Every January, marketing publications run the same 'trends to watch' lists. Most of them are noise. Here are the trends that will actually shape 2025, based on $50M of ad spend we manage and what is actually working for the brands we partner with.
AI as infrastructure, not a feature
Stop thinking about 'AI tools.' Think about AI as the layer underneath every workflow: drafting ad copy, generating variants, summarizing customer reviews, personalizing email subject lines. The brands winning in 2025 are not 'using AI', they are quietly rebuilding every internal process around it.
Short-form video has won top-of-funnel
TikTok, Reels, Shorts. Three platforms, one format. If you are not producing 20+ short-form videos per week, you are not seriously in market. The good news: production has gotten so cheap (iPhone + good lighting + a script template) that any brand can compete.
Long-form video for trust and depth
Counter-intuitively, long-form (YouTube, podcasts, founder videos) is the trust layer. Short-form gets discovery; long-form gets the sale. Brands without both are leaving 30%+ of LTV on the table.
First-party data is the new oil
Third-party cookies are finally, mostly dead. Apple, Safari, Firefox, and increasingly Chrome have erased the old retargeting playbook. Brands that thrive in 2025 are obsessed with email/SMS lists, CRM data, and zero-party signals (quizzes, polls, preferences).
Attribution is broken, accept it
Last-click attribution has been a lie for years. MMM (media mix modeling) and incrementality testing are how serious brands measure now. If your CMO still believes the GA4 dashboard, you are making bad decisions.
Email and SMS compound
Owned channels are the most under-invested asset in most marketing stacks. Email at 30%+ of revenue is normal for mature brands. SMS opens 95%+. Klaviyo + Postscript is still the gold standard, set them up, design 12+ flows, and let them compound.
Influencer = creator = affiliate
The taxonomy collapsed. There is just one category now: people with audiences. Pay them on performance. Recruit aggressively. Equip them with content briefs. The "200 micro-creators on 10% commission" model beats the "one mega-influencer for $50k" model nine times out of ten.
Brand still wins long-term
Performance marketing buys you customers. Brand marketing buys you margin, repeat purchase, and pricing power. Every successful brand we have helped scale past $20M has invested heavily in brand, not despite of performance, but in addition to it.
Conclusion
The 2025 marketing playbook is a stack, not a tactic: AI infrastructure underneath, short-form video at the top, long-form for trust, first-party data in the middle, owned channels for compounding, and brand for everything long-term. Skip one layer and you are leaving money on the table. Build the whole stack and the math gets beautiful.
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Written by
Lisa Park
Director of Growth
A senior practitioner at Ace Studios. Has shipped work across hundreds of brands and channels, and writes about what is actually working, not what is fashionable.
