The Feed

Introducing The Marketer’s Toolkit 2025

The Marketer’s Toolkit 2025 is here: the fourteenth edition of the report draws out five major trends that will define strategic planning, based on an extensive global survey of practitioners – here’s what you need to know.

WARC members can read the full report here.

If you’re not yet a member, you can find a sample of the report here.

Why the Toolkit 2025 matters

Based on WARC’s proprietary GEISTE methodology (Government, Economy, Industry, Society, Technology, Environment) to identify trends, the report further incorporates a global survey of 1,165 marketing executives, one-to-one interviews with leading marketers worldwide, and analysis and insight from WARC’s global team of experts.

The Toolkit identifies five major trends for the year ahead, exploring the quantitative and qualitative data that WARC analysts used to establish these ideas. 

We then put these in context by surfacing highly effective examples of a brand response to each trend, top marketers’ viewpoints, and practical takeaways.

Five trends

1. Capitalise on the economic reset: Two-thirds (65%) of marketers believe the business environment in 2025 will be better than this year.
   
   
2. Close the customer experience gap: $3.7 trillion is at risk as customers cut spending or switch brands after poor experiences.
   
   
3. The digital dilemma: 40% of advertisers expect brand safety to have a “significant impact” on their marketing strategies in the coming 12 months but only 8% plan to reduce their investment in social media.
   
   
4. AI meets sustainability: Less than a third (32 %) of marketers see AI sustainability concerns influencing media buying in 2025.
   
   
5. The age of atomisation: 68% of marketers are not addressing the market opportunity offered by consumers living solitary lives.

Key quote

“While rapid growth worldwide is unlikely in 2025, there are reasons to expect more stability than we have had in recent years as central banks regain control over inflation and interest rates decline. WARC is forecasting global ad spend will grow to $1.15 trillion next year,” says Aditya Kishore, insight director at WARC and lead author of the report.

“Finding the right strategies for this new economic phase is a major theme for the Marketer’s Toolkit 2025, as is expanding perceptions of brand building to encompass the entire customer experience. Marketers will need to carefully identify the areas of opportunity and develop considered strategies to leverage them.”

In context

The Marketer’s Toolkit 2025 is part of WARC Strategy’s The Evolution of Marketing programme, offering a series of practical reports designed to help marketers address major industry shifts to drive marketing effectiveness in the coming year.

Complementing this Marketer’s Toolkit 2025 global report are the GEISTE report, and the upcoming The Voice of the Marketer and The Future of Media.

How Reckitt works with GrabAds to drive awareness in SEA

Consumer health, hygiene and nutrition giant Reckitt has partnered with GrabAds, the advertising arm of Grab, to help its brands increase awareness and boost sales in the region, as ad spend on retail media networks in SEA is predicted to reach US$4.7bn by 2030. 

Reckitt’s brands will use GrabAds’ retail media network capabilities to precisely target high-value Grab consumers and tap the online-to-offline (O2O) Grab ecosystem to deliver products to consumers.

Why superapp marketing matters

The popularity of the superapp RMN in Southeast Asia allows marketers to leverage first-party transaction data and local insights to power ad campaigns and anticipate customers’ needs, offering the ability to reach the right audience at the right time while building omnichannel experiences.

Takeaways

The partnership has already kicked off with a regional advertising campaign for Durex, which ran on Valentine’s Day with in-app banners deployed on Home Feed and GrabMart.

• It allowed Durex to precisely reach consumers who were in a purchase mindset, closing the loop between intent and actual sales, and with consumers receiving their purchases discreetly.
• It achieved an aggregated 64% YoY growth and a 20% uplift in Durex sales post-campaign.
• A second iteration of the campaign in Vietnam from April to May 2024 generated 3.9m impressions and a 227% hike in traffic to the Grab app store.

Key quote

“In a competitive FMCG landscape, brands can differentiate themselves by aligning with evolving consumer behaviours and preferences, including providing desired products on-demand and enhancing the last-mile delivery experience” – Ken Mandel, Regional Managing Director and Head of GrabAds and Enterprise.

AI delivers business results but leads to burnout, finds survey

Despite delivering ROI across several business areas, such as product innovation and customer satisfaction, AI adoption is leading to employee burnout and even adding a burden to daily workloads, according to a survey of US business leaders by consultants EY.

