Checking in on 2025 marketing trends.

Halfway through 2025, we’re hearing a common refrain from clients: “Are we keeping up?” With so many moving parts (AI, automation, video, talent pressures and shifting consumer behaviors) even the most strategic teams are reassessing.

Back in January, we laid out 10 big trends we expected to shape 2025. Here’s what we’re hearing now.

Experience is everything – think in moments

2025 prediction: Consumers want emotional connections with brands. Each moment matters because a single bad experience can lead 53% of people to walk away.

What's really happening: Experience still reigns supreme. Patient interviews focused on brand and care experience are proving invaluable, especially in health care. While teams often have a sense of where gaps exist, hearing real patient stories adds powerful context and emotional urgency to make meaningful change. These stories help stakeholders move from abstract metrics to empathetic understanding, making it easier to prioritize experience improvements that truly matter.

– Janee Wolf, Associate Director of Strategy

Listening AND observing are clutch

2025 prediction: Listening to your audience is crucial, but not enough. You also need to observe behaviors to understand what people aren’t saying directly. Qualtrics reported only 16% of consumers voice complaints on social, and just 22% post reviews — both down from prior years.

What's really happening: The most successful brands aren’t just listening, they’re tracking behavioral signals, drop-off points and intent patterns. Observation is the new listening. And brands that correlate “what they say” with “what they do” can act before it’s too late.

– Janee Wolf, Associate Director of Strategy

Move over long-form news

2025 prediction: PR is shifting away from lengthy releases and traditional media placements. With attention spans dropping and algorithms favoring short-form content, success in 2025 means leaning into newsletters, influencer-led content and fast-moving social narratives.

What's really happening: While PR is moving away from traditional long-form news releases, many clients are leaning into thought leadership articles as a strategic alternative. These pieces allow brands to maintain depth and authority without relying on traditional media, while still adapting to the need for scannable, audience-driven formats. The key is clarity, credibility and timely positioning, not length.

– Sam Dillie, Public Relations Specialist

Grab your crystal ball: digital tools

2025 prediction: To stay ahead, brands need more than hindsight — they need real-time digital tools to anticipate trends before they surface. That means tracking behavior shifts from Reddit to TikTok, using Google Trends to spot early spikes and implementing social listening to understand what your audience (and competitors) are signaling before it goes mainstream.

What's really happening: We’ve seen great success with our PR clients by using our digital toolset to monitor current news and trends in areas they might be able to provide expertise on. As part of this, we’ve used our clients’ teams (separate from marketing) to help identify what they’re hearing and seeing from customer conversations, dashboards and data, getting us ahead of the curve while also providing proof points for our stories. Clients have found great value in our proactive monitoring of topics in outside-of-the-box ways.

– Sam Dillie, Public Relations Specialist

Lights, camera, conversions: video rules 2025

2025 prediction: Video is poised to dominate — with 86% of businesses already using it and projections that 82% of consumer internet traffic will be video-based this year. Engagement, retention and mobile-first formatting are positioned as non-negotiables.

What's really happening: Video is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s an expectation. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn reward video in their algorithms, making short-form video the centerpiece of successful marketing strategies. Viewers retain 95% of a message in video vs. just 10% in text, and 90% of social video views still happen on mobile. We’re seeing more demand for platform-native storytelling: videos that are not just mobile-optimized, but also emotionally resonant, accessible and created with speed and scale in mind.

– Cassie Kopcha, Assistant Project Manager

Riding the AI wave: staying ahead without wiping out

2025 prediction: AI was already transforming how we work, speeding up tasks, generating content and creating new opportunities for growth. But with tools constantly evolving, staying flexible, curious and collaborative would be key to long-term success.

What's really happening: We’re seeing a wave of later adopters. Both clients and prospects alike are just starting to seriously explore AI, how it works for their brand, what it means for marketing and what to expect from their partners. Many are asking for clear guidance on where to begin and how to introduce it responsibly into their workflows. There’s a growing expectation that agencies like ours will not only use AI effectively but also lead the way in helping clients build internal buy-in and confidence.

– Laura Borden, VP of Resourcing

Practical uses of AI and automation in design

2025 prediction: Design teams were beginning to embrace automation for low-value tasks — freeing creatives to focus on storytelling, ideation and higher-level visual strategy. From trademark cleanup to file prep, custom scripts and plug-ins were removing friction and enhancing quality.

What's really happening: According to Adobe’s 2025 Digital Trends Report, 24% of creative teams are saving 10+ hours per week through workflow automation and generative design tools. Teams are starting to see AI less as a creative shortcut and more as a tool for process innovation. The most meaningful breakthroughs are happening when teams ask, “Does this still need to be done this way?” and use AI to build smarter, faster and more sustainable ways of working.

– Donovan Green, Senior Designer and Technology Integrator

Sustainability-focused design with AI

2025 prediction: As AI tools became more embedded in design workflows, their growing energy demands spark increased discussion about digital sustainability — it's just not necessarily new at this point. The opportunity? Use AI not just for speed and scale, but to optimize, lighten and clean up digital impact.

What's really happening: While clients aren’t yet asking directly about sustainability in their digital workflows, many are still working to understand what AI means for their business overall. That creates a real opportunity! Not only to introduce AI tools, but to guide how they’re implemented responsibly and efficiently. As conversations around ESG and energy usage expand, we see forward-thinking teams positioning sustainable design and development practices as a potential long‑term differentiator, not just a technical feature.

– Angela Fioretti, Senior Digital Art Director

Augmented reality is at a tipping point

2025 prediction: With the launch of Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Orion project, AR entered a new era. Spatial computing was no longer hype — it was hardware. Forecasts predicted the AR/VR headset market would hit $16.9B in 2025, scaling toward $261B by 2034.

What's really happening: While consumer headset adoption is slower than expected, AR glasses and enterprise use cases are thriving. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, for instance, are seeing success in lifestyle and content creation. For marketers, this means thinking beyond immersive campaigns and into practical, utility-driven AR, like virtual try-ons, 3D product demos and spatial brand storytelling.

– Nick Krueger, VP Creative Services

Building a better workplace: attracting talent with wellness, flexibility & balance

2025 prediction: Wellness wasn’t just an HR checkbox — it became a brand statement. With the corporate wellness market projected to grow from $61B in 2023 to $85B by 2030, businesses were encouraged to highlight mental health support, hybrid work options, and personalized benefits as key talent attractors.

What's really happening: Prospective talent is looking for more than perks, they’re scanning for proof that a company walks its talk. Highlighting hybrid policies, manager support, mental health resources and real stories from employees can elevate your employer brand. In a competitive market, flexibility and authenticity are your strongest recruiting tools.

– Laura Borden, VP of Resourcing

As we move into the second half of 2025, the pace of change shows no signs of slowing but that doesn’t mean brands need to chase every shiny object. The key is staying curious, focused and grounded in what matters most to your audience. Whether it’s rethinking workflows, experimenting with AI or exploring new ways to create more engaging, interactive brand experiences, the opportunity is in staying adaptable and aligned.