Marketing Trends 2025
Kantar Unveils 10 Marketing Trends To Watch in 2025
By Simiso Ncube
From Gen AI guardrails to the population conundrum, Kantar’ s Marketing Trends 2025 report highlights the key forces set to shape the future of marketing. Backed by extensive attitudinal and behavioural data, the report features expert predictions from across Kantar, with critical insights for marketers navigating a rapidly evolving landscape marked by social and demographic shifts, regulatory and legislative changes, and rapid technology advances.
According to Kantar these are the 10 trends that will make a difference in 2025:
# 1: Brands go woke and definitely not broke
While evidence that inclusion is a powerful engine of brand growth continues to mount, marketers are still underestimating its impact. Kantar data shows that a brand’ s diversity and inclusion efforts influence the buying decisions of almost eight in 10 people worldwide. With major political, social and demographic changes set to make inclusion more personal for lots of people next year, it will become one of the most significant considerations for brands.
Kantar’ s Brand Inclusion Index Study 2024 revealed that discrimination is even more prevalent in emerging economies( 64 %) than in developed markets( 36 %), emphasising the need for countries like Kenya to prioritise inclusive marketing.
# 2: The puzzle of slowing population growth
Products rely on populations getting bigger to drive sales. But global population
62 MAL65 / 25 ISSUE growth is now under one percent and is predicted to go negative by the end of the century. Forces like people marrying and having children later, and living in smaller households, will exacerbate this shift. So will aging populations, who tend to spend less. This creates an urgency for marketers to predispose more people to their brand and to find new spaces in which to grow. While the overall global population growth is now under one percent and is predicted to go negative by the end of the century, Kenya ' s population has been experiencing a steady increase over the past decades. Estimates suggest that Kenya ' s population has reached approximately 57 million people and by 2030 will increase to around 57.8 million. Given that over 80 % of Kenya’ s population is under 35, DEI will continue to gain importance especially amongst the millennials and Gen Z’ s.
# 3: Gen AI – safety will come first
Data provenance will be a big theme in 2025. Kantar research shows that more than two in five consumers don’ t trust ads that are AI-generated. As AI becomes more sophisticated, more people will be pushing for transparency in how it’ s used. Whether they’ re using GenAI to inform data-led investment decisions or to help create ideas and content, marketers will need reassurance that the training data the models are based on are trustworthy, relevant, and reliable.
# 4: Looking to livestreaming
Livestreaming platforms like Taobao Live, Douyin and WeChat reach half the Chinese population, and some forecasts put live-commerce sales at 20 % of total retail in China by 2026. Livestreaming ads can boost both short-term purchase intent and long-term brand affinity. Kantar’ s experts expect established brands to look to livestreaming ads to build long-term associations, while medium and smaller brands prioritise increasing awareness and driving immediate interest. Video content continues to gain traction, with a focus on short-form videos and live streaming. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are popular for engaging audiences, while live streaming is utilised for product launches and interactive sessions.
# 5: Demanding more from Retail Media Networks( RMNs)
Retail media could account for almost a quarter of all US media ad spend in 2028. By collaborating with retailers on their first-party data, marketers can be more precise in targeting and personalising their marketing, which in turn means detailed consumer insights can be used to optimise ad spend and improve campaign effectiveness. But in 2025, there needs to be transparency about the challenges holding back marketers from investing in RMNs; improved data access, specific media measurement needs, and the ability to drive brand equity.
# 6: Embarking on the voyage to total video
The line between broadcast and streaming TV is now all but invisible to viewers. Heavy investment into broadcast TV advertising will continue to be spread across the TV portfolio, and further into video advertising, predicts Kantar. Marketers that take a nuanced approach,