Latest Marketing & Advertising News

📅December 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM

AI-driven ad tools, agentic media platforms and global agency deals reshape marketing; privacy, creator economy, and AI ad placements dominate industry shifts.

AI face-swap and automated ad tools scale global localization

Brands are increasingly using AI face-swap and automated ad-production tools to create market-specific versions from a single creative, reducing cost and time while aiming to preserve cultural nuance and authenticity. These tools enable rapid persona adaptation across regions without reshoots, letting marketers test and deploy localized creatives at scale.

Agentic media platforms emerge as next programmatic evolution

Infillion launched an agentic media execution platform built on MCP, signaling a shift from traditional programmatic to ‘agentic’ systems that autonomously plan and run media. Industry leaders describe two forms of AI in advertising: AI-powered creative/optimization and agentic systems that execute campaigns, accelerating automation across ad operations.

Major ad tech and agency M&A roundup of 2025 reshapes landscape

2025 saw numerous ad tech and agency deals that consolidated capabilities across data, commerce and creator-focused services, influencing media and creative supply chains. Publications have compiled comprehensive lists of the year’s notable transactions, highlighting strategic acquisitions to capture creator and commerce growth.

WPP, Publicis and other holding companies win large global briefs

Recent reports show major global account moves—Jaguar Land Rover selecting WPP for global marketing communications and Publicis Media winning Kenvue’s $1.3B global media business—continuing the annual consolidation of big-brand media assignments. Media buyers and agencies say final contracts remain subject to negotiation and integration planning.

AI search and ads on AI platforms change media planning priorities

Marketers are preparing for expanded ad opportunities on AI search/assistant platforms (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity), shifting focus toward brand visibility and trust to earn AI citations. SEO strategies must adapt as AI-overviews synthesize multiple sources, and platforms begin to monetize with ads, creating new placement and measurement challenges.

YouTube Shorts ad features and measurement updates impact video strategy

YouTube has rolled out Shorts ad capabilities—comment sections on eligible Shorts ads, website linking for creators, and expansion to mobile web—altering short-form video monetization and advertiser engagement pathways. These changes require brands to rethink creative formats and measurement for short-form performance.

Creator economy pressures media agencies to adopt creator-first approaches

Industry analysis argues media agencies must move faster to serve creator-driven commerce and content models, with brands and platforms prioritizing creator partnerships and direct commerce integrations. Agencies are launching specialized commerce and creator units to better monetize creator relationships.

Privacy, data and measurement continue to drive ad strategy shifts

Marketers face ongoing changes to measurement and data strategy as cookieless environments and privacy rules persist, prompting investment in first-party data, clean rooms and modeled measurement solutions . Publishers and advertisers are revising attribution and auction strategies to maintain performance and transparency .

Christmas 2025 campaigns highlight emotional and purpose-driven creative

Recent roundups note 2025’s holiday advertising emphasized emotional storytelling and cultural resonance, with several ads achieving high public recognition in markets such as the UK, per Marketing Week and campaign retrospectives . Brands are balancing spectacle with empathetic, culturally aware messaging to cut through during peak season .

Amazon Ads Partner Awards spotlight regional ad-tech and agency excellence

The 2025 Amazon Ads Partner Awards recognized top-performing agencies and partners across regions, underscoring the commercial importance of platform-aligned expertise for retail media growth. Winners reflect the maturation of retail media as brands seek specialized partners for Amazon ecosystems.

Debate over AI's role in workforce and creative decisions continues

Industry surveys and commentary report marketers expect AI to both augment and potentially reduce headcount as tasks are automated; many plan to redeploy talent toward higher-value creative and strategy roles. Experts recommend using AI as a support tool rather than an autonomous decision-maker to avoid misplaced trust and operational risk .

Data on creative elements (faces in thumbnails) challenges assumptions

A dataset analysis of 300K viral YouTube videos suggests faces in thumbnails perform about the same as thumbnails without faces, varying significantly by niche—prompting marketers to test creative assumptions rather than rely on heuristics. Search and social strategies must be evidence-driven and niche-sensitive when designing assets.

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