Why AI adoption matters 

AI has been touted as a means by which companies will be able to increase their levels of productivity on mundane or repetitive tasks, which by extension will give employees more time to focus on the likes of creativity or strategy. And this is meant to give early adopters a competitive edge. Or so the argument goes. 

The truth – at least according to EY’s Pulse survey – turns out to be more complex. Business leaders see risks, and there appears to be a gap between the ambitions of people in leadership positions and those who need to use the technology in their daily jobs. Many, in fact, are reporting burnout and lower enthusiasm. 

By the numbers 

A survey of 500 US business executives across several industries were surveyed in two waves, twice in 2024, six months apart. These are some takeaways: 

• 50% said enthusiasm around AI adoption had decreased, even as ROI increased. 
• 53% said employees are feeling “overwhelmed or exhausted” by the influx of AI information, and 65% struggle to keep their staff motivated to use it. 
• 54% feel they are failing as a leader when it comes to AI adoption – a view that is more strongly held among senior and executive vice presidents (61%) than the C-suite (47%).
• 80% would be more comfortable using AI at work if they had more training and upskilling opportunities.
•  Senior leaders are more likely to see positive ROI from their AI investments [see image] if it accounts for 5% or more of their total budget. 

Putting it to work 

EY’s findings echo those of an Upwork survey of 2,500 employees, freelancers and executives earlier this year, as reported by Worklife, Digiday’s sister publication. Eighty percent of those who use AI for their jobs said it had added to their workload and hampered productivity. 

Yet marketers are optimistic about the technology, finds WARC: 58% of those surveyed for the Marketer’s Toolkit 2024 said they were planning to use GenAI. Among the uses cited, copywriting and summarizing large chunks of text came out top. To better understand how the likes of Heinz, Coca-Cola and e.l.f Cosmetics have used AI, see WARC’s guide on the subject. 

EY, meanwhile, suggests exploring partnerships and alliances in a time of squeezed budgets, and making AI training and communication worthwhile for employees to engage in. 

Sourced from EY, Worklife, WARC
^{[Image: EY]}

Talking TV to the right people

Despite the frequent obituaries of linear TV, research consistently demonstrates its effectiveness – and financial analysts ought to be asking questions based on those findings, suggests Haleon’s head of global media.

Tell me more 

• At the recent Future of TV Advertising Global conference, Simon Peel observed how digital platforms have been very successful in promoting themselves to CMOs as indispensable to their businesses. “TV has missed that trick a little bit,” he said.
• Peel referenced reports from the decade-old The Long And The Short Of It to the more recent Profit Ability 2: “All of these studies … say the same thing,” he argued, “which is [that] TV is the most effective channel; it’s also one of the most efficient.”
• So working with TV ought to be regarded as “an accolade in the same way that working with Google or Amazon is”, he said – but it’s the digital marketing angle that is repeatedly brought up in quarterly earnings calls. (TV is rarely explicitly mentioned in calls but its use can sometimes be implied in references to advertising during live sports or to above-the-line activity.)
• TV companies should be persuading analysts to ask pertinent questions of CEOs and CFOs, he suggested. “How do you make it so fundamental to the market that it has to be on the plan? … I think it’s about marketing it correctly to the right people.”

Why it matters 

The role of head of media is not just about effectiveness: Peel remarked how much time is spent managing stakeholders, for example. But just as marketers are often advised to talk the language of the C-suite, so TV advertising executives can talk the language of effectiveness with financial analysts and help put the C-suite on the spot over media choices. 

Key quote

“Despite all the challenges TV has faced, it is still endlessly so goddamn effective” – Peter Field, marketing consultant, speaking at Future of TV Advertising Global. 

BEC

Temu's aggressive ad spend fuels popularity in Western markets, at a cost

Temu, the online marketplace owned by Chinese company PPD Holdings, is the most downloaded free app on the US App Store, according to rankings released by Apple – it’s yet another sign that its aggressive pricing and advertising strategies are paying off. 

Why it matters 

Chinese start-ups such as Temu are growing in popularity in the West by heavily investing in advertising. According to a report in the New York Times in March, the e-commerce site had placed 1.4m ads globally across Google services in the last year, while Meta estimated that it accounted for 10% of its revenue in a call with investors. WARC also reported spend of $2bn on Meta in 2023 but it comes at a price: reports suggest Temu was losing roughly $7 on every order.

