In the new year, advertisers will look to improve ad experiences and targeting to become more effective. Although public expectations will continue to rise, so will the need to prove advertising effectiveness. We asked experts to share their perspectives on how new tools and strategies will help advertisers and agencies get the most out of their data in the year ahead.
Agencies are looking into
Budgets will be tighter this year, so agencies will increasingly rely on technology to negotiate better deals for clients and measure campaign effectiveness.
“I think agencies are moving into the data and technology space much more forcefully – thinking that the size and weight versus walled gardens will allow them to get better deals for their clients and help them also to accumulate enough data assets to create their own proprietary models. “, said Mike Froggatt, principal managing analyst at Gartner. “There will be a lot more algorithmic media plans, especially in the project phases. Brands will expect some of these savings to be passed on, which will lead to changes in relationships with agencies and AORs.
Froggatt said marketers and agencies will “go back to basics” and implement strict testing regimes, media mix modeling and impact assessments.
Froggatt explained: “I think this is part of moving away from cookie and partner based metrics. If Meta and Google are your only media purchases, then analyzing these two platforms can provide a pretty decent view of how these spends are impacting your business. However, once marketers hit the limit on return on ad spend in these channels, leveraging cookies (or even other identifiers) to measure their programmatic and cross-site advertising will be a challenge. I think going back to a/b/n testing, incrementality, and tailored market testing is going to provide a much more holistic view of the impact of advertising on the bottom line.
COD breakthrough
Advertisers have had access to dynamic creative optimization (DCO) for years. With the rise of other AI-based advertising technologies, its use is likely to become more widespread.
“2025 will be a defining year for dynamic creative optimization, as generative AI finally unlocks its full potential,” said Oz Etzioni, CEO and co-founder of digital advertising company Clinch. “Brands will go beyond basic personalization, using AI-powered tools to create and optimize thousands of personalized ad variations in real-time, driving deeper personalization and engagement. A new wave of startups and innovations will simplify DCO adoption, making advanced creative strategies more accessible. By integrating creativity with data-driven insights, marketers can revolutionize campaigns, achieve scale without sacrificing resonance, and set a new standard for impactful advertising.
“AI is transforming the creative process, with consumers divided on its impact: some are embracing it, others are spotting the flaws,” said Julie Clark, senior vice president, media and entertainment at TransUnion. “As 2025 approaches, marketers will face pressure to adopt and experiment with AI, but its success depends on a strong evidence base.
foundation. The more robust the data, the more intuitive, connected and accurate marketing experiences are.
More personalized offers and recommendations
“AI and machine learning are revolutionizing the way brands interact with consumers,” said Colin Bodell, Chief Technology Officer at Bazaarvoice. “From personalized recommendations to automated customer service, these technologies deliver insights and experiences at a scale that was previously impossible. »
According to a study by Bazaarvoice, personalized offers encourage 45% of buyers to make purchases online. Brands and retailers will also need to ensure the supply chain is flexible enough to provide personalized offers.
“In 2025, brands that leverage AI to deliver hyper-personalized experiences and maintain a responsive and flexible supply chain will have a significant advantage in retaining long-term customers,” Bodell said.
These personalized experiences will be relevant throughout the customer journey and, more specifically, for more personalized advertising.
“In 2025, digital advertising will be defined by transformative trends that will reshape the way marketers engage consumers,” said Aman Sareen, CEO of AI advertising solutions company Aarki. “AI-driven, privacy-focused personalization will become the cornerstone of effective marketing strategies. Brands will move from collecting massive amounts of data to leveraging intelligent contextual insights that respect user privacy and deliver accurate, meaningful experiences.
Dig Deeper: Customer Experience Forecast for 2025
Improve data management
To support dynamic ad experiences, marketers will take steps over the next year to improve data management.
“One of the areas likely to be disrupted in 2025 is content analytics and associated data, with better data management and measurement as key enablers to unlocking the full potential of marketing,” said Verl Allen, CEO of the Claravine marketing data standards platform. “To unify data, marketers and their agencies must align and prioritize data critical to decision-making and collaboration. This may include trading with NMR and CTV platforms, optimizing their data stack, and exploring data cleanrooms and AI tools. But the success and speed of each of these strategies and innovations, in a fragmented market, depends on mastering fundamentals like taxonomy, metadata, and identifiers throughout the experience supply chain.
Using AI for Contextual Targeting
Traditionally, targeting in digital advertising was divided between deterministic and non-deterministic targeting: ads were served either to identified audiences or in contexts related to the audience’s interests. Stricter privacy rules mean new ways of using first-party data and non-deterministic algorithms will be more widely used, bridging the previous gap.
“2025 will be the year where privacy, contextual targeting and AI intersect,” said Vikrant Mathur, co-founder of digital advertising platform Future Today. “With increased regulatory pressures and consumer awareness about privacy, traditional audience building models based on persistent identifiers will need to be rethought. The good news is that advances in AI and technology can now leverage proprietary data and non-deterministic algorithms independent of personal information to effectively build and target an audience, aligning with evolving privacy standards and consumer expectations, while delivering on the promise of superior results for brands. We expect this next wave of contextual targeting – Contextual2.0 – powered by advanced, privacy-friendly technologies, to be widely adopted in the coming year.
Omar Tawakol, CEO and co-founder of Rembrand, said: “By 2025, the focus is likely to shift from purely creative applications of generative AI to more contextual and transparent advertising integrations. Advertisers are starting to understand that it’s not just about creating more content, but ensuring that content fits naturally into the broader viewing experience.
Tawakol added: “By integrating products directly into existing content, brands can maintain visibility even as traditional advertising formats become less effective. As this technology advances, it will provide advertisers with more flexibility and control over how their products are integrated, enabling more sophisticated and contextually relevant placements. This approach ensures that ads are not only seen, but also appear to be an integral part of the viewing experience.
Programmatic consolidation around better data
“The massive explosion of alternative ID frameworks has created a headache on both the buy and sell side of the ecosystem,” said Bennett Crumbling, head of marketing for the Data Cleanroom and Data Platform. Optable collaboration. “While the promise of more deterministic (better quality) data is strong, these frameworks are often complicated to implement and even more complicated to manage across a growing number of demand partners. We expect this to become easier to manage in 2025, and eventually the best demand-side partners will emerge as publishers glean insights.
AI as a Service in Advertising
“Marketers, advertisers and media planners face increasing pressure to innovate while maintaining strong campaign performance,” said Jon Schulz, chief marketing officer at Viant. “Artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize advertising by automating the complex and time-consuming processes of media planning, bidding and optimization. Much like SaaS software transformed, making it scalable, on-demand and easily accessible, AI as a Service promises to reshape advertising by freeing up time for media planners and buyers to focus on more strategic tasks. high level.
Schulz added: “Beyond automating planning and decision-making, AI capabilities extend to measurement, with the ability to analyze and gain actionable insights from campaign performance. We are only beginning to discover the possibilities of AI as a service in advertising.
Dig Deeper: 5 essential priorities for marketers in 2025
