“What do you imply AI gained’t repair every part?” That dialog with a advertising govt final month sparked my journey into creating this advertising govt playbook for 2025.

As I dove into information and interviewed executives throughout industries, I found one thing shocking: Whereas 56% of selling leaders consider advertising has modified extra up to now three years than the earlier 50, probably the most profitable leaders are taking a way more nuanced method than I anticipated.
To grasp the place advertising is headed, HubSpot surveyed 724 advertising leaders on the director stage and above throughout main markets, together with:
- The U.S. (27.49%),
- Nice Britain (18.78%),
- Netherlands (11.74%), and
- Japan (10.91%).
Then, to deliver these findings to life, I spoke with advertising executives from corporations like Wrike, Atlassian, Sendoso, and extra about how they’re approaching these challenges of their organizations.
Our analysis reveals three clear priorities for 2025:
- Rising income and gross sales (20%).
- Deepening buyer understanding (16%).
- Increasing model consciousness (16%).
What fascinated me most in my conversations with advertising executives was how these priorities usually create productive pressure, pushing leaders to search out inventive options that steadiness innovation with confirmed fundamentals.
Let’s dive into what’s working now and what’s subsequent, with sensible insights from each our analysis and real-world advertising leaders.
Desk of Contents
The Progress–Model Stability: A New Playbook for 2025
Keep in mind when advertising groups had to decide on between driving speedy income or constructing long-term model worth? That line is blurring.
Our analysis exhibits advertising leaders are rejecting this false dichotomy.
Whereas 20% prioritize rising income and gross sales as their high objective, there’s additionally a powerful emphasis on deeper buyer understanding (16%) and model consciousness (16%).
And these aren’t both/or selections — many leaders reported pursuing a number of strategic priorities concurrently.
Sarah Reece, director of demand era at Orum, a gross sales acceleration platform, captures this shift completely.
“My philosophy is that model is demand, and each touchpoint is a model touchpoint,” she explains.
“From our social presence to our web site to the way in which our gross sales workforce outbounds, we’re constructing a model status that creates belief, builds affinity, and drives choice so that people default to Orum once they come into the market.”
And the numbers again up this built-in method. “We really noticed a fairly speedy affect on our demand gen targets when taking decisive motion to emphasise model,” Reece shares.
“Direct and natural net site visitors elevated, social attain climbed, pipeline and income grew, and deal velocity elevated too … If something, development was exponential and has continued to tick up with each massive model second we introduce.”
With this basis of balanced priorities in place, let’s take a look at how advertising leaders are utilizing AI and automation to execute these targets successfully.
How Advertising Executives Are Approaching AI and Automation
Advertising leaders are shifting previous the “AI will repair every part” mindset to a extra strategic method. Our analysis exhibits advertising leaders are prioritizing three key AI initiatives for 2025:
- Leveraging AI to create multi-modal campaigns (24%).
- Utilizing AI brokers for end-to-end advertising automation (22%).
- Implementing AI-powered reporting instruments for ROI analysis (21%).
Discovering the Proper Stability
What fascinates me most about these numbers isn’t simply the excessive adoption charges — it’s how leaders thoughtfully combine AI into present workflows.
Christine Royston, chief advertising officer at Wrike, a workflow administration platform, has noticed this evolution firsthand.
“We’ve definitely seen numerous change up to now three years with the rise, recognition, and accessibility of AI,” she explains.
“Essentially the most dramatic change I’ve witnessed is an rising shift in direction of delivering environment friendly development by way of data-driven decision-making.”
In line with Wrike’s 2024 Impactful Work Report, greater than 80% of enterprise leaders have named effectivity their main focus for sustaining competitiveness.
Royston and her workforce are responding by investing closely in AI-powered predictive analytics.
From Principle to Observe
Whereas many advertising groups are nonetheless experimenting with AI, some are already seeing concrete advantages. At Goldcast, a B2B video platform, CEO Palash Soni sees AI remodeling content material creation and distribution.
“The basics of what makes a B2B model profitable haven’t modified,” he explains.
“Excessive-quality thought management, differentiated PoV, standout attention-grabbing content material, and a bulletproof operations base have at all times gained and can proceed profitable. Making these items scale effectively is the place AI is available in for high manufacturers.”
Ashley Faus, head of lifecycle advertising at Atlassian — a office collaboration and productiveness software program firm — takes a focused method with Rovo, Atlassian’s AI-powered instrument.
“We used it to work on a content audit, brainstorm subjects, and even create a custom agent so as to add context on a number of the messaging for our merchandise,” Faus explains.
