their Apple inventory. Plus, Apple needs to move into advertising before others have it all sewn up. I also wonder if Apple will experiment with their own search engine, given concerns over their ties to Google and the emergence of new alternatives.
Top tip
Prepare your campaigns to align with Apple’s ad network. Prioritise privacy-compliant, audience-specific strategies to unlock the potential of Apple’s vast ecosystem.
What it means for marketers
Apple’s move will challenge advertisers to navigate its walled garden. Those who can balance compliance with creativity will gain access to a highly engaged and lucrative audience.
- Data assurance and AI governance
As AI adoption surges, data assurance and governance become critical. Balancing the need for transparency and accountability with flexibility and innovation will separate leaders from laggards. Companies that over-regulate risk losing agility, while those that under-regulate face ethical, reputational and legal risks. This means great policies, great technology (like clean rooms) and great care can unlock great results.
Top tip
Governance can be your superpower. Those that have it under control can move quickly and take advantage of growth. Those that don’t may either fall behind or be held back. Take a thin slice approach, rather than trying to fix it all at once. This means you don’t need to use all your data all the time to get results. Focus on what you can do first (rather than what you can’t) and develop your systems and processes to be able to innovate safely.
What it means for marketers
Marketers need to ensure governance does not stifle innovation. Firms that strike the right balance will build trust with customers and regulators while maintaining agility to experiment and grow.
The Year Ahead
Looking back at the above predictions we see how many staples of modern marketing are going through rapid change. From the fundamentals of planning, buying and measurement to the channels that are used, everything is in flux. This makes it an amazing time to be in this industry if you are comfortable inventing the new and dealing with change.
There is a lot of worry (and rightly) about the future as change can be destructive. We have seen many jobs go in 2024 and sadly we will likely see a lot more in 2025. Yet, this also breeds creation of the new. I encourage everyone to lean into the change as it’s from the experiences and knowledge of the old that we can best invent the marketing models of the future. I have never been more excited to work in this industry and can’t wait for next year.
