Marketing has changed dramatically during the first quarter of the 21st century. The rise of digital, hyper-specific targeting, connected television (CTV), and real-time ad marketplaces are just a few of the trends that have made the marketing industry unrecognizable from what it used to be. it was in the early 2000s.
With 2025 just beginning, EMarketer Institute surveyed marketing leaders about the biggest changes of the past 25 years and where they would like to see the industry heading by 2050.
As Kaare Wesnaes, chief innovation officer at Ogilvy North America, put it perfectly, “over the past 25 years, the evolution of the Internet, the rise of mobile devices, and now AI, have radically transformed the way we connect, communicate and create. These changes have made advertising more immediate, data-driven and interactive. The next 25 years will take us even further into hyper-personalization, with AI-driven interfaces improving every facet of the industry – from strategy to execution. »
The connection to consumers has never been stronger
The advent of the Internet and the ubiquitous growth of smartphones have transformed the world over the past 25 years. In 2025, nearly 5 billion people worldwide, or more than 60% of the total population (60.4%), will use the Internet. In 2025, 5.44 billion people worldwide, or 67% of the population, will use mobile phones, according to forecasts from this institute.
These new technologies have not only disrupted consumer habits, but they have also reinvented the way brands and marketers can connect with these consumers, particularly through social networks. “Marketing has always been a one-way conversation: from brand to consumer,” says Kerry Tucker, co-president of VIRTUE Worldwide. “Over the past 25 years, the introduction of social media has changed marketing forever, making it a two-way conversation. »
Nearly half of the world’s population (49.8%) will be users of social networks in 2025, with 2.13 billion people using Facebook and 1.58 billion using Instagram. “Social media has transformed marketing over the past 20 years, going from just an asset to a central part of most marketing campaigns,” says Leslie Koch, senior vice president of social strategy and creators at TelevisaUnivision . “They have fueled the rise of authentic, creator-driven content and transformed marketing into a two-way interaction between consumers and brands. »
Foundational technologies like the Internet and mobile devices have also enabled increased platform diversification. The traditional print, TV, radio, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising landscape has expanded to include social media, CTV, creator-driven activations, live-streamed events, and more. “The biggest change of the last 25 years has been the rise of the creator economy, which has fundamentally redefined how brands connect with consumers by shifting influence from traditional media to individuals,” says Scott Fisher , founder and president of Select Management Group. “Creators have become the new masters of attention, trust and commerce, shaping industries far beyond entertainment and marketing. Over the next 25 years, I see creators integrated into every aspect of global commerce, owning and leading Fortune 500 companies, driving innovation across diverse industries, and transforming the way products are designed, marketed, and sold. »
Data: from quantity to quality
Technological advancements over the past 25 years have enabled an impressive level of data collection, which has significantly improved consumer targeting and campaign measurement capabilities.
“The biggest change has been the rise of programmatic advertising and the shift to data-driven, personalized marketing,” says Melanie Zimmermann, managing director of global retail media at Criteo. “This evolution has enabled brands to reach specific audiences with precision, optimize ad spend and improve campaign effectiveness with automated technologies and real-time data. »
However, the enormous volume of data has led some to observe a decline in the quality of content across the digital landscape. “Since the start of the 21st century, I have seen an almost myopic focus on targeting audiences at the lowest possible cost,” says Eric Danetz, president of Cognitiv. “This has eroded the emphasis on quality content, giving rise to sites created solely for advertising. This trend has been difficult for publishers and ultimately hasn’t delivered the best possible results for advertisers. » In the future, marketing leaders hope for a return to advertising excellence. “In the next 25 years, I would like to see a shift to quality over quantity, not only for marketers, but also for consumers,” says Marissa Shapiro, chief marketing officer of Lawfty.
AI for the ages
The use of generative AI (genAI) has grown from 2.3% of the US population in 2022 to more than a third of the population (34.0%) in 2025. As of July 2024, 75% of executives marketing were at least using generative AI for marketing, even if they have not yet fully adopted it, according to a September survey conducted by SAS and Coleman Parkes Research. “AI is by far the biggest technology trend and transformation I have witnessed,” says Raj Lala, vice president of sales and demand development at Vistar Media. “I look forward to seeing how AI continues to support efficiencies, accessibility and positive impacts on the work we all do every day.” With this in mind, I hope that as an industry we don’t lose sight of the tangible, real-life moments that brands can create for consumers in real life over the next 25 years. »
Leaders expect AI to be used to strengthen emerging consumer connection and data collection trends, supporting all aspects of campaigns. “AI has the potential to revolutionize our industry in record time, creating new opportunities for brands to add value to their connections with customers,” said Amanda Richman, vice president of Worldwide Advertising Sales at Microsoft Advertising. “We are on the brink of hyper-personalization, finally delivering the right message to the right person, at the right time and in the right context, at scale. This industry transformation won’t take 25 years – it could be closer to 25 months, at this rate. »
The 3 elements to remember for 2025
If direct contact with consumers is a reality, it is not yet of quality. The reason? The profusion of untargeted messages and the decline in advertising creativity. Youthful mistakes, one could summarize. The development of social networks driven in particular by a very large-scale generalization of mobiles has opened a direct channel between brands and their customers. Communication has taken precedence over marketing. Because no one was able to resist the offer of networks which offered the possibility of reaching an almost unlimited number of people. In 25 years, everyone has been able to have their experiences and now, time for maturity. We’ve all learned that there’s no point in talking to everyone, it’s expensive and there’s no point. Defining your audience or audience is a priority. Thanks to automation and AI, we can target better but that in no way exempts us from being creative. On the contrary ! To stand out from the crowd, we will have to be authentic and offer real offers to a public who have suffered a decline in their purchasing power for years and who fear for their future. Restoring confidence will be the key word in 2025 ü
