2025 Predictions: How AI and Personalization Will Redefine Brand Engagement

“Every day since November 30, 2022, there’s less and less chance that what you’re looking at was 100% created by a human.” – Shelly Palmer

As we bid farewell to an incredible 2024, we took the opportunity to connect with our clients, exploring their predictions and strategies for standing out in an ever-evolving world. This year has brought transformation at a pace unmatched since the dawn of the internet.

While early predictions focused on AI, the conversation quickly progressed by year’s end. Attending the HFS Research events – AI Symposium: The Great Enterprise Reinvention and The Great Enterprise Regeneration – highlighted a key shift: AI is now the baseline. The future lies in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), with their potential to reason and transfer learning across channels and mediums.

However, the core goal of marketing remains unchanged: delivering meaningful, personalized experiences. The challenge for marketers lies in leveraging new tools to connect with audiences in authentic, resonant ways. Brands that balance empathy and evidence will earn trust and loyalty in this increasingly competitive landscape.

After inspiring conversations with Rebecca Zebow and A.J. Ghergich at Botify, I’m ready to make this prediction: brands must prepare to engage with AI, as it is increasingly AI that will shape the conversation about your brand.

Read on for insights from our clients to help you start this year equipped with the knowledge and inspiration to navigate what’s ahead with confidence and vision.

Kristin Russel, CMO, symplr

“In 2025, marketing will pivot toward prioritizing personalization at scale, driven by the power of AI. Brands that effectively combine AI-driven insights with human creativity will stand out by delivering hyper-relevant, emotionally resonant experiences to their audiences. Expect to see growth marketing and communications continue the convergence trend, enabling unified storytelling that fosters trust brand transparency with both external audiences and employees (our most powerful brand advocates).”

Leila Dillon, SVP Corporate Marketing and Communications, Ameresco

“In 2025, I believe marketing strategies will increasingly emphasize the personalization of AI-generated content to resonate more deeply with individual customers. Brands will need to shift their focus from self-promotion to customer storytelling, creating narratives that highlight their unique customer experiences and values. I believe this approach not only fosters stronger emotional connections but also builds trust and loyalty. By leveraging AI to tailor content to specific audience segments, we, as marketers, can ensure our messages are relevant and engaging, ultimately driving better customer engagement and satisfaction.”

Michael Della Penna, Chief Strategy Officer, InMarket

“There are two ‘As’ guiding marketers’ 2025 priorities: Accountability and AI. Marketers face immense pressure to do more with less, placing focus on enhanced measurement to better understand impact as well as internal efficiency with AI tools.

We’re incredibly lucky in our modern marketing era to have such sophisticated tools at our fingertips, enabling us to create holistic, comprehensive measurement approaches. In 2025, successful measurement will encompass long-term understanding of performance combined with real-time looks at campaign performance. The ability to depict impact across a variety of channels and KPIs is table stakes. It’s critical for marketers to take this even further and leverage additional tools like AI-driven scenario planning and real-time optimization, for example, to maximize impact across every marketing dollar spent. The responsible use of AI not only unlocks opportunities for optimization, but also improving internal efficiencies, whether it's brainstorming copy, streamlining creative processes with Generative AI or leveraging AI to scale data analysis and standardization.

We’re seeing increased fragmentation of media and shopping as consumers spend more time on emerging channels like CTV and visiting more retailers in search of value. For those of us in the advertising business, this sea of change means moving beyond traditional approaches like who to target and embracing new technologies and approaches that includes understanding why consumers shop and when and where to best reach them in real-time throughout the purchase process.”  

Nick Panayi, Chief Marketing Officer, Inovalon

“In 2025, B2B technology marketers will increasingly leverage generative AI to craft pitch-perfect content and creative assets, reducing reliance on external writers and overused stock visuals. Demonstrating ROMI will remain a priority, with greater emphasis on accuracy, transparency, and measurable KPIs to track marketing-sourced pipeline and revenue impact. Simultaneously, 1:1 strategic “pursuit marketing” will gain momentum, driving deeper customer engagement and strengthening alignment and trust with sales.”

Gerardo Dada, Chief Marketing Officer, Catchpoint

"A third kind of CMO will emerge. The role of marketing leadership in the executive suite has been evolving. Until now, there have been two CMO profiles: one focused on demand generation and operational efficiency and one with a product marketing background focused on positioning and products. A third type of CMO is emerging: a strategic CMO with a business-wide perspective, a broad focus on all GTM functions, and plays a critical role in company strategy and direction. There are three corresponding types of organizations that need each of these CMO profiles."

Meghan Donovan, Digital Communications Senior Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific

“The rise of video on social media has been well documented, and short-form, snackable video content is going to completely take over in 2025. This will be a challenge for small social media teams without dedicated video resources, so we will all have to get creative about using what we have. You can shoot very high-quality video footage on the latest versions of the iPhone and use inexpensive tools like handheld gimbals, microphones that plug directly into your phone and ring lights to help improve your video and sound quality significantly. Don't be afraid to go out and experiment with what you can shoot and edit (in-app editing or tools like CapCut work well) yourself with the tools at your disposal. If you are working with a more experienced video production team, make sure your videos don't lose an authentic to social media feel - sometimes if a video is too polished, it can actually appear out of place on social and hurt your engagement. It's important to experiment and have fun.”

Lexi Sydow, Vice President - Marketing, Insights & OCEO Programs, Interos

“2025 may be dominated by AI automation, but the real winner will be authentic, human marketing.  Done well, it will have better cut-through and deliver longer term value with customers rather than rely purely on Gen AI. Saying real things to real people with a unique voice will pay dividends. In a sea of marketing emails, digital ads and algorithm-trap content, the voice of a human talking to a human will win mindshare, especially when delivering value - data, insights, strategies - ways to help make a customer's life easier, better, or more enriched.

AI will undoubtedly play an important role in ideation, brainstorming and streamlining work. But I see a more full-circle moment where curation, human-touch and giving unique "human" insights will benefit brands more - whether it's your audience recalling a memorable story reminding why your company is important, yielding better open-rates or leaving a lasting 'high value' touch on a customer. This year's 'Spotify Wrapped' showed us that AI and algorithms aren't everything in marketing: in fact, without knowing your market, they can ruin a good thing.”

Eran Kinsbruner, Global Head of Product Marketing & Brand Strategy, Lightrun

“I believe 2025 will mark the year when several advanced practices that matured in 2024 transition into industry standards. Leading the charge is AI autonomous debugging, which I see becoming the missing link in the Generative AI tool stack. This innovation will enable developers to build, test, deliver, and debug applications faster and with greater confidence, significantly enhancing productivity and reliability.  

Another trend poised for widespread adoption is the rise of platform engineering and Internal Developer Portals (IDPs). Building on the foundation of highly mature DevOps practices, these platforms introduce a standardized tool stack that empowers development organizations to create modern applications with greater ease and consistency.  

What excites me most is the synergy between these two trends. Both aim to foster deeper collaboration among developers and their peers, while adopting modern tools that address the complexities of today’s architectures. Together, they represent a powerful shift towards more efficient, integrated, and innovative development workflows.”

Nikki Neff, Marketing Director, Ibex Medical Analytics

“The use of AI and AI-driven marketing tools will continue to rise in 2025 - allowing content to be developed and distributed quickly, but also making it more difficult to stand out and reach target audiences. Creating shorter, authentic video and written content featuring credible individuals and peers will be key to gaining awareness and educating the market.”

Mike Clements, SVP Marketing & Corporate Strategy, Axion BioSystems

“As AI continues to evolve, its role in research will grow, particularly in summarizing content and suggesting approaches. However, the need for human oversight—fact-checking and ensuring originality—will remain critical to mitigate errors and concerns like plagiarism. AI will increasingly serve as a guide, but not as the ultimate source of finalized content.”

Geraldine Teboul, Chief Marketing Officer, IntegrityNext

IntegrityNext recently published a whitepaper, “Top 5 Trends Shaping Supply Chain Sustainability in 2025,” and the highlights will impact a lot when it comes to brand messaging and positioning. Specifically:

• Sustainability regulation is here to stay. As the EU consolidates its efforts and the global ISSB standards gain traction, uncertainty persists in the US regulatory landscape.

• Full supply chain transparency is becoming indispensable. Companies require deeper, actionable insights while unlocking new opportunities for greater efficiency and innovation.

• Process integration and collaboration at all levels are critical in the face of increasing complexity and evolving regulatory conditions.

• AI is transforming supply chain sustainability management and presenting new opportunities for reporting, risk management, and stakeholder engagement.

‍