In lieu of an industry pantomime, Gai Le Roy, IAB Australia CEO, has penned a slightly more jovial and most definitely tongue-in-cheek edition of From the Bureau this month.
This missive couldn’t be considered publication-ready unless it maintained end of year industry traditions, by detailing the expected trends for 2025. So, as a data driven organisation, we have drawn upon the momentum we have seen over the last year and extrapolated this information all without the help of AI (this year) to see what the future holds.
While 2024 was the year of CFOs taking over the executive reins, in 2025 the industry will be looking for more sizzle in the upper echelons. But where to turn? Let us welcome marketing scientists to our midst. An eclectic bunch of entrepreneurs, academics and AI enthusiasts who have lifted the dusty old research department to the main stage, they’ll be able to put on a fine show that makes every channel look good and can raise significant capital on a minimum viable product.
Next up—forget the WFH debate we’ve endured this year. It will all be solved in 2025 by the proliferation of industry events. Unhappy with a mandated return to the office policy? Start signing up for all the “essential networking and educational” events and you might not have to step foot in your office for the whole year. After all, the ad industry is very experienced in making sure the schedule is jam packed. Indeed next year it appears to have mandated a major conference or event on every single day of the year.
In another example of taking a good thing and running with it to the extreme, consumer sales events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Prime Day and Boxing Day will continue to expand. Expect to see such events fill 97 per cent of the calendar.
Retail media will continue to look for new opportunities to add to their pool of in-store inventory. We hear whispers they are currently consulting with casino architects to help understand how best to ensure consumers spend more time in store.
AI will continue to “not impact jobs” and company re-organisations will continue to highlight the new “prompt engineer” positions becoming available when communicating change with staff and in their press releases. Which may or may not have been written by……
Internal communications managers will breathe a sigh of relief as trade media organisations find most of their stories revolve around their own peer group and colleagues.
Meanwhile, with investment down in market for the last couple of years due to “economic headwinds”, the Government will be helping the industry’s need to reduce carbon by creating new enquiries and codes for every component of the market, just to be sure that everyone is completely (un)sure on whether their ads and environments will be compliant.
Oh, and in even worse news for the environment, we will continue to be given branded keep cups at every event that will simply fill up cupboards and landfill.
We may or may not see some of these predictions come to pass, but whatever transpires, IAB Australia will be here to support, champion, and create positive meaningful change in 2025.
Happy holidays to all.