Her workforce plans to increase these capabilities: “I foresee us creating extra brokers to assist analyze asset and channel efficiency, shut gaps in our content material technique, and personalize the journey for various personas.”
At Orum, Sarah Reece has discovered sensible purposes throughout a number of capabilities.
“AI in mission administration has been extraordinarily useful for creating mission boards, automating standing updates, and holding work shifting ahead,” she explains.
“We’re additionally heavy customers of AI for video and podcast modifying and manufacturing. AI has made every part associated to modifying video and audio, selecting out clips for social, and transcribing for social posts, captions, and content material repurposing past straightforward.”
Balancing AI and Human Creativity
What struck me most in my conversations with leaders was their emphasis on sustaining human oversight.
Kacie Jenkins, senior vp of selling at Sendoso, an enterprise gifting and advertising engagement platform, put it completely:
“Human connection and considerate personalization are the guts of every part we do at Sendoso as a result of they’re the beating coronary heart of fine advertising. We consider that AI is a tremendous approach to increase human workflows, however it wants a human on the helm, and oversight is crucial.”
Jenkins’ workforce has discovered success by specializing in utilizing AI to reinforce moderately than change human capabilities:
“We use AI for analysis, to assist us goal our advertising efforts extra successfully, to eradicate mundane, guide work, and to ship the correct personalised present and message to the correct particular person on the proper time throughout the total buyer journey.”
Whereas AI adoption is accelerating, advertising executives emphasize the significance of considerate implementation. Wrike’s Royston advocates for steadiness.
“Though we welcome AI implementation because it permits for elevated alternatives for high-impact work and collaboration,” she explains, “human creativity and empathy are irreplaceable in crafting compelling storytelling, creating modern methods, and fostering genuine buyer connections.”
This balanced method to AI units up one of many greatest challenges advertising leaders face in 2025: scaling personalization with out shedding authenticity. Let’s take a look at how probably the most profitable executives are tackling this problem.
Professional tip: Establish areas the place AI can deal with routine duties, liberating your workforce to concentrate on strategic pondering and inventive growth.
How Advertising Executives Are Scaling Personalization
The numbers from our analysis inform a compelling story about personalization in 2025:
- 90% of selling leaders provide considerably or very personalised experiences.
- 86% report that personalization will increase gross sales reasonably or considerably.
- 18% cite quickly altering viewers lives as their main problem.
Past Primary Personalization
These statistics solely inform a part of the story. In my conversations with advertising leaders, I found they’re fully rethinking what “personalised” means in 2025. VP of Advertising Deb Garber emphasizes this evolution at Kount, an Equifax firm centered on fraud prevention and digital id options.
“Advertising is consistently evolving, and so are our goal audiences,” Garber explains. “What they need, how they behave, how they need to be communicated with is frequently shifting and might make it difficult to maintain up.”
Information-Pushed Personalization at Scale
For monetary companies corporations, this problem is especially acute. Marla Pieton, senior director of influencer advertising at Alkami, a digital banking platform, has seen how subtle personalization drives precise enterprise outcomes.
“In digital banking, the quicker we are able to analyze account holder habits, the quicker we are able to tailor services to satisfy their wants,” she explains. “This stage of personalization might be the deciding consider whether or not an account holder stays loyal to their monetary establishment or seeks options.”
The answer? In line with Pieton, it’s about modernizing your know-how stack:
“To remain forward, modernizing information know-how with superior analytics, notably predictive analytics, can present worthwhile foresight under consideration holder wants and preferences, enabling extra proactive and personalised experiences.”
Professional tip: Deal with refining your information assortment and analytics course of. Prioritizing behavioral insights and predictive analytics will show you how to anticipate buyer wants and guarantee campaigns stay impactful and related.
Constructing Belief By means of Transparency
One of the vital attention-grabbing approaches I encountered got here from Huntress, a cybersecurity firm. Chief Advertising Officer Jason Marshall takes a radically clear method to personalization.
“We offer a full audit log so clients can see how we use their enterprise data,” says Marshall. “We additionally publish detailed insurance policies relating to information assortment and the way we use it.”
Marshall emphasizes that whereas extra shoppers are aware of their data-sharing practices, having clear-minded insurance policies and sincere dialogue helps preserve belief.
This concentrate on belief turns into much more crucial as personalization will get extra subtle. At GRIN, a creator administration platform, Senior Director of Product Advertising and Partnerships Olivia McNaughten sees co-selling as the subsequent frontier.
“Whenever you let creators select merchandise they genuinely love and share them with their viewers, you create an unforgettable buying expertise for audiences who genuinely belief these creators with regards to product suggestions.”
Professional tip: “Empower creators to take the result in curate and promote merchandise,” says McNaughten. “It’s extra private, extra impactful, and delivers stronger outcomes for each manufacturers and creators.”
Scaling Personalization With out Dropping the Human Contact
The true magic occurs when corporations discover methods to personalize at scale whereas sustaining authenticity. Kacie Jenkins and her workforce at Sendoso mix AI, intent information, and automation to personalize interactions at scale, producing over $1M in outbound certified pipeline per quarter.
This balanced method to scaling personalization pays off. Jenkins’ workforce efficiently makes use of AI and information to ship “the correct personalised present and message to the correct particular person on the proper time throughout the total buyer journey.”
The important thing? Taking information upkeep significantly. “Don’t use AI in the event you can’t belief your information!” Jenkins emphasizes.
This steadiness of know-how and belief units up one other essential problem advertising leaders face in 2025: creating content material that resonates throughout a number of channels whereas sustaining consistency and worth. Let’s discover how executives are remodeling their content material methods to satisfy this problem.
Professional tip: Begin with clear, dependable information earlier than implementing AI-driven personalization instruments. The standard of your personalization efforts can solely be pretty much as good as the information that drives them.
How Advertising Executives Are Reworking Content material Technique
Our analysis exhibits advertising leaders are evolving their content material technique past fundamental product promotion. Three key traits emerged from our information:
- 20% prioritize value-aligned content material.
- 21% are rising model content material that includes trade consultants.
- 17% concentrate on repurposing content material throughout channels.
The Rise of Genuine Video Content material
One of the vital dramatic shifts I’ve noticed is in video advertising. Jennifer Burak, vp of selling at Socialive, a video content material platform, explains the basic change in viewers preferences:
“The largest change in video advertising is the shift to short-form, genuine video as a approach to entice audiences with the objective to get them to go deeper.”
This shift, she notes, is pushed by evolving social media habits and rising client choice for relatable content material over polished advertising supplies.
Constructing Professional Communities
At Atlassian, Ashley Faus has taken this authenticity precept even additional. “We now have a practices and evangelist workforce to assist us join with extra technical audiences,” she explains.
The outcomes communicate for themselves: Their technical evangelists have constructed important followings, with one receiving LinkedIn’s Prime Voice badge in 2024 and one other turning into an everyday keynote speaker at main tech conferences.
However what actually caught my consideration was Atlassian’s method to neighborhood content material. Somewhat than limiting themselves to exterior consultants, they’ve created a program that turns their most engaged customers into content material creators.
By means of month-to-month coaching classes on new options, trade traits, and platform greatest practices, they’re serving to their neighborhood members develop into genuine voices for the model.
Worth-First Content material Improvement
“Fall in love with the shopper’s drawback, not your product.”
This recommendation from Joanie Kindblade, senior director of product advertising at Lumen Technologies, a Fortune 500 tech firm offering enterprise-level networking, cloud, and safety options, captures how advertising executives are rethinking content material technique.
Somewhat than main with product options, they’re specializing in understanding and addressing buyer challenges first.
Professional tip: Kindblade suggests creating content material that “resonates with buyer values by understanding their wants, preferences, and ache factors.” This customer-centric method is reshaping how advertising executives take into consideration content material.
Ashleigh Cook, CMO at RainFocus, an occasion advertising platform, places this precept into apply by way of direct buyer engagement.
“We depend on insights from our personal person convention and buyer surveys to higher perceive the place alternatives exist for broader market training in addition to extra technical training on our platform,” she explains.
“It’s additionally crucial to have direct conversations with clients and a continuing suggestions loop between gross sales and advertising.”
Noah Dye, govt vp of worldwide strategic consumer engagement at international advertising company TEAM LEWIS, reinforces this shift.
“Content material stays king. Nonetheless, it has develop into extra of a ‘present, don’t inform’ method,” he explains. He factors to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Video Marketing survey, which discovered that 89% of shoppers need to see extra movies from manufacturers, with 75% particularly preferring short-form video content material on cellular units.
Socialive VP of Advertising Jennifer Burak agrees.
“Transfer from promoting merchandise to fixing issues by highlighting how your model’s mission aligns together with your prospects’ values, akin to sustainability, range, or innovation,” Burak says. “Use storytelling to attach emotionally and collaborate with workers and clients to create relatable video content material.”
Content material Effectivity and Sensible Repurposing
Whereas high-quality content material stays important, advertising leaders are discovering modern methods to maximise its affect. At Goldcast, Palash Soni sees AI as an important instrument for content material amplification.
“Excessive-quality video content material calls for numerous work and prices so much to create,” Soni explains. “AI may help that work and price go so much farther by serving to take present video property throughout channels and campaigns.”
Jason Marshall at Huntress has taken a complete method to content material by way of Huntress’s new associate portal. The platform combines cybersecurity coaching, product updates, and trade insights in a single place, serving to construct buyer experience whereas strengthening their connection to the model.
“By offering ongoing entry to data on Huntress merchandise alongside deep dives into trade subjects and advertising and gross sales suggestions, constructing the cybersecurity experience of our shoppers will ideally deliver them nearer to our firm,” explains Marshall.
Sustaining High quality at Scale
“One concern I heard repeatedly was about sustaining content material high quality whereas scaling manufacturing. Marija Kojic, director of content material at CAKE.com, an organization that helps companies worldwide manage and run operations by way of productiveness instruments like Plaky, Pumble, and Clockify, provided a worthwhile perspective:
“Search engines like google and yahoo are nonetheless giving priority to well-structured content material delivering excessive worth, in-depth data, infused with authentic skilled opinions and insights — and you need to, too.”
In apply, this implies being strategic about content material repurposing. Jennifer Burak of Socialive recommends on the lookout for platforms that assist groups effectively remodel long-form movies into brief clips for social, blogs, or e-mail campaigns.
I’ve seen this multi-channel method work notably effectively when the core content material is stable and value-driven.
Professional tip: Begin constructing your content material repurposing technique now. Establish your most beneficial content material items and plan how they are often reworked for various channels and audiences whereas sustaining their core worth.
Trying Forward: Content material Technique in 2025
After analyzing tons of of responses and talking with dozens of selling leaders, I’m seeing a transparent sample emerge: Profitable content material methods in 2025 should steadiness authenticity, effectivity, and worth.
The best approaches mix:
- Deep understanding of buyer challenges.
- Professional and community-generated content material.
- Sensible repurposing throughout channels.
- Constant high quality requirements.
This multi-faceted method to content material ties straight into how advertising leaders are utilizing information to drive selections. Let’s discover how executives are shifting past fundamental metrics to know and serve their audiences higher.
How Advertising Executives Are Utilizing Information to Drive Selections
Our analysis reveals a captivating evolution in how advertising leaders method information. The priorities have shifted considerably, with leaders specializing in:
- Content material consumption habits (33%)
- Primary demographics (32%)
- Purchasing habits (28%)
Transferring Past Primary Demographics
I’ve seen a major shift in my conversations with advertising leaders: They’re now not glad with figuring out who their clients are — they need to perceive how their clients behave and what they like.
“Essentially the most important evolution in advertising up to now decade has been with the digital engagement of audiences by way of a number of channels and the harvesting of that information footprint for higher habits,” explains Vibhor Kapoor, chief enterprise officer at NextRoll, a advertising and promoting know-how firm.
“Central to each efficient advertising workforce’s technique at present must be leveraging the information to seize intent alerts, perceive habits, make suggestions, and predict the subsequent greatest actions.”
The Monetary Companies Instance
I’ve seen this evolution play out notably effectively in monetary companies. At Alkami, Marla Pieton exhibits how subtle information evaluation drives personalization.
Her workforce makes use of superior analytics to attract on account holder habits, “uncovering deeper patterns in classes like transaction historical past, service provider spend habits, channel utilization, and engagement with previous presents. This permits the data-informed digital banker to create extra related and well timed advertising campaigns.”
Navigating Information Challenges
Nonetheless, advertising executives face important hurdles of their information initiatives:
- 21% cite decreased client belief in sharing private information.
- 18% face rising information privateness laws.
- 16% wrestle with poor information high quality.
Sarah Reece, director of demand era at Orum, found an sudden answer: specializing in high quality over amount. Her workforce made the daring transfer to chop all its demand seize digital spend and de-emphasize low-intent conversions.
“Our general lead quantity positively went down,” Reece explains. “However we’ve been capable of present that leads aren’t a powerful indicator of pipeline well being… Solely high-intent leads are helpful for predicting pipeline (demo requests, contact gross sales, and many others.).”
The outcomes? “Whereas general leads decreased, we’ve been capable of develop our complete alternatives and enhance our alternative worth by focusing our intention on maximizing the correct conversions.”
Artistic Options for 2025
Trying forward, advertising leaders are discovering modern methods to steadiness information wants with privateness considerations.
Chris Williams, CMO at Arima, a cloud-based client insights platform that creates privacy-compliant artificial information mirroring actual client habits, suggests an unconventional method: utilizing artificial information to create inhabitants simulations that may inform advertising methods whereas defending particular person privateness.
“Somewhat than attempt to acquire huge information units of hard-to-get information on prospects, entrepreneurs need to corporations that create artificial information as an alternative,” says Williams.
This evolving method to information units up the broader problem advertising leaders face as they put together for 2025: balancing innovation with confirmed fundamentals. Let’s discover how executives are making ready their groups for what’s subsequent.
Professional tip: Deal with amassing and analyzing the correct information, not simply extra information. As our consultants present, focused, high-quality information factors usually show extra worthwhile than huge portions of basic data.
Advertising Government Outlook: Making ready for 2025
As I’ve analyzed our analysis and spoken with advertising executives throughout industries, I’ve seen a transparent theme rising: Success in 2025 would require a fragile steadiness of innovation and fundamentals.
Our analysis exhibits advertising executives are making ready for a number of important shifts:
- 20% are specializing in personality-led content material and creator partnerships.
- 21% are diversifying paid media approaches.
- 19% are updating search engine optimisation methods for AI-driven search.
Embracing Uncertainty
“Even with the U.S. elections behind us, uncertainty will persist in 2025,” observes Noah Dye from TEAM LEWIS. “As manufacturers put together for the yr forward, they should stay versatile. Ensure that advertising plans can flex in response to alter.”
Strategic Useful resource Allocation
What’s stunned me most in these conversations isn’t simply what advertising leaders plan to do — it’s how thoughtfully they method the steadiness between innovation and fundamentals.
Take Kacie Jenkins, senior vp of selling at Sendoso, who plans to dedicate 60% of her 2025 funds to model and class constructing, with the remaining 40% centered on demand era.
Her reasoning?
“We all know that’s the approach to create the belief and choice that can put us within the consideration set for the huge share of potential consumers (95%) who aren’t but available in the market,” she explains.
“You already know while you do one thing at present as a result of your future self will profit from it, like filling up the fuel tank or establishing computerized financial savings deposits? Identical concept.”
Making ready for A number of Futures
By means of my conversations with executives, three key approaches to future-proofing stand out:
- Worth First, Expertise Second. “Making these items scale effectively is the place AI is available in for high manufacturers,” explains Palash Soni. His workforce focuses on utilizing know-how to amplify confirmed methods moderately than change them.
- Balanced Innovation. At Lumen Applied sciences, Joanie Kindblade and her workforce are “exploring prospects of AR and LLMs in product presentation and moral content material era” whereas sustaining concentrate on “buyer pursuits and moral algorithm inference.”
- Belief-Primarily based Relationships. Ashley Faus emphasizes neighborhood and long-term relationships. Her workforce has expanded their Atlassian Creator program to include extra neighborhood members, internet hosting month-to-month coaching classes on new options, trade traits, and platform greatest practices to assist them enhance their attain and engagement.
Professional tip: Begin making ready for 2025 now by auditing your present advertising stack and figuring out areas the place AI can increase (not change) your workforce’s capabilities.
Advertising Management Reimagined: Insights for 2025
As I wrapped up my conversations with these advertising executives, I discovered myself excited and humbled by their shared insights.
What struck me most wasn’t simply their technical information or strategic pondering — although each had been spectacular — it was their capability to remain grounded in advertising fundamentals whereas embracing transformation.
The information paints a transparent image of this steadiness: Whereas advertising leaders are specializing in AI for multi-modal campaigns (24%) and end-to-end automation (22%), they’re concurrently prioritizing human components — 90% are investing in personalised experiences, and 20% are specializing in value-aligned content material.
Discovering Stability in Change
Our analysis confirms that advertising has modified extra up to now three years than within the earlier 50. But these leaders are doing greater than chasing the subsequent shiny AI instrument or leaping on each new development.
As a substitute, they’re thoughtfully evaluating how new applied sciences and approaches can amplify what already works: understanding clients, creating worth, and constructing belief.
I began this analysis anticipating to jot down about dramatic technological transformations.
As a substitute, I found one thing extra nuanced: Essentially the most profitable advertising executives are those that can steadiness innovation with authenticity, automation with human connection, and speedy outcomes with long-term model constructing.
Charting Your Course for 2025
As you intend your technique for 2025, do not forget that the objective isn’t to implement each new instrument or development. It’s to search out the correct mix of innovation and fundamentals that works to your viewers, your workforce, and your targets.
In spite of everything, as lots of our consultants jogged my memory, whereas the instruments of selling could change, the core precept stays the identical: It’s all about creating real connections with the folks we serve.
Editor’s be aware: This publish was initially revealed in January 2023 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.