Next up in our 2025 Predictions series, we’re handing the mic to 🤝 Adam Richardson Allies Conceptual Creative, Art Director, and Creative Director who’s bringing his sharp insights on how brands, agencies, and creatives will need to evolve in the year ahead.
What’s one marketing trend from 2024 that you think will explode (or implode) in 2025?
I think the resurgence in outdoor advertising will continue to grow. The value of a great billboard is now more about the social/PR aspect as it gets shared around the web, which has completely rejuvenated the format and let people get far more creative. Although hopefully, we’ve seen an end to the fake out-of-home trend now. I can’t stand seeing another product strapped to Big Ben.
If you had to pick one media channel to rule them all in 2025, which one would it be, and why?
For the first time, it’d be TikTok. Everyone knows if you place a bog-standard display ad on there, it’ll bomb. I love that TikTok forces brands to ditch their usual tone of voice and visual look. It rewards them for taking the sensible shackles off. My take… If more brands took a TikTok-style approach to their TV advertising, we’d all be in a much more creative place.
What’s the biggest challenge agencies will face next year, and how are you preparing to tackle it?
I think the biggest challenge for agencies is the evolution of the client/agency relationship, which has been slowly changing over the past few years. Some agencies I work with have realised this and done well to adapt. These days, it’s rare to find a client with zero in-house creative resources. For agencies to thrive, they need to plug into that model and form a working partnership, leaving behind the client vs. agency attitude.
What’s your take on AI and its impact on creativity in 2025?
Love it or loathe it, you’d better embrace it. Because what we’ve seen so far is just the first rung of a very long ladder. The speed it’s advancing is astounding, and that’s only going to continue.
Throughout 2025, I believe AI will increasingly churn out what it does best… mediocre work. But I see that as a positive. If AI can take care of the bog-standard boring stuff, our human brains can focus on emotional, humorous and genuinely insightful ideas.
What’s one buzzword or trend you hope disappears by this time next year?
It’s not strictly a trend, but I think the mass brand exodus from X/Twitter will keep going. I left years ago, way before the Elon era, because it was obvious that negativity got rewarded. It’s a shame, it used to be an amazing brand channel for so many years. Hopefully, something new will swoop in to replace it.
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