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The year is almost over. Mariah is defrosting.

Everyone is holding on by a tinsel thread.

But while brands are scrambling for one last festive spike in engagement we’re here with something more useful 👀

Say hello to the Wander-approved naughty and nice list 2025.

ALLLLL the habits to ditch before 2026 lands, plus the moves you SHOULD be making if you want to stay relevant.

So sit back, pour a mulled wine and lets get into it…

Look… Someone has to be on the naughty list.

Here’s a lil look at the ways brands have fallen flat in 2025

Don’t worry, once it’s done you’ll get the nice list!

2025 was FULL of shiny, over-produced content that said absolutely nothing.

Think of the endless AI-generated Christmas ads that looked immaculate but felt soulless.

Or influencer campaigns where brands forgot a storyline and relied entirely on aesthetic vibes.

People aren’t impressed by pretty anymore. They want meaning. Message. Something that actually matters to them and drives them to engage.

2025 gave us an entire wave of Christmas ads and brand campaigns that looked gorgeous but landed… absolutely nowhere

So many retailers pushed out hyper-polished CGI Christmas ads. Trust us, your audience can spot inauthenticity from a mile away

The brands putting story first, like John Lewis’ classic human-led ad, completely stole the spotlight.

Vibes alone don’t cut it, narrative does.

Brands that jump on trends after they’ve peaked aren’t timely.

They’re noise. Nothing screams ‘we didn’t plan anything this week’ like a three-weeks-too-late TikTok audio.

You can spend a lot of pointless time and energy chasing trends that just aren’t right for your brand or its audience.

Getting caught up in it all can lead to your campaigns lacking substance and direction, falling flat with the people you’re trying to reach.

If you’re constantly late to culture, it’s time to stop chasing and start leading.

Be relevant not reactive.

This year, so many brands stripped themselves back… but not in the right ways.

They started cutting corners with AI generation and simple (but pretty boring) rebrands.

Meanwhile, brands like Scrub Daddy, Liquid Death and Feastables leaned HAAAARD into tone-of-voice and carved out cult audiences.

If your brand could swap its brand voice and identity with 10 competitors and no one would notice, that’s a red flag.

Dial up your quirks and what makes you unique. The safe middle ground is overcrowded.

The fastest way to fall behind is by doing nothing.

This year, brands that didn’t adapt to short-form, didn’t rethink their funnel and didn’t update their messaging quickly got left behind.

Algorithms can be tough and not adapting can result in your engagement tanking.

This year we saw those who pivoted to creators, episodic content and community-first campaigns taking the top spot in our feeds.

If your strategy looks the same in March, July and December then it’s the naughty list for you.

Okay… You’ve earned the nice list!

This is the moves that made waves, broke down barriers and actually kept our attention this year.

If you landed on the naughty list, this is your guide for a better 2026.

The brands winning in 2025 are the ones dropping the corporate polish and showing up like people.

Audiences connect with honesty far more than they do with overdone, cold polish.

Heinz’s ‘Lost in Love’ campaign fully embraced the messy, everyday, human moments that are actually relatable for their audience.

It skipped the cliché, using actual emotional connection instead of over-the-top visuals or forced storytelling. Heinz showed their audience a reflection of themselves and it HIT right.

This is how you boost reach and impact without sacrificing authenticity. Make your target audience feel SEEN and make your brand feel real.

If you want people to remember you, show them a slice of life. Connect with the nerves that make people stop, feel and remember your brand.

Disruptors are the brands that refuse to whisper. They experiment. They poke fun. They break the ‘acceptable’ rules of marketing because they know safe = invisible.

These are the ones shaping the culture they thrive in.

Attention is currency and disruptors earn it. They don’t play by the algorithm; they make the algorithm work for them. They’re distinctive, confident and sometimes a little chaotic… but in a strategic way.

Strong personality. Clear point of view. Visual identity with teeth.

Audiences are drawn to the campaigns that feel fun, fearless and completely unforgettable.

Disruptors win because they know the scroll is a battlefield and they’re willing to do what others won’t, including pushing the format, taking risks and standing by their values.

Own your tone of voice and embrace personality

If your brand doesn’t get you a tiny giddy bit before hitting post, it’s probably not disruptive.

2025 separated the collabs that made sense from the collabs that made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The partnerships landing this year are the ones built on shared values, not shared press releases.

This is alliances that feel intentional, a shared worldview instead of monetisation for the sake of it. When a partnership genuinely complements both brands, it creates something bigger than either could alone.

Consumers aren’t impressed by forced collabs anymore. People want synergy over chaos. The partnerships that landed in 2025 worked because they made sense emotionally, visually or culturally, not just commercially.

A collab that enhances the story, stretches the creative and adds value to the audience. If the reaction is ‘wait… this kinda works??’ instead of ‘why on earth have they done this?’ you’re on the right track.

Work with partners who sharpen your story, not dilute it.

This is where brands stop shouting at people and start building with them. Community-first brands treat their audience like collaborators and build something no competitor can copy.

The strongest brands this year put community at the centre as a core growth engine. Instead of talking at people, they created spaces people wanted to be part of.

Community-first brands aren’t pushing messages but instead are creating spaces where people feel seen, valued and part of something bigger.

Loyalty is emotional, not transactional.

When your audience feels like co-creators you build stickiness nobody can copy. They advocate for you. They defend you. They help shape what comes next.

Creators should be at the heart of your strategy.

Feature UGC that isn’t forced

Have those two-way conversations.

Listen properly.

Give your audience some of the steering wheel, not just a follow-up email.

Community-first brands build belonging. Belonging builds retention. Retention over time meets those big picture goals.

THE WRAP-UP

If there’s one thing this year proved, it’s that marketing is moving FAST and audiences are moving even faster. Playing it safe, copying your competitors or posting whatever’s trending five days too late simply won’t cut it anymore.

2025 belongs to the ones who build community, tell real stories and stop treating content like a box-ticking exercise.

So here’s the hard truth (with love): If you want next year to hit different, you can’t take this year’s habits with you.

This is your clean slate. Your brand reset.

Your new year, new energy, “let’s actually do this properly” moment.

Be a brand that’s real, relevant and ready.

And if you want help getting your strategy, storytelling or brand personality actually working for you…

You know where we are 👀

TL;DR: 2026 has been a whirlwind for marketing. The brands that stood out used collaboration, community and real human emotion to break through. The ones that fell flat lost sight of their identity in an attempt to grow, or worse… stood completely still. 2026 is the year of authenticity, personality and a true understanding of your brand.

What’s next?!

2025 is nearly done, but we’re not slowing down anytime soon! Watch this space for some massive announcements.

Wanna ace your 2026 with mint strategy and content? Hit us up 👉 welovewander.com/contact