We asked our digital experts to share their predictions and key trends to watch out for in 2025, from AI breakthroughs to evolving customer behaviours. Discover the insights shaping the future of digital marketing.

Ger Hayden Director of Digital

Preparing for a New Era of Digital Engagement

In 2025, brands will face the challenge of adapting to a new era of customer engagement. With the shift away from cookies to first-party data, building trust through transparency and consent will be paramount. Integrating CRM systems with digital platforms will allow for seamless tracking of customer interactions, while leveraging AI-powered tools like visual search will help brands stay ahead by meeting evolving user expectations and behaviours. The focus will be on creating meaningful, personalised experiences.

Brands need to prioritise transparency and consent when collecting data. By integrating CRM systems with digital platforms, you can track the entire customer journey and make data-driven decisions. Embrace AI-driven tools like visual search, which are increasingly popular for their ability to capture customer intent and drive conversions. This holistic approach will ensure you’re not only compliant but also positioned to offer highly relevant, personalised experiences that build long-term customer relationships.

Tony Newlands Data & Measurement Lead

Google Meridian

2024 saw Google quietly introduce Meridian, its brand new open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM) framework to the Digital Marketing world. While only available on a limited basis so far, it’s set to be a real game changer for agencies and clients alike in 2025.

Google Meridian offers several advantages by providing new tools to improve the measurement, optimisation, and impact of Digital Marketing activities.

Here’s how Google Meridian may be able to help in 2025:

1. Enhanced Measurement Accuracy: Meridian incorporates advanced methodologies like reach and frequency integration and calibration with experimental data. This helps to more accurately measure the effectiveness of cross-channel campaigns, even in fragmented media environments.
2. Privacy-Safe Insights: As a privacy-centric tool, Meridian avoids reliance on cookies or individual-level data, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations while delivering actionable insights.
3. Customisation for Client Needs: With its open-source framework, the model’s parameters and methodologies can be configured to meet the unique requirements of different clients, enhancing relevance and effectiveness.
4. Data-Driven Decision Making: With features like scenario planning and budget optimisation, Meridian can assist with providing data-backed recommendations on media allocation, helping clients achieve better ROI.
5. Scalability and Innovation: Meridian supports ongoing updates and enhancements, enabling agencies and clients to stay ahead of trends and adapt their strategies in line with industry innovations.

These capabilities will empower marketing agencies to provide transparent, effective, and future-proof services to their clients, improving campaign outcomes and client satisfaction.

Brian Conlon Head of SEO

The Future of Search: Ask Engine Optimisation (AEO)

As AI transforms traditional search into a conversational experience, Ask Engine Optimisation (AEO) could potentially overhaul how SEO’s approach their content strategy. With new AI experiences like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and AI chat interfaces becoming the norm, consumers expect instant, precise answers to very specific searches.

AEO focuses on optimising and structuring content to provide clear, context-rich responses, aligning with AI’s ability to parse and deliver conversational answers.

Businesses that prioritise structured data, authoritative content, and intent-driven strategies will dominate this space. AEO shifts the goalpost from rankings to relevance, and ensuring your brand becomes a trusted source in AI-powered search results will be key to organic success in 2025.

Laughlin Rigby Digital Transformation & AI Director

AI Agents and Digital Marketing

In 2025, AI agents are set to transform digital marketing by automating complex processes and enhancing personalisation. These intelligent systems will integrate data across platforms in real-time, allowing for tailored customer interactions and freeing up marketers to focus on strategic initiatives that drive engagement and efficiency.

AI agents will also anticipate consumer needs, delivering hyper-personalised content that creates deeper connections and strengthens brand loyalty. As these capabilities become central to marketing strategies, businesses must stay ahead of the curve to remain competitive. Embracing this evolution will be key to fostering meaningful, lasting relationships with customers in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

Mike Jones DTD Lead Consultant

Destination Marketplaces: Converting the Dreamers

In recent decades, the range of destinations accessible to global travellers has expanded significantly, creating a highly competitive destination marketing landscape. Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) invest millions annually in top-of-funnel brand building to inspire travellers during the initial “dream” stage of their journey. However, measuring the impact of this inspiration remains a challenge. Traditional tools like Google Analytics can track site traffic and clicks but cannot precisely measure actual spend.

In 2025, innovative projects will connect destination websites more closely with visitor experience sites, enabling the tracking of conversions and online spend. This capability will provide deeper insights into customer value and intent, helping to determine if a true destination marketplace justifies investment. Key questions include whether travellers want to purchase on destination websites and if shortening the purchase journey would increase conversion. While the puzzle is complex, 2025 will see the industry become more connected and gain a clearer understanding of the inspired traveller.

Niamh Breslin Head of Customer Success

Zero-Party Data

With the continued shift towards privacy-first policies, such as cookie less browsers and stricter GDPR enforcement, brands are increasingly turning to zero-party data, willingly provided by customers, to drive their strategies. AI-powered audience segmentation based on predictive buying behaviour will be play an important role in this evolution. As third-party cookies disappear, marketers must embrace first-party data and leverage advanced AI models to analyse customer actions, predict intent, and identify key behavioural signals – such as on-site activity, purchase history, and engagement patterns. This AI-driven approach enables hyper-personalised, privacy-compliant messaging that replaces traditional tracking methods. By focusing on robust, future-proof data insights, brands can deliver relevant, timely campaigns while maintaining consumer trust and staying competitive.

Mark Murray Senior Digital Strategist

Data Dilemmas: The Quest for New Customers in a Targeted World

“All models are wrong, but some are useful” as George Box famously stated, aptly describes the challenge of digital marketing measurement in 2025. As businesses invest heavily in Paid Media, they must critically evaluate the effectiveness of platform algorithms. Google Ads and Meta Ads, while powerful, may inadvertently prioritise EXISTING customers over NEW acquisitions – this will severely hamper growth. Now is the time to adopt a more nuanced approach and consider how advertising impact lingers far beyond initial exposure.

The key lies in developing a measurement strategy that acknowledges these complexities, leveraging imperfect but valuable models to drive real business outcomes. By 2025, the most successful companies will be those that master the art of measurement, using data-driven insights to refine their approach and maximise ROI.