Sustainable growth may be a way off but its continued popularity should be watched. One survey over the summer found that 94% of respondents did not trust the marketplace, according to TechRadar, but not even that has dented its rise. 

What’s going on 

Temu’s shopping app first muscled TikTok out of Apple’s top spot last year, reports TechCrunch. TikTok, facing a ban in the United States next month, comes third in popularity on the App Store behind Meta’s Instagram Threads. 

• Temu also came top in the UK and other big markets such as Germany and Spain. 
• The much-hyped ChatGPT ends up in fourth place, just beating Google’s Search in terms of downloads.
• Meta’s Instagram and WhatsApp finish in sixth and seventh places, respectively, while Facebook is 13th.
• McDonald’s, the only restaurant to make the top 20, came in at 19th, with Amazon finishing in 20th. 

Temu in context 

Temu has grown dramatically since first launching in the United States in 2022. It has been accused of being aggressive in acquiring customers, mainly by being extremely competitive on price. As Temu’s first and largest market, the US can be seen as a testbed for Temu to evolve and adapt its strategy, reports WARC.

It appears to show no signs of slowing down its ad spend in the country, with five appearances for its ‘Shop like a billionaire’ campaign at this year’s Super Bowl. It also controversially spent $15m on giveaways and coupons to encourage people to download the app and tell their friends. But it has faced backlash and been investigated by Congress for apparently illegally selling products made by forced labor in China. It’s also been accused of mishandling customer data. 

Sourced from TechCrunch, TechRadar, New York Times, WARC

Why Netflix sees live events rather than conventional sport as its future

Netflix has recently pulled off a series of radical pivots: from rejecting to embracing advertising; from documenting sport stories to streaming live events – these are key strategic goals, offering both big appointment viewing audiences and advertising opportunities beyond the ad tier, executives believe.

Why Netflix’s live play matters

Sport is one critical (but very expensive) element of live viewing, one that Netflix has long been reticent to adopt. Now, however, with a combination of Christmas Day NFL games featuring a Beyoncé halftime performance, WWE wrestling next year, and the recent Tyson-Paul fight, Netflix is trying to carve out a space where it can achieve an “enormous live audience”. Or in the words of co-CEO Ted Sarandos, built around an idea of events rather than just sporting occasions.

“Those moments are rare and very, very valuable,” Sarandos told a UBS conference recently. “That's why we're kind of leaning into it. And I don't think a season of league sports, the economic challenges aside, every one of those nights is not necessarily an event. And, really, I want to focus the live complexity and the live excitement on things that are truly events.”

While advertising remains a relatively small percentage of Netflix’s overall revenue mix, live occasions critically allow brands to speak to both ad-tier and full-plan subscribers, given the brand presence on screen during the event, not just in advertising breaks. Though still early days for these projects, and with some streaming issues to iron out, live presents a vital opportunity for the company. 

What’s going on

In the advertising world, Netflix has been building its own back end following the launch of its adtech stack in Canada last month. Speaking at Adwanted’s Future of TV Advertising Global last week, Damien Bernet, vice president, EMEA advertising, said the company expected to roll out its adtech in the US in Q2 of next year and other markets likely to be added over the course of 2025.

The play, he said onstage, was to build for the long term, adding that “We need our own adtech platform to be able to innovate and be flexible enough to create new solutions for our advertisers.” Advertisers are asking for the flexibility of programmatic advertising, especially through their established partners, with major players like the Trade Desk and Google’s DV360. Integration capabilities, he added, will launch in February.

Already, the audience is significant. Citing Barb figures from the UK, which now include Netflix’s ad tier of around 7.2 million users, individuals spend around 19 hours a week engaging with the platform, while household-level engagement stands closer to 40 hours per week.

Globally, the ad tier has grown in its second year to around 70m users globally, up from 15m, said Bernet.

Prospects for advertising growth

Next year will see the return of some of the service’s biggest shoes, including the sequel to Squid Game and a new instalment of Emily in Paris, which it hopes will drive engagement further, but it’s the pivot to events that really excites the company.

Netflix now expects to reach advertising “critical mass” in 2025 if it can continue the 35% quarterly growth in monthly active ad-tier users, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the UBS Global Media and Communications conference last week. It's at that point the company believes it will become more relevant to advertisers across the markets in which it operates an ad tier.

