How the best marketing campaigns of 2025 navigated uncertain times

"No matter how high global ad spend rose in 2025, marketers will likely remember the year for its bad vibes. In the U.S., advertisers had to contend with persistent global conflict, a tariff-addled economy, antitrust and regulatory pressure on its major players and a fraught sociopolitical landscape where everything from jeans to biscuits could be a culture war landmine. For the near future, it appears the only certainty is uncertainty."

"Despite these compounding challenges, the savviest marketers cut through the noise and moved the needle for their brands through a variety of strategies. As has been the case for years, nostalgia was often a reliable way to tie current campaigns to past glory days. The same can be said of celebrity-driven campaigns that have turned a strategy once reserved for the Super Bowl into an everyday one."

"As consumer sentiment plummeted, value - both monetary and emotional - became a part of nearly every marketing campaign, especially as competitors in the QSR and CPG sectors returned in full force to competitive sparring, a tactic that had previously fallen out of favor. Strategically, social-first is up, while purpose-driven is down. And while marketers looked to turnaround struggling brands and reposition sturdier ones, they also worked to avoid potentially disastrous rebrands."

Global ad spend rose in 2025, but marketers faced pervasive negative sentiment driven by global conflict, a tariff-addled economy, antitrust and regulatory pressure, and a fraught sociopolitical landscape where everyday products risked cultural backlash. Uncertainty dominated near-term outlooks. Marketers leaned on nostalgia and celebrity-driven campaigns to connect to past success, while value—both monetary and emotional—became central amid falling consumer sentiment and renewed QSR and CPG competition. Strategic emphasis shifted to social-first tactics and performance-focused ROI, with purpose-driven work declining. Brands pursued turnarounds or repositioning while avoiding risky rebrands. Chili's reported sustained same-store sales growth attributed to marketing, including video-game nostalgia and inventive value messaging.

Read at Marketing Dive