New year brings new trends—and new marketing data insights.
However, they are almost always related to big things like ad spend predictions, platform growth, or something obvious. More or less.
However…
At the end of 2024, we stumbled across some minor, yet interesting charts that might show us how marketing trends will move during the next few quarters.
So we decided to piece them together and take away some insights to prepare you for what’s coming.
1) Ads frustrate users more than lack of security or privacy
They’re plenty. They’re usually harmless. And they annoy the heck out of most people.
No, we’re not talking about cockroaches. We’re talking about ads.
Check this out:
According to this, online users are more frustrated with online ads than they are with the lack of security or lack of privacy. Even if the latter two are much more dangerous.
And this goes for all devices.
The annoyance is most obvious among mobile app users with 81%, while connected TV viewers are generally the most ad tolerant (69%)—and feel less vulnerable.
The chart also shows the necessity to adapt to the context.
Mobile apps are bombarded with intrusive ads and are prone to “mistapping” while you scroll, which can be double-frustrating. On the other hand, desktop users expect robust privacy and security for tasks like shopping or banking.
What can you do in 2025: Try to be less annoying? Yeah, that’s easy to say.
But you can definitely explore less intrusive methods, such as native ads. Especially on mobile devices.
And definitely try to make your ads feel as natural as possible. Users will keep avoiding cheap, intrusive ads, as well as ads that are too salesy.
Finally, connected TV might be an option for brand building. Prioritize storytelling and long-form, high-quality ad content on CTV, as users seem more receptive to this format.
📺 How effective are CTV ads really? We tried to uncover that in a separate Data Story.
2) Some brands fear social media can tarnish their reputation
Remember the “Elon Musk vs X advertisers” beef? Well, there’s a good reason for that.
Brands are pretty risk-averse when it comes to their reputation. The less controversial, the better. Hence, if you place your ad next to, say, malicious content… your rep may tank.
And of course, social media is leading the vulnerability chart:
More than half of all brands see social media as a risky platform in the marketing ecosystem.
Digital video and CTV are a bit lower at 40%, with influencer marketing at 25%. Platforms like streaming, mobile, digital display, VR, and gaming are all at around 21-23%.
Outlook for 2025: With X entangled in further controversy due to its owner, and Mark Zuckerberg replacing fact-checking on Meta with community notes similar to X—social media will pose a dilemma for many brands this year.
A dilemma, because it’s still a huge piece of pie that’s not easy to give up on.
And you probably shouldn’t. But make sure you weigh the risks and make a plan on how to make your placements “controversy-proof.”
Additional tips: You can explore safer and efficient options, with influencer marketing being the obvious choice. People trust opinions of people they follow, and if they’re well-received among their crowd, your brand will be as well.
Likewise, you can always place your brand in front of hyper-targeted group of people and on places they respect.
…Like advertising in Stacked Marketer, for example? Hey, we’re just saying.
3) Experiential marketing is rising in both B2B and B2C
The rational consumer is getting out of style this year.
Behold, the experiential marketing growth:
What does the chart tell us for 2025: The sector saw a steady growth in 2024 (10.5%) for both B2B and B2C industries.
And while B2B growth remained more or less constant, B2C experiential marketing growth rose by almost 2% YoY.
This tells us what we’ve already mentioned in a B2B story a couple of months ago—even in B2B, it’s no longer just business. It’s also emotions and personal experiences.
What can you do this year? A few things, depending on the industry:
- For B2B: leverage workshops, webinars, free product demos, or hybrid events.
- For B2C: Create interactive environments, implement AR/VR tech where possible, work with influencers to engage with your audience directly, and more.
Finally, if you’re unsure how to position your brand as an experience rather than a solution, you might want to invest some time in appropriate tech and education. It could help.
🎪 What is experiential marketing? The type of campaigns focusing on engaging brand experiences for their audience, rather than relying on traditional advertising only.
Activities and events like interactive campaigns, webinars, are all part of experiential strategies—and enable you consumers to connect to your brand on a deeper level.
4) Gen AI content and images are now intertwined with marketing
It was always building up to this.
But we’re reaching a point where marketers can’t really ignore AI:
The most recent chart we found says that the majority of content and creative processes are now embedded into their lives. Sometimes daily.
What’s interesting is that 41% of respondents claim they’re using AI to build a business case.
This also aligns with our last year’s insights where we said analytics is slowly becoming an important Gen AI use case for businesses.
And so is developing a business or campaign strategy.
What does this tell you about 2025: AI won’t replace marketers. But marketers will increasingly rely on Gen AI to handle data-heavy tasks like business case development and strategy formulation.
Think of Gen AI becoming your reliable business partner, allowing you to make informed, faster decisions.
What can you do in 2025: Integrate AI into your strategic planning and internal processes.
Sync your models to understand your internal systems, processes and data and use it to analyze market trends, audience insights, and build campaign strategies. It can also help you with client rapport.
While AI can generate ideas and frameworks, you and your team should apply your expertise, of course. Nothing like a human touch to ensure relevance and authenticity, no?
5) Finances are still the biggest problem for marketers
At the end of 2024, we’ve asked our readers what are the major challenges for 2025.
And here are the responses:
30% of all respondents are afraid that the ongoing economic climate will affect budgets.
However, a quarter of respondents think there are too many marketing channels to handle while the teams are stagnating. It’s all connected.
What does this tell you about 2025: There’s some cautious optimism around marketers at the start of the year, but it’s still cautious.
The main issue is that there’s still a lot of distrust in the economy—on both the consumer and provider side of things—to think 2025 is going to be an easy ride.
What can you do in 2025: First, think about internal wellness. Don’t overload yourself or your team with too many platforms and channels.
Work with your resources smartly and focus on what’s working for maximum value.
New year, new trends
…and new challenges.
This year, you might look like a circus performer navigating users’ ad frustrations while balancing risks and rewards of social media—all while trying this on a possibly tighter budget.
What’s positive is that trends are shifting towards more experiential and creative—which might help you do more with less. And you can add Gen AI to that.
On top of that, you’re reading Stacked Marketer…So you’re better positioned than many.
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