For our next 2025 Predictions feature, we’re tapping into the insights of 🤝 Neil Adams , Co-founder & CEO of Powerhouse a leader who knows exactly what it takes to build a brand that lasts.
What’s the biggest challenge agencies will face next year, and how are you preparing to tackle it?
Winning new business continues to dominate as the most talked about challenge facing agencies in all of the agency owner groups I'm a part of, and it's the same for Powerhouse.
We have tried all sorts over the years but the most success we have had has come from building an in-house sales and marketing machine that can scale. That's a dedicated marketing manager and a business development manager, working very closely together to generate leads. Our conversion has always been pretty good in the past, but we didn't have enough quality leads. Building an in-house team, and creating an education-based marketing strategy alongside brand building with a winning proposition has taken significant investment. It doesn't deliver results overnight, so you have to play the long game, but it's paid off.
1) The importance of brand
Having a good brand isn't anything new, but building an authentic brand identity is more important than ever before. In a world packed with AI-generated content, purpose will absolutely stand out as the ultimate differentiator (and nothing delivers purpose like a strong brand strategy).
2) Building communities
The rise of community marketing has been huge this year. And I 100% think it is the future of marketing. Hosting private dinners, roundtables, exclusive getaways, etc for your community helps build relationships and trust (tools like Instagram broadcast channels make it easier than ever to start building these connections). In the agency world, CMO Dinners/Supper Clubs (whatever you may call them) have become absolute game-changers. Delivering a far more targeted and impactful experience than any broad “catch-all” event. Quality leads vs a flood of unqualified leads.
Some good examples from brands (as featured in our PH Newsletters):
→ REFY celebrated its 4th birthday with a community-focused party earlier this year.
→ Djerf Avenue brought fans and customers together for a special photoshoot (instead of using models with no relation to the brand).
→ Next celebrated the launch of one of their collections with an influencer-led Winter Staycation.
If you had to pick one media channel to rule them all in 2025, which one would it be and why?
It would 100% be short-form video on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. By now, everyone knows the power of short-form video content (and unfortunately, it’s not going anywhere). These videos are super engaging, highly accessible (I'd argue more than any other channel) and offer unmatched discoverability (especially with platforms like TikTok and YouTube doubling as search engines). Finally, their cultural relevance is undeniable too. This is where influencers "live" and trends are born.
What’s your take on AI and its impact on creativity in 2025?
Ai has been a game changer for creative production, and we have embraced it. I think it empowers creatives to do more and do it quicker, but crucially, you still need the human creative brain to use this tech to get the best results. We are blending Ai generated images in photography and video with real footage, but never use pure ai images as the final output, mainly because we can do so much better, but also there are still copyright and moral issues to navigate.