Month: January 2025

Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group changed the face of the agency landscape heading into 2025. Industry insiders expect consolidation to continue to be a major theme this year, making way for independents to rise. And AI is still top of mind as we kick off the New Year, as agencies continue to grapple with how…

Working in media–let alone reporting on it–can be a grim task. It often feels like the industry is perpetually on the verge of collapse, with news about layoffs, closures, and declines in trust and readership dominating the headlines. The reality is more complex. There are plenty of challenges ahead for journalism and media, but there…

Two years after the launch of ChatGPT, the business world is finally waking up. This isn’t just another tech trend that VCs will throw money at while screaming “disruption”–one that may be gone in another year. AI is the new electricity. It will impact everything. Companies are fumbling in the dark, trying to figure out…

Since 1998, when the exciting new innovations were DVDs and alarm clocks with nature sounds, CES has kicked off the year for the tech industry. The conference itself has been around since 1967, but didn’t settle into its once-a-year, early January cadence until the late 1990s. For the marketing industry, it’s an opportunity to scope…

The commerce media boom was alive and well in 2024, reshaping how retailers, financial institutions, airlines, and travel companies were wooed by the possibility of turning their troves of first-party consumer data into ad revenue. That’s expected to continue into 2025, analysts told ADWEEK. But the growth will be at a slower pace than the…

In 2025, generative artificial intelligence will shift from a behind-the-scenes tool to a central driver of innovation in marketing. We can expect the emergence of agent AI 2.0, a new breed of agent AI that will manage complex, real-time tasks. Alongside this shift, tech firms like Apple and Anthropic are poised to become key players,…

Oppressive, unstimulating urban architecture isn’t just about eyesores; there’s evidence that it can cause actual harm to its residents. To fix this in 2025, we must start building for joy.

Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of IPG, announced earlier this month, would make it the world’s largest agency-holding company, with $25 billion in annual ad revenue and over 100,000 employees.

The deal aims to generate $750 million in cost synergies, primarily by consolidating back-office functions and reducing redundancies by potentially cutting 30% of staff. A depressingly familiar page in the corporate playbook.

However, the initial pitch from IPG and Omnicom’s executive teams focused on other outcomes, such as AI and the combination of both entities’ big bets in data-enabled marketing. 

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It’s unsurprising that more teenagers aspire to become influencers, given how many grew up watching TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio and Ariana Greenblatt go from social media to the big screen.

During this year’s U.S. presidential election, we saw greater interest from candidate Kamala Harris to engage Gen Z through TikTok trends like “brat” summer. Many major creators have also expanded beyond social apps to launch careers in acting, music or starting other businesses.

These are the first cohorts to grow up as digital natives, so they daydream about being creators, explained Alyssa Stevens, global director of PR, social media and influencer marketing at independent agency Connelly Partners.

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In June 2024, the mobile game developer HOMA published “Clean It,” a casual game inspired by the #CleanTok TikTok trend — and the game became a viral hit. 

The game launch, the result of a collaboration between HOMA and TikTok, is the latest example of the TikTok’s intentional bid to court game publishers onto its platform.

“Clean It” was not the first TikTok-inspired game to be published by HOMA, whose most popular titles include mobile games such as “Merge Master” and “Aquarium Land.” For years, the developer has created casual games by combining popular game genres with relevant TikTok trends. 

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