3 Key Trends for 2025

As marketing continues its shift toward a tech-driven, IP-led model, today’s CMOs are not just brand stewards but also de facto CTOs (in addition to being Chief Entertainment Officers). With generative AI transforming content creation and consumer expectations demanding deeper brand engagement, the challenge is to maintain Creativity with a capital C – creativity that begins at the business model level and runs through every touchpoint of value creation.

The following piece explores three key forces shaping the industry this year, along with its impact, opportunities and actionable steps.

1. NOT ALL AI IS CREATED EQUAL

Prediction:  The transition from ad hoc AI “prompts” to task-based AI agents is well underway and will become a lot more commonplace within workplaces. This year we will see a lot more AI evolving into virtual assistants that manage more aspects of our personal and professional lives. 

Evidence: A concrete example of this shift is Google's Project Mariner as part of Gemini, which promises to make AI a more intuitive and proactive assistant for managing tasks.

Read more about Project Mariner.

Impact: This means AI will no longer be limited to stand-alone tools like ChatGPT for simple tasks but will become deeply embedded in more complex systems, streamlining most workflows and provide administrative support. 

Opportunity: Two fold. Dentsu has vast experience in developing and delivering digital transformation from a top down and bottom up perspective including BX and EX. From a content delivery point of view dentsu has invested heavily in this area via its TAG content production and automation capabilities and has recently launched its AI driven virtual influencer capability. 

Next steps & Take action: With this shift, many companies will need to rethink how they manage AI across all functions not limited to marketing delivery. HR, IT, legal, and governance teams will need to develop new frameworks for AI integration and oversight, including the creation of new more practical rules and guidelines to manage AI in the workplace. Experimentation and upskilling will be key to adoption. 

2. FROM CREATOR ECONOMY TO THE EMERGENCE OF THE IMAGINATION ECONOMY

Prediction: The democratization of creativity—fuelled by accessible tools like Adobe's suite, Canva, and countless others—has already empowered individuals to produce and share content with ease.This trend will continue to accelerate into what we’re calling the Imagination Economy. 

Evidence: Instead of just using AI to enhance or optimize creative outputs (images, videos, etc.), AI will increasingly create economic value autonomously, dreaming up ideas and content without human intervention.

Impact: As AI becomes better at not only generating content but also generating new ideas, the focus will shift from human-driven creation to AI-driven imagination. If the past few years were about the Attention Economy—dominated by human-generated content—soon we will see AI creating content on demand, tailored to our individual tastes and preferences, without any human input. 

Opportunity: In the near future, AI will generate entire books, TV shows, movies, and even video games from scratch, fully customized for us, eliminating the need to "search" for entertainment. This has huge implications for brands to lean into the imagination economy and start to develop its own IP without the need for traditional heavy overheads. Dentsu has deep capabilities in developing Integrated Growth Solutions that combine unique capability sets for brands to take advantage of. 

Next Steps & Take Action: By embracing these strategies, companies can position themselves as leaders in the emerging Imagination Economy, where AI drives both creativity and economic value, empowering brands to innovate without the traditional constraints. Brands should begin experimenting with AI-driven content creation tools to explore new ways of ideating and generating unique assets. Whether for marketing campaigns, product designs, or even original intellectual property (IP), AI can assist in generating ideas and initial drafts quickly. Early adopters will have a competitive edge in using AI to develop innovative concepts, while maintaining brand identity and creativity

3. CREATIVITY & ORIGINALITY BEYOND THE ‘AVERAGE’

Prediction: Digital (social) fatigue in not just relevant to limiting screen time, there is an increasing trend whereby people overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the same mediocre content in our social feeds, people are increasingly seeking out more originality, more uniquely crafted quality content they want to spend time with and increasingly that is happening in alternative spaces to the mainstream social platforms like Facebook, Google, and TikTok—the "Big 3". 

Evidence: In response, there is a growing movement toward exploring niche, decentralized spaces—micro-communities and special interest groups. This trend is fuelling a resurgence of platforms that prioritize individuality, creativity, and deeper engagement, including:

• Podcasts
• Newsletters
• RSS feeds (yes, they’re making a comeback!)
• Niche forums
• Special interest communities

For those who thought RSS was a relic of the past (largely due to Google’s discontinuation of its reader), its revival signals a desire for more control over information consumption, free from algorithmic interference. As people seek richer, more diverse experiences online, the "edges" of the internet—where culture and creativity thrive—are becoming increasingly valuable.

Impact: As users desire less homogenized content, they will seek more authentic, thought-provoking, and specialised experiences. This shift will redefine how content is created, consumed, and valued. The rising demand for originality and niche content means that creators and brands will need to rethink their approach, by offering unique, tailored experiences that cater to specific interests (micro communities and interest based marketing). The emphasis will be on depth rather than breadth, with a focus on fostering communities that thrive around shared passions, knowledge, and creativity. 

Opportunity: Creativity is back and in demand.  Brands that embrace experimentation and more innovative formats and who distinguish themselves with communities beyond the ‘average’ will stand out. Similar to previous trend, developing new IP in sports, gaming, entertainment could represent big opportunities to engage with more authenticity.   

Next Steps and Take Actions: Brands should ensure they have the up to date latest view and POV on their consumer segments culture. Insight into cultural is critical to understanding community passions, interests and identify ways to engage with greater relevance. Dentsu excels in ‘cultural roadmapping’ through its deep proprietary data and insight methodology.