Lanna Hill: The trends that will be shaping our buying habits in 2025

It’s been a big year for marketers, brands and consumers, and staying customer-focused and agile was the name of the game.

As AI stormed in, short-form video took over and consumers demanded more authenticity and transparency than ever, it wasn’t a year for the faint-hearted.

The advertising industry has been referred to as the canary in the economic coal mine — if advertising budgets are cut, the economy will surely follow.

And the news isn’t ideal — the Standard Media Index data tracked seven consecutive months of decline in ad spending this year, mirroring a decline in business confidence.

However, we’ve just seen a 4 per cent increase in Black Friday sales this year vs last year — therefore it’s not all bad news.

So, what’s the difference between the brands that are getting it right and those that aren’t? And what key trends can we expect to see shaping our buying behaviour in 2025?

One of the fastest-growing markets in 2024 has been women’s sports — and the ever-increasing importance of inclusive and progressive brands isn’t going anywhere.

Brands will need to act now to take full advantage of the opportunity and still be seen as “early adopters” — brands that fall behind in their visible stance on diversity will be seen as just ticking the box, and rightfully so.

As we watch the engagement grow, we’ll see the personal brands of female athletes grow, too — and their endorsements and sponsorships along with it.

In 2024, podcasts finally overtook radio in popularity, and we’ll continue to see more of this next year.

As podcast advertising continues to grow due to the high levels of trust and their niche, highly engaged audiences, podcasts aren’t just podcasts anymore.

Events, online communities and video streaming are part of what has become a 360-degree amplification opportunity for all kinds of brands.

Another trend we’ll see continue to grow in sophistication and mainstream usage is brand reputation monitoring, or media monitoring, as brands take a more proactive approach to their online clout.

Larger organisations have long measured their share of voice, social media reach, and overall sentiment.

We’ll see big business take brand health more seriously, and it’s about time especially when we think about the large-scale corporate scandals we’ve seen in the past 12 months.

As brands continue to lean more into faster turnaround mediums like social media, they’ll get real-time data, too — and our rapid adoption of AI will continue to make this faster, more efficient, and eventually cheaper.

And finally, personalisation will continue to dominate, but not as a trend — in 2025, it will solidify itself as a necessity.

The risk, however, is when AI gets overused in personalisation, and a great example of this is the more miss than hit of this year’s Spotify Wrapped, where more thoughtful and engaging choices have been subbed out and the internet has swiftly slammed the shift.

Spotify laid off a whopping 1500 staff in December last year and it seems obvious now that AI is doing what their more creative music editors once were.

However, personalisation is here to stay — the challenge is ensuring it feels authentic and human — even though it might not be.

Lanna Hill is director of Leverage Media Group