The recent Tyson-Paul fight, whatever sporting qualms one might legitimately harbour, was a significant success. Bernet noted that the fight drew a global concurrent viewing high of 70m viewers and, over the course of the event, 108m uniques.

Sarandos also celebrated the “enormous” audience, adding: “You'd have to go back to the 80s to get a live audience that big that wasn't a Super Bowl.”

So valuable, it appears, that Netflix believes it underplayed its hand. “If we knew the audience was going to be that big, we probably would have done a lot more selling on that fight,” Sarandos continued. “But I do think that our ability to monetize those events is very high.”

It’s not a mistake the company plans to repeat with its NFL Christmas games, which are now sold out of ad inventory.

“I feel like there is an emotional and somewhat irrational attraction to live for advertisers. It makes sense, really, because I do think people remember the events that they watch versus kind of the day to day [of] what they're watching and paying attention to,” Sarandos added. 

Reported by SPT

ITV turns to YouTube to maximise reach

The news that ITV is seeking to “maximise reach and viewing opportunities” by making full series available on YouTube highlights the challenges facing traditional broadcast TV channels. 

ITV had previously uploaded programme clips to the video platform, but now feels it’s necessary to post full episodes across genres. As well as entertainment, there will be separate ITV YouTube channels for news and sport, the Financial Times reports. 

Why YouTube matters for broadcasters

Broadcasters are having to seed content more widely as their addressable audience doesn’t necessarily visit their own properties. For example, data from Ampere Analysis indicates that 50% of Netflix viewers don’t watch ITV’s broadcast properties regularly; similarly, 54% of YouTube viewers don’t watch broadcast ITV or ITVX regularly. 

ITV is following a path already taken by Channel 4, which has increased the volume of content it puts on YouTube as it looks to attract a younger, online-only audience; views on this platform are up 43% year on year, according to the FT.

By tapping into those audiences that aren’t coming to their own properties, broadcasters can grab a slice of advertising revenue that they would otherwise forgo. 

Takeaways 

• While broadcast TV channels remain important, the future lies elsewhere, as audiences are increasingly choosing to watch programmes via streaming or using YouTube on smart TV sets.
• Broadcasters need to think streaming first, broadcast second, Ampere’s Richard Broughton, told the recent Future of TV Advertising conference – targeting specific groups and devising appropriate content release strategies (eg a ‘binge release’).
• While commercial broadcasters have turned to reality TV shows in order to save costs, these have a shorter shelf life than other scripted genres. Finding the right balance will be important in a streaming future. 

Sourced from Financial Times, Ampere Analysis

The much-maligned US mall might be having a comeback

The foretold and anticipated death of the US shopping mall may turn out to be premature doomongering because of the surprising shopping habits of Gen Z, many of whom say they prefer shopping in person over online. 

Why in-person shopping matters 

Global research across ten countries found that the vast majority of consumers say the in-store customer experience can make them return to a store. Abercrombie & Fitch, for example, has thrown pop-up concerts and hosted autograph signings, while Diageo invested heavily in immersive experiences for its whiskies. 

What’s going on 

There are a surprising number of young people, aged 13-28, turning to in-person shopping, notes a news report on CNBC. A survey by the ICSC, a mall industry group, found that Gen Z shop as much as their baby boomer grandparents in-store and more than millennials and Gen X.

• About 30% of Gen Z consumers said they choose to buy items in person because they get them immediately, found the same survey. 
• Nearly 63% of Gen Z say they plan to make holiday purchases at physical stores this year, according to an annual survey by consulting firm EY, as quoted by CNBC. 
• Princess Polly, an online-only retailer catering to girls and young women, opened its first US brick-and-mortar stores after customer feedback about wanting to try and feel the clothes in person. 
• Online sales at Hollister, a brand that targets Gen Z, were about 30% of the total in the last fiscal year, while parent brand Abercrombie & Fitch, which caters more to millennials, had digital sales of 60%. 

How malls are adapting 

Property owners are taking note of their young customers and turning the trip to the mall into something of a destination for other things, including mini golf, rock climbing, and even art installations. Meanwhile, Simon Property Group, the country’s largest mall owner, ran a marketing campaign called ‘Meet me @the mall’ which tapped into 1980s nostalgia, says CNBC. 

Key quote 

“Gen Zers, by and large, are very much aware of how important it is to stay human in this digital age. They like to be with each other. They appreciate face-to-face and one-on-one communication. And so shopping for some of them might be an opportunity to go into a store, have a real-life experience” – Roberta Katz, Stanford University research scholar, speaking to CNBC. 

Sourced from CNBC, WARC

Whatever value is, Americans think Amazon has got it

Amazon has emerged as the brand that Americans perceive to be the best value overall, according to YouGov’s BrandIndex, a daily tracking tool that measures consumer perceptions across industries and compares how well brands do against their competitors. 

The retail giant emerged as the winner in several different categorizations of value, including representing the best deal, across all US regions, and among Americans with mixed incomes. YouGov said its speed – mentioned by 71% of respondents – selection and membership benefits were among the reasons it came top of its rankings. 

Overall value (other winners)

To compile the rankings, YouGov asked American adults to decide whether a brand represented good or poor value; the difference between the two was calculated to come up with a net value score for every brand in the index*. 

• Nike – a brand that has been in the news for declining revenues – came top for representing a better deal this year than last year; Rolex came second while Amazon was third. 
• High-income Americans believed Costco represented the best deal, followed by Courtyard by Marriott and Trader Joe’s. 
• Lower-income Americans, by contrast, put gambling brand Powerball first, Megamillions second, and bargain retailer Dollar Tree third. 
• The industry that represents the best value overall is home & personal.

Sector breakdown – best and worst 

YouGov looked at hundreds of thousands of their panel surveys to isolate the brands that represent the best and worst perceived value in each sector (these are a selection):

• Fast food and QSR, best: Domino’s; worst: Starbucks
• Car brands, best: Toyota; worst: Tesla. 
• Cable and streaming, best: Netflix; worst: DirecTV.
• Airlines, best: Southwest, worst: Spirit Airlines 
• Drugs & medical, best: Band-Aid, worst: Ozempic 
• Fashion, best: Old Navy, worst: lululemon 
• Grocery, best: Aldi, worst: Whole Foods Market 
• Hair & skincare, best: Dove, worst: Amway

Why brand value matters 

Even though the rankings are only about consumer value perceptions, these perceptions do appear to have some correlation to how people spend their money – trouble-hit Starbucks and Spirit Airlines are arguably examples of this. 

While the economy and food prices remain a major concern, most Americans tell YouGov that they are optimistic about 2025, with a majority (54%) believing they will be in a better position 12 months from now (November 2024). Those brands that continue to invest in their brand for the long term are likely to see better returns from improved consumer sentiment. 

* To qualify for the rankings, brands must have survey responses available for at least 183 days between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024. A minimum base size of 300 is also required, although the brands mentioned far exceeded this number. Consumer survey sample sizes varied.

Sourced from YouGov, WARC 

Brand vs. performance debate a ‘distraction’ for media leaders

Media budget holders risk distraction by creating false dichotomies of brand-building and performance marketing, according to the former global media leads at Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

Speaking on the latest episode of the WARC Podcast, Gerry D’Angelo (ex-VP, Global Media at P&G) and Sarah Mansfield (ex-VP, Global Media at Unilever) urged marketing leaders to be “consumer-first” rather than influenced by “linguistic and semantic debates”.

Serving the sell-side

The attraction to media platforms and channels with apparent performance credentials has been driven by the “short-termism” afflicting much of marketing decision-making, said Mansfield, who recently launched a consultancy called Barcarolle.

“It's easier to justify putting money into shoppable ads that can prove an immediate return on investment, that maybe isn't a more long-term brand building. That's not necessarily the right thing to do, but in reality that has happened within all sorts of companies,” Mansfield added.

D’Angelo – now a senior advisor at McKinsey & Co. – argued that the debate has been stirred to benefit those parts of the sell side with high levels of addressability and attribution, to “facilitate a flow of dollars from non-performance media to performance media.”

Issues with attention

The growing role of attention measurement in advertising was also questioned – in particular the breadth of vendors and definitions that brands must try to make sense of.

“My problem with attention is there’s probably, at the last count, more than 20 different providers of attention measurement out there in the marketplace. And if you ask anyone in the industry to give a metric for attention, you'll probably get 110 different answers,” said D’Angelo.

“It goes back to the point earlier about the self-serving constituencies. Are we talking about these things because they're really moving the needle for the business and helping us to serve consumers more effectively? Or is it really helping to start to build a support business case for other participants in the industry?”

Listen on Spotify or Apple