Disruptive forces will move into the mainstream: Kantar highlights marketing trends to watch in 2025
Kantar has released its ten key trends for marketers to pay attention to in 2025.
AI guardrails, sustainability, inclusivity, ageing demographics, live streaming, and the rise of retail media networks will all have to be understood by those hoping to ride the changing wave of marketing.
‘Marketing Trends 2025’ is backed by “extensive attitudinal and behavioural data”, according to Kantar. The report focuses on trends that represent “not just incremental changes but a fundamental shift” in how brands will connect with consumers.
Kantar Australia head of culture, futures and strategy, Dan Robertson-Jones said, 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.”
Robertson-Jones said understanding and leveraging these new trends to drive growth, will “consign the market challenges and uncertainties of the last few, post-pandemic years firmly into the rearview mirror”.
Below are a few of the marketing trends Kantar predicts will make a difference in 2025:
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.
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.
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.
The full Marketing Trends 2025 report is available here.
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