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Marketing in 2025: Realer. Weirder. Better?

Wander | April ’25

It’s been a long four months…

It’s already been a whirlwind year for marketing, with trends changing daily and new software popping up faster than you can blink. We understand… It can be hard to keep up! So we’ve tracked the moves that made us laugh, think, double-take and screenshot so we could bring them all to you (yes, YOU!) in one big beautiful package.

Here is your snapshot of everything so far!

Let’s break it down… what landed, what left a mark and what’s coming next.

January: New Year, New Energy

January kicked off with bold, no-nonsense ads that cut through the noise. McDonald’s billboards turned heads with their minimalism, proving you don’t need a full sentence to make people crave a Big Mac. Cadbury gave their iconic wrappers a makeover, splitting them into cheeky sections to identify who deserves the biggest chunk of a bar. (It’s totally the person who carried in all the shopping btw…)

These campaigns worked because they spoke to real-life moments we all know, like dunking fries in your milkshake. Brands are tapping into their audience; they know exactly who they’re speaking to and how to speak to them. Gone are the days of idealistic marketing, here come the campaigns that make you stop, laugh and relate.

The month also highlighted sustainability, especially among younger generations. TikTok’s ‘No Buy 2025’ pledge urged users to skip unnecessary purchases, while ‘Project Pan’ challenged collectors to finally use up products they’ve hoarded. It’s no secret that Gen-Z are more environmentally conscious, but this was on another level. We’re truly seeing the rise of influencers influencing each other to be better, and it’s a breath of fresh air.

February: We’re In Our Feels (And also the Duolingo Owl is dead for some reason)

February… The month of love, relationships and spectacle. Of course the second month of the year was FULL of Valentine’s campaigns, but there were some that truly broke the mould. This year brands threw away airbrushed romance in favour of awkward honesty. Morrisons aced this when they turned real customer gifting mishaps into personalised songs. They sourced the biggest fails and flipped them on their head, suggesting a 2-for-1 meal deal to redeem themselves this year.

And then came an unexpected twist… the Duolingo Owl was “killed off.” This bold step definitely turned a few heads and was perfectly in line with the brand they’d built over the years. Of course, when a spectacle happens in come the copycats. Some hit the mark, some fell flat on their faces trying to recreate what Duolingo did. What did we learn? That viral stunts only work when they have meaning.

March: The Month Of Collabs

The third month of the year brought us some unexpected pairings. Most notably, a collab between Heinz and iconic music producer Mustard to create, you guessed it, a bottle of mustard! Not exactly a game-changing product, but the sentiment behind it built the hype. This worked so well because of the investment from both sides. Heinz even described it as being “rooted in the shared faith of a mustard seed”… A line straight out of Shakespeare.

Then Bumble teamed up with certified internet treasure Amelia Dimz to talk real, awkward, chaotic dating. The kind that people live, not the stuff out of the world of Hollywood. There’s power in knowing your brand and the people that will uplift it. Tapping into cultural figures with genuine relevance was the secret weapon to influencer marketing this March.

April: Not just for pulling a prank

You thought we’d be going on about April Fools here, didn’t you?! Well… Jokes on you (😉) we already covered that in a TOOONNN of detail at the beginning of the month, so go read that one! (But also please come back when you’re done…)

Nope, April was all about using marketing to create experiences with real emotion behind them. Jokes are fun on the first day, but when the dust settles the rest of the month is just as important. Pinterest moved its marketing off the screen in April to bring a real-life mood board to Coachella. They brought stylists and makeup artists to the California desert, replicating their user experience irl and sharing behind-the-scenes online as they did. They made their marketing into a real-life connection and left a mark on an already brand-saturated festival.

In a surprising (and powerful) turn, the Ice Bucket Challenge made a return this April. Yes, the 2014 trend to raise money for The ALS Association is BACK. This time it’s to raise funds and awareness for MIND, turning the focus to mental health services and education. Despire the virality, compassion is more than a marketing strategy; it’s a natural product of humanity that we love to see being spread online. Wanna play a part? You can donate to both MIND and The ALS Association on their websites!

Sooooo… What’s next?!

We officially have 8 months left of 2025, so let’s make them count. No one can predict the future (if we could we’d be lottery winners) but we’re on the PULSE of marketing trends, so we reckon we can make a well-educated guess.

Activism as a campaign pillar: The socially conscious generation is tapped into marketing. We’re bound to see a rise in campaigns, trends and ads that prioritise real causes.
Keeping it real: AI is having its moment right now. Everywhere you turn there’s a generated image, post or video made by a computer. Sure, it’s cool to see what AI can do, but what will stand out are the real, relatable moments. AI is losing its novelty, human stories are forever and needed now more than ever.
E-commerce as an experience: Ever scrolled the livestream section of TikTok? You’re faced with hundreds of different brands showing their products to viewers. This is not a remodelled shopping channel, though. This is an experience. Viewers can ask questions and converse live about the products. Between this and the rise of augmented reality clothing try-ons, the future of marketing might lie in a virtual shopping trip…

2025 isn’t about reinventing the wheel. Most marketing tactics have been done before. The secret to success is knowing when to turn up the volume and when to take a beat. The brands dominating this year are the ones that know what people care about before anything even reaches their timeline.

Be authentic. Be bold. Know your sh